Te Kani died after being struck in the side of the head with a crowbar and falling backward onto the concrete driveway of their property.
Ten people are now on trial in the High Court at Hamilton all charged with his murder, and some are facing varying levels of assault and obstructing justice charges after they allegedly turned up with various weapons.
They are Kevin Allan Bailey and Shem Williams, both from Gate Pa; Mihaka Ratahi, of Pāpāmoa; Kiri Mereina Pini and Bodine Umuroa, from Parkvale; Hamiora Bennett from Brookfield; Huntly man Jahvaun Te Ari Layne; Jamie Robin Thomas, of Rotorua, and Witaiawa Robinson and Samuel Mark Milosi of Tauranga.
When Pini went to the Te Kani property in early May, she and Thomas Te Kani - Mitchell’s brother and her former partner - had an argument that resulted in him smashing some windows of her car.
“She told him she was going to make him pay for that,” Crown solicitor Duncan McWilliam told the jury in his opening address on Tuesday.
Umuroa and Pini later turned up at the property at about 10.20pm, with Umuroa armed with a small wrench. The pair demanded to see Thomas but he wasn’t home.
In a cellphone video, Umuroa is allegedly heard saying “Tell the homie he owes”, “I’m gonna waste the c***”, and “I will come back tomorrow with carloads of Mongrel Mob ... unless you f***ing sort it out”.
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Thomas turned up as they were leaving and a fight ensued, during which Thomas is said to have gotten the better of Umuroa and taken a wrench off him.
Pini then allegedly told Thomas, “You’re f***ed now, they are coming”.
Five carloads of Mongrel Mob members turned up about 15 minutes later armed with bottles, an iron bar, a hatchet and a crowbar and there was a brawl which resulted in both the gang members and Te Kani whānau being injured and Mitchell dying.
‘They’re threatening to come back’
Mitchell first dialled 111 at 10.22pm, after Umuroa and Pini turned up demanding to see his brother.
Asking what happened there, after waiting for about 16 minutes, Mitchell tells the operator that his brother’s [former] girlfriend turned up “with a Mongrel Mob and demanding shit ... to see him”.
“They’re threatening to come back,” he says.
He tells them her name before saying there’s a fight “going on in the driveway right now”, but adds that he hadn’t seen any firearms or weapons.
Mitchell says there’s several whānau members home including three children, aged 14, 9, and “a baby”.
He tells the operator the pair had both been drinking and they “hit my brother up in the driveway”.
“He just got back from hunting.”
The operator tells him that police have been alerted and it is their “highest priority” before asking what Pini was wearing.
“I dunno. She was just pissing me off,” Mitchell says. “I gotta go.”
He was asked for his name and told to call 111 if they returned.
“Roger that,” he said before hanging up at 10.41pm.
Umuroa and Pini left the property at 10.43pm and headed to the unveiling of “Socks” Taikato at an Ohauiti Rd property a few minutes away.
The court heard how police called Mitchell back at 10.45pm and he said he believed the couple had left and that no one was injured.
“Nah, just a bit of fright I think.”
When told police were on their way, Mitchell said he “doesn’t want to talk to police at the moment,” but confirmed he would call police back if Mongrel Mob members turned up.
At 10.53pm, a convoy of five Mongrol Mob vehicles is then caught on CCTV heading back to the Te Kani property, and arriving there three minutes later.
The trial continues.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for nine years and has been a journalist for 20.
