Pair wanted to turn Falealii in

Two of double-murderer Ese Junior Falealii's alleged accomplices considered turning him in to police, a jury in the High Court at Auckland heard yesterday.

In his videotaped interview, Joseph Sam Samoa said he and co-accused William Logan Johansson were so concerned about Falealii after the murder of pizza worker Marcus Doig that they thought about telling the authorities.

Samoa said Falealii kept coming around keen to do robberies, so they made up excuses to drop him off at the home of another accused, Pago Savaiinaea, Falealii's cousin, so he could "pester him".

Sergeant Craig Thomas: "You say all that, yet you carried on doing aggravated robberies with him, simple as that. He carried on shooting."

Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Gutry added: "You knew even before that, that he was firing shots, right back at Forhomes [one of the earlier robberies] ... You knew it was only a matter of time before someone got killed, didn't you?"

Samoa: "I didn't think he had it in him."

Samoa has admitted being involved in a number of robberies, including that of the Pizza Delivery Company in Pakuranga on May 8 last year.

But he denies being involved in the murder of Mr Doig or of ASB Bank teller John Vaughan a week later.

Samoa said he went to the ASB in Mangere Bridge, but maintained he was just a passenger and was not involved in the robbery.

He said he got cold feet and left with Johansson.



Mr Gutry: "You knew that there was not only now a trigger-happy gunman robbing that bank, but that he had already killed.

"And then you met up with him afterwards and got the proceeds of that robbery, didn't you?"

Samoa is seen to nod his head.

Samoa claimed that he had removed the magazine from the cut-down .22 rifle before the pizza parlour robbery, but that Falealii had retrieved it.

"Me and Willie had a brief discussion and we knew that he was trigger-happy," he said.

Mr Gutry: "So when he went and did that robbery that night, you knew that you had a trigger-happy gunman going into that shop, and yet you still helped him commit that robbery."

Samoa: "Well, at the time I didn't even know he had the cartridge back."

Samoa maintained that he was reluctantly involved in the pizza parlour robbery and had tried to dissuade Falealii, who was only supposed to be "having a look".

The jury has heard evidence of 12 robberies, which ended in the deaths of Mr Doig and Mr Vaughan.

Samoa, 28, of Mangere, and Johansson, 27, of Otara, are accused of being involved in the murder of Mr Doig and the attempted murder of the pizza parlour owner, John Wilfred Bell.

They are also accused, along with Savaiinaea, 27, of Otara, of the murder of Mr Vaughan a week later.

Samoa faces five charges of aggravated robbery, having pleaded guilty to four others at the start of the case and another one during the trial, including the robbery of the pizza parlour.

Johansson faces 12 aggravated robbery charges, and Savaiinaea three.

A fourth man, Kenneth Edward Kitiseni, 33, of Manurewa, also faces three aggravated robbery counts.