Son tells High Court he arrived home to find his dad bloodied on ground in rain

From left; Cody Griffin, Whakapumautanga 'Cookie' Clarke and Daniel Chase are defending charges of murder and aggravated robbery in the Hamilton High Court.

The son of a man shot dead on the doorstep of his rural Taupo home has told a court how he arrived home to find him lying on his back in the rain and his torch pointing upwards on an angle into the stormy, July sky.

In giving his at times emotional testimony to the jury in the High Court at Hamilton today, Liam Henry, 22, explained how he saw the torchlight and then his father, Scott John Henry, on the ground.

"I jumped out [of the car], I didn't believe anything was wrong and ran straight over there and I tried to look for an explanation of what had gone wrong and the reason and freaked out and started yelling at [driver] Kurt [Carlsson]."

Henry, 48, was shot after a deadly aggravated robbery allegedly involving Whakapumautanga Clarke, 25, Cody Paul Griffin, 25, and Daniel George Chase, 22, all from Taupo, who each deny charges of murdering him on July 20 last year.

The trio are also jointly charged with robbing Henry of a green Ridgeline Pikau bag and its contents while armed with a firearm.

After yelling to Carlsson, he turned back to his father and heard Carlsson drive off.

He went to his father and looked down to see blood in his mouth and running down the side of his face.

"His eyes had a bit of discolour … I dragged him inside."

He called 111 and was told to perform CPR which he did.

After realising his father had died, he then loaded up a firearm and began looking for his father's partner, Kylie Hartley, and any sign of the house getting "messed up".

Police scour the Pureroa Forest Park west of Taupo during their search for items of interest in Scott Henry's death after he was gunned down on July 20, last year. Photo/File.

Police arrived shortly afterwards and he drove down to meet them on a motorbike at the entrance.

When asked if he could tell how he died, Henry said he "had a fair idea".

"I felt like I could see something in his mouth. I know all the blood was on his face."

When asked by Crown prosecutor Amanda Gordon if he recognised any of the accused, Henry said he'd "met a couple of them before in town but can't say I know them".

Carlsson also testified about dropping Liam Henry home.

After Henry jumped out, he stayed in his car, yelling out to Liam, waiting a couple of minutes before driving home again.

Carlsson said he wasn't sure if the person was alive or dead.

"I didn't know if it was dead … I don't normally come across dead bodies."

In questioning from Chase's lawyer Bill Lawson, Carlsson said he thought the person on the ground was possibly drunk.

Meanwhile, a sleepy juror was dismissed from duty late this morning after she repeatedly and consistently dozed off during the trial's proceedings, despite pleas to stay awake by Justice Sarah Katz.

She informed the remaining 11 jurors they had a very important job ahead of them as the three accused were facing serious charges. The female juror was unable to complete her duty due to medical issues, the judge said.

The jury now comprises four women and seven men.

In her opening submission yesterday, Gordon said identification wasn't an issue for them to discuss as all three accused admitted being at Henry's Whangamata Rd converted shed where he lived with son Liam Henry, and Hartley.

Scott John Henry was gunned down at his Kinloch home last year.

The trio confronted Hartley after she came out of their outdoor toilet between 7.30pm and 8pm.

The trio asked her "where is Scott, where are the drugs, where is the money?"

Henry was a dealer of cannabis and methamphetamine from his home, so when she saw a car had pulled up at their home, Hartley was not surprised, Gordon said.

However, she was then confronted by the trio, who had bandannas covering the lower half of their faces, and terrified, she told them Henry wasn't home.

"They kept asking, 'where is he, where are the drugs, where is the money'."

After hearing the gunshot she managed to run and hide until the trio left. She hid on her neighbour's porch until discovered by police the next day.

The jury comprises five women and seven men and is being overseen by Justice Katz.

The trial, which kicked off yesterday, involves 17 witnesses and is estimated to take just over a week.