Alleged murderer Turiarangi Tai and a 25-year-old woman, accused of being an accessory after the fact, are on trial. Photo / Greg Bowker
Alleged murderer Turiarangi Tai and a 25-year-old woman, accused of being an accessory after the fact, are on trial. Photo / Greg Bowker
A dramatic and panicked 111 call in the moments after mother-of-two Chozyn Koroheke was shot dead has been played to a jury.
Samantha Douglas was one of two people who phoned emergency services after her 22-year-old flatmate was shot by Turiarangi Tai at a Pakuranga Heights home in Auckland on April 4 last year.
Tai, 23, is now on trial in the High Court at Auckland for the murder of his partner, along with a 25-year-old woman accused of helping him evade police after the shooting.
"Someone's been shot," Douglas said at the start of the 111 call, played to the court today.
"Ma'am, I don't want you to go back over there if the offender's still there," the operator warned Douglas.
"My partner took the gun off them," replied Douglas, however, when asked to identify the shooter over the phone she refused.
Mum-of-two Chozyn Koroheke was killed on April 4 last year. Photo / Supplied
Earlier in the trial the court heard that Koroheke's death was the tragic end to a series of brutal domestic-violence incidents.
Crown prosecutor Mark Williams said Tai had beaten Koreheke throughout their short but volatile relationship, including hitting her in the head with a rock and stabbing her in the thigh.
Williams said Koreheke's death, a result of a single shot to the right side of her abdomen at a distance of no more than 50cm, came after another argument between the pair.
He said Tai had packed his bags and was about to leave the property but before reaching the end of the long driveway turned around and came back with a gun in hand.
Witnesses say Koroheke was heard yelling: "He is coming in, he has got a shotgun."
Koroheke attempted to hide in a bedroom but Tai found her, Williams said.
Tai initially aimed at the gun at her head before shooting her in the gut, the prosecutor added.
Turiarangi Tai during an earlier appearance in the High Court at Auckland. Photo / Brett Phibbs
St John Paramedic Peter Hoskin, who was part of the first emergency crew to arrive at the scene, told the court today that he saw a man driving a white car away from the scene.
It is not disputed that the driver was Tai.
Hoskin said he tried to save and revive Koroheke for about 50 minutes but the wound was fatal and she was pronounced dead in the back of an ambulance.
Tai went on the run for almost two weeks, Williams said, before eventually handing himself over to police.
He was charged and pleaded not guilty to Koroheke's murder but has pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm - the 12-gauge double-barrel shotgun.
Tai's counsel Peter Kaye said the jury must decide between murder or manslaughter based on his client's perceived intent.
"There's no argument about who had the gun, there's no argument about it discharging - there's no issue - there's no argument it caused death," he said.
Justice Matthew Muir also told the jury today that several days of Crown evidence have been "shaved" off the trial, which is now likely conclude within two weeks.
