A high-ranking Mongrel Mob member has taken to the witness stand to give evidence against four Black Power members and affiliates accused of trying to murder him.
Screens were erected and police reinforcements outnumbered spectators at the depositions hearings for Brian Paul Taylor, Anthony Brett Clegg, Matthew Epapara and John McGregor at the Palmerston North District Court on Wednesday.
The four men are charged with attempted murder, aggravated robbery, participating in an organised criminal gang and firearms charges.
Taylor - the leader of Black Power offshoot Mangu Kaha at the time of the February shooting - faces three additional charges of possession of a pistol.
Crown prosecutor Saul Holt said the February 5 attack had been carried out at a time of heightened gang tensions.
It was the day before the first anniversary of the shooting of Black Power affiliate Wallace Whatuira.
Whatuira, 16, had been found shot dead on the front lawn of a Coventry St house.
It is alleged the four men left a party in Highbury and went to the Ferguson St home of the Mongrel Mob boss, Sovite Sua.
There had been talk of "doing something" to mark the first anniversary of Whatuira's death.
After luring him to the door with Mongrel Mob calls of "Sieg", the men shot him in the leg with one round of buckshot.
A second solid shell was fired, missing Mr Sua and lodging in an internal wall in the house.
Mr Sua spent about a week in hospital from his injuries.
Mr Sua told the court that on the day before the shooting, February 4, he had met Taylor while visiting the Palmerston North courthouse.
The pair had spoken about possible tensions between their respective gangs, but had ended their conversation with a handshake.
The four men face an aggravated robbery charge after going to the home of another senior Mongrel Mob member armed with a gun.
They allegedly beat him up, then stole his Mongrel Mob patch.
The man told the court he had awoken on his couch to the sound of "a bang and a twang" and found himself being beaten.
He surrendered his Mongrel Mob patch to his assailants because he feared for the safety of his children, who were also at home.
- NZPA
Special security as gang leader testifies
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