KEY POINTS:
Three shots were fired at the Wanganui house where toddler Jhia Te Tua was killed, a forensic scientist told a court hearing for the 12 men charged with the toddler's murder today.
Jhia, 2, was shot dead in an alleged gang-related drive-by shooting on May 5 last year as she slept on a couch at her parents' home in the Wanganui suburb of Gonville.
A depositions hearing began this week at Wellington District Court for 12 men charged with her murder.
They are Tyrone Temappi Box, Noel Piha Broughton, James William Challis, Karl Unuka Check, Chance Wairangi Church, Ranji Tane Forbes, Michael Westley Kumeroa, Godfrey Thomas Muraahi, Erueti Chase Nahona, Richard Anthony Puohotaua, Kenneth Smith and Hayden Wallace.
A 13th man, Luke John Check, is charged with being an accessory after the fact.
Kevan Arthur John Walsh, an ESR scientist from Auckland, told the court he examined the scene of the shooting on May 6.
He said there was evidence that three shots had been fired.
Two of the shots hit fences at the Te Tua house and next door property, he said. A third struck a wooden pallet leaning against the house, went through a glass window and through a couch in the lounge.
Mr Walsh said there were holes and a blood stained blanket on the couch.
The police case is that three carloads of Mongrel Mob members, angered at an earlier altercation involving Jhia's Black Power father, drove to Puriri St where one - a gang prospect - fired three shots from a 303 rifle at the Te Tua home.
Crown lawyer Grant Burston said Black Power members congregating in front of the house dived for cover and a bullet went into the house, hitting and killing Jhia who was asleep on the couch.
A post mortem examination showed she was shot through the heart, spine and lungs.
Evidence given today by police officers relating to interviews with some of the accused men was suppressed.
The hearing was expected to last between two and four weeks.
- NZPA
