Man shot in head at front door, court told

A father was shot twice in the head as he banged on his front door and his children slept only a few metres away, a High Court jury in Auckland has been told.

By the time John Patrick Maeva's partner had unlocked the door, he was dying on the ground outside his Papatoetoe home.

At the opening day of the murder trial of Wayne James Bracken, 33, crown prosecutor Steve Symon said the accused and Mr Maeva, 26, had been dealing in the drug methamphetamine for several months before the killing, the Dominion Post reported today.

A week before the shooting Bracken had fallen out with Mr Maeva's cousin, Paul Maeva, over cannabis.

Bracken bought a .22 calibre rifle and three days later Mr Maeva was dead.

Mr Maeva's partner, Rongo Stevens, was sleeping in the lounge with her children when he arrived home and was banging and yelling at the front door,

Mr Symon said the front door was locked and as Ms Stevens took several moments to open it she heard three loud bangs.

Moments later she found her partner lying outside the front door and saw Bracken leaving, Mr Symon said.

The Crown alleges Bracken fled towards Hamilton and spent the night at a rural marae before returning to Auckland the next day. The gun used in the shooting was never found.

Bracken's lawyer, Gary Gotlieb, said police got the wrong man and it was not Bracken who shot Mr Maeva.

More than 60 witnesses will be called during the three-week trial.

- NZPA