Michael Filoa (left) and Aaron Davis are on trial for murder in the High Court at Auckland. Photo / Dean Purcell
Michael Filoa (left) and Aaron Davis are on trial for murder in the High Court at Auckland. Photo / Dean Purcell
As Clifford Umuhuri and his mates followed a methamphetamine dealer's car into a quiet residential neighbourhood away from the well-lit car park where they initially intended to make a purchase, they started to suspect something might be "a little off", jurors were told today.
Soon thereafter, Umuhuri would be bleeding from two gunshot wounds, just minutes away from death as he argued with his mates about not wanting to be taken to nearby Auckland City Hospital.
"It seems unlikely at that stage he understood how serious his injuries were," Crown prosecutor Sarah Murphy explained during her opening statement in the High Court at Auckland for the trial of Michael Filoa and Aaron Davis, who have both pleaded not guilty to aggravated robbery and murder.
Police found Umuhuri on the side of Parkfield Terrace in Grafton around the time the sun was rising on June 1, 2020, after residents heard shouting and called 111. Officers arrived within 10 minutes but Umuhuri was already dead.
By that time, other officers were already examining a scene roughly 8km away on St Johns Rd in Meadowbank, an Auckland suburb near the Remuera Golf Club where residents had also reported shouting accompanied by loud bangs at around 6am.
Police would later find three bullet casings and Filoa's phone at the Meadowbank site.
Clifford Umuhuri died of gunshot wounds at Parkfield Terrace, Grafton, on June 1, 2020. Photo / Supplied
Prosecutors Murphy and Brian Dickey said Umuhuri had got into the defendants' car at Meadowbank, sitting in the back seat next to Filoa while his three other friends stayed in their own vehicle.
"At some point [the friends in the other car] heard a noise and they saw the defendants' car was rocking back and forth - so something was going wrong," Murphy said, adding that Umuhuri managed during the scuffle to throw a blue bag out the window.
Filoa then got out of the car with a cut-down .22 firearm, she said.
"He pointed the gun downwards and shot Mr Umuhuri where he sat in the car," she said. "Mr Umuhuri managed to get out of the car and run away. As he was running away, Mr Filio fired a second shot.
"After that happened, Mr Davis and Mr Filoa drove off."
The shooting scene on June 1, 2020, was roughly 8km from the spot where Clifford Umuhuri was found dead.
Prosecutors said the bullet that eventually killed Umuhuri entered through his arm before going through his lungs and liver and lodging in his stomach. The other bullet hit his buttocks and lodged in his groin, indicating that he was fleeing while shot, they said.
Police later spoke with Umuhuri's three friends. One of them said she had arranged the drug deal with Davis, who she was acquaintances with. They had agreed to meet at a Mobil petrol station in Panmure before the defendants opted to change locations at the last minute, she explained.
The friends would later realise the blue bag Umuhuri had thrown out of the other vehicle during the scuffle, which one of them had picked up off the ground, contained Davis' ID and a substance that one witness would later suggest was fake methamphetamine.
"They arranged a fake drug deal," Murphy told jurors. "They lured him to a quiet area, trapped him in their car ... It was always a set-up."
Afterwards, she said, the duo went to a central Auckland apartment "after a successful job done" and were caught on camera rummaging through Umuhuri's bag together, appearing to divvy his cash.
Michael Filoa is on trial in the High Court at Auckland, accused of participating in the murder of Clifford Umuhuri two years ago. Photo / Dean Purcell
The defendants have acknowledged Davis was driving the vehicle that morning and Filoa was the person who shot Umuhuri. But lawyers for both men asked jurors today to keep an open mind about what led to the shooting and how both defendants perceived the situation.
Jurors may have to consider issues of self-defence, said lawyer David Niven, who represents Filoa.
"He and Mr Davis did not agree to rob anyone," Niven said. "On the contrary ... there's property that he lost that night - his bag, drugs, money."
Marie Dyhrberg, QC, who represents Davis, said her client had conducted plenty of routine drug deals with Umuhuri's friend in the past and he didn't have any reason to expect things would go differently that morning.
"Mr Davis, he was a small-time drug dealer and he was a drug user," she said. "That is how he made some extra money for his family on the side when he wasn't working ...
Aaron Davis is on trial for murder in the High Court at Auckland, accused alongside co-defendant Michael Filoa of killing Clifford Umuhuri in 2020. Photo / Dean Purcell
"This case is about a drug deal gone wrong. It is not a matter of murder and it is not a matter of aggravated robbery so far as Mr Davis is concerned."
There are three ways in which the jury could potentially find the pair guilty of murder, prosecutors pointed out today. One way would be if the jury finds they intended to kill Umuhuri. The jury could also find that they intended only to injure him but knew they ran a risk of death. Davis, meanwhile, could be found guilty even though he didn't pull the trigger if jurors believe he acted in conjunction with Filoa.
"You know if you bring a gun to a robbery intending to use it, someone might get shot and killed," Murphy said. "This killing was both foreseeable and intended."
She said the defendants picked the wrong person to victimise that day, because Umuhuri appeared to have fought back upon realising he was being robbed.
"Mr Umuhuri put up a fight inside the defendants' car, but whatever happened inside the car the shooting was outside the car," she added. "We certainly know the defendants weren't so shocked by what happened as to speed away empty-handed."
