Murder-accused Raymond Jury takes the stand. Photo / Caroline Fleming
Murder-accused Raymond Jury takes the stand. Photo / Caroline Fleming
Murder-accused Mongrel Mob member Raymond Jury has taken the stand in his own High Court trial to recount the night Rotorua man Trevor Rikihana was beaten to death.
Jury's lawyer, Bill Nabney, opened his case today, saying it was not Jury who killed Rikihana but instead fellow gang member Rex Maney, who died of cancer last year.
Rikihana, 69, who along with Jury was a member of the Rogue chapter of the Mongrel Mob, died in the early hours of the morning on January 30, 2019.
Jury, who had been based in Christchurch, came to the North Island every year between November and January to visit his family and Mongrel Mob "brothers", Nabney said.
He had come to Rotorua on the night of January 29 with his bulldog, which he described as "his baby" and made his first stop at Maney's house, Nabney said.
Jury said he had a "smoke and kōrero" with Maney who had asked Jury to visit Rikihana and ask him to come around.
Jury said he drove down to Rikihana's house about 11pm and poked his head inside but could not see anyone.
He decided he would go back later and headed to another gang member's home.
He arrived at Rikihana's Owhata address about an hour later and gave him a "couple of barks" to which he opened the door and invited him in, Jury said.
Murder-accused Raymond Jury takes the stand. Photo / Caroline Fleming
They had a "couple pipes' worth" of meth and cannabis together before heading into the kitchen for some food, he said.
It was about this time Maney joined them through the back door and "he wasn't happy", he said.
Maney had come in and asked Rikihana "where the f**k was his money?" Jury said.
Rikihana and Maney began raising their voices because of "something to do with business", he said.
Jury told the pair to "take it outside" as they would "freak the family out", he said.
Jury was referring to Rikihana's niece, Lauren Eketone, and her young son, who were also in the house.
Maney and Rikihana went outside and as Jury followed, he saw a "big white flash" and "dropped" to the ground, he said.
He said he had been hit by something solid. He remained on the ground while Maney and Rikihana continued fighting, Jury said.
Jury said he got up to try and get between them and he was "banged" again.
He said it was the first time he had ever seen two brothers fighting like that. But he didn't want to get involved as it was "local issues" that should be sorted by "local people, not visitors".
Jury said Rikihana was bleeding on his face and nose and he carried him to the back of the car and Maney helped him in.
He went back inside the house, turned the light on in Rikihana's room and grabbed Rikihana's patch as he had asked for it, he said.
The lightswitch had a blood-stain with Jury's blood on it when examined by a forensic scientist.
They went back to Maney's house and Maney and Rikihana "carried on where they left off", he said.
When asked why they went back to Maney's, Jury responded saying he was "just the messenger" and "driver" and did not know.
Mongrel Mob member Raymond Jury appears in the Rotorua High Court charged with murder. Photo / Ben Fraser
Jury went inside to see if he was bleeding, he said. After getting back out, he took Rikihana out of the car and sat him on Maney's back steps before leaving.
He realised he had left his "stash bag" at Rikihana's and headed back to look for it, he said.
He did not find it and then drove somewhere to smoke "some half joints" before hitting the road and heading south.
He stopped at a Tauhara petrol station as his head was hurting and picked up some ice, he said.
He arrived in Napier after 7am and went to the hospital with his daughter. After being there for a while, they left and he got home to find his Ford Fairmont, that he had driven to Napier, gone, he said.
He said this was not unusual as he had been asked to bring the car back to Napier by a friend and Mongrel Mob members often shared items like that.
That same day, he received a text from Maney saying "the old c**t's dead", he said.
Jury denied having anything to do with the injuries found on Rikihana's body.
However, it was the Crown's case that Jury had badly beaten Rikihana, hit him with a hammer, strangled him with a towel and likely dragged his bloodied body around the lawn before driving him to his friend's house and dumping him on the driveway.
Murder-accused Raymond Jury takes the stand. Photo / Caroline Fleming
In cross-examination, Crown prosecutor Duncan McWilliam said it was "easy to blame a dead man" and asked if Jury would be blaming Maney if he was still alive.
McWilliam said Jury and Rikihana had got in an argument on the night of Rikihana's death over a debt that was owed. But Jury disputed this, saying they had "nothing to argue about" and "nobody owed him any money".
Jury said Rikihana likely struck him with a hammer because he may have thought he was part of a "set-up" with Maney.
Jury described Maney as a "very fit man", who was well enough to maintain his property and business at the time.
McWilliam said it was a "coincidence" that the car, likely "full of blood" and DNA from both Rikihana and Jury, was found burnt out on January 31.
Jury's daughter, Ataahua Jury, took the stand later in the day and spoke about the morning of January 30 when her dad turned up at her Napier home.
Jury's other lawyer, Rita Nabney, asked her how he had been on arrival and Ataahua said he was "not normal" and there was something wrong with his face.
Ataahua said her father had been "swearing" when he saw the car he had been driving was gone. She said she lived in a nice neighbourhood but "things get stolen all the time".
The pair drove to Auckland the next day to see family, she said.
