KEY POINTS:
Two men charged with receiving a one-tonne sculpture and involvement in an attempt to blackmail the artwork's owners appeared before a jury in the High Court at Wellington yesterday.
Brenden John Marshall, 39, and Benjamin Horace Way, 23, are jointly accused of receiving a 3m by 3m sculpture, stolen from outside a restaurant in Waikanae, north of Wellington.
Marshall also allegedly blackmailed the sculpture's owners, threatening to cut up the $250,000 artwork and sell it to a scrap metal dealer.
The sculpture, taken on October 6, 2005, was called Long Horizon. It was moulded and cast by Palmerston North artist Paul Dibble.
Way was accused of helping Marshall avoid arrest through his complicity in accompanying the older man to the Waikanae churchyard where the bronze was swapped for $10,000.
The men pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Crown prosecutor Kenneth Stone told the jury Marshall made a video of the sculpture, delivering it to the owner through the editor of the local Kapiti Observer newspaper, Diane Joyce. One of the sculpture's owners, Maggie Mouat, watched the film and agreed to pay $6000 to get it back.
Later, Marshall called her to increase the ransom by $4000, Mr Stone said.
The court was told that some days later, the two accused met the owners for the exchange.
Way was arrested shortly afterwards, but Marshall disappeared and did not reappear until seven months later, when he handed himself in to police in Otaki, Mr Stone said.
Marshall's lawyer, Tim Blake, told the jury his client was merely a go-between, a broker helping the owners get their statue back.
Way's lawyer, Paul Surridge, said his client was at the scene of the hand-over merely to help his friend move the tonne of bronze.
- NZPA
