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Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Couple give evidence in Mount Maunganui home invasion trial

Kiri Gillespie
By Kiri Gillespie
Assistant News Director and Multimedia Journalist·Bay of Plenty Times·
22 Jan, 2020 04:00 PM5 mins to read

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Chaliedene Taueki and Maninoa Vincent Felise have each pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggravated robbery and a charge of aggravated burglary.

Chaliedene Taueki and Maninoa Vincent Felise have each pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggravated robbery and a charge of aggravated burglary.

When Philip Lanigan heard a sledgehammer crashing through his front door, he knew he and his wife were "going to be set upon really quickly".

The Mount Maunganui man began giving evidence at Tauranga District Court this week at the trial of two men accused of being involved in a home invasion in the early hours of July 20, 2018.

Chaliedene Taueki and Maninoa Vincent Felise have each pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggravated robbery and a charge of aggravated burglary.

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The Crown says they were part of a group of armed and masked intruders who held Lanigan and his wife at gunpoint, demanding drugs and money in a case of mistaken identity. However, the defence says the two men were not in Tauranga when the event happened.

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Langian told the court he and his wife woke to the sound of grunting and swearing outside their Valley Rd home about 4.15am. Within seconds, the first of at least three loud bangs came from the front door.

Lanigan said he escaped under the garage door, dressed only in his boxers, but went back for wife Jo. He was confronted by a masked man in the hallway, holding a gun three inches from his face.

"He came out and he was pointing ... he was pointing a rifle at me," Lanigan said.

"He said only one thing to me: 'We want the drugs and we want the money.'

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"Facing this guy with a gun, I thought ... this could be it'."

Lanigan said he offered the contents of his safe. He led the man into the bedroom where the safe was and where his screaming wife was lying on the floor with another man standing over her, Lanigan said.

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When they came in they were screaming 'where's the money, where's the drugs, where's the money, where's the drugs'.

The court heard the men were armed with at least one gun, an extendable baton device, a knife and a sledgehammer. They rummaged through each room of the house and damaged property.

"When they looked at us, and saw photographs of grandchildren, they may have been expecting different people in this house. They got a male and female in their 60s. I mean, really? How high does your IQ have to be to see something's wrong with this?" Lanigan said.

The court heard that as Lanigan began trying to open the safe, one of the men said: "If you don't get the safe open in 30 seconds I'm going to kill your f**ken dog."

Yesterday, Jo Lanigan took to the stand, telling the court she clearly recalled seeing four men dressed in black enter her home.

"When they came in they were screaming 'where's the money, where's the drugs, where's the money, where's the drugs'."

She said she grabbed her cellphone from the bedside table and tried to call the police but couldn't see the numbers because it was on night mode. She put the phone down her top as two men entered the room, she said.

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"I was screaming. One of them pushed me down on the floor," she said.

"One gets me down and with one arm he's holding my left shoulder. With his other hand, he's got his whole hand over my face and tells me to 'shut up, or he's going to kill me'. I believe I screamed four times."

Jo Lanigan referred to the man who held her on the ground as "rifle guy", because she said he held a gun.

"He was really in charge, I felt. I said to them 'We're 65 years old, do we really look like we have drugs or money?'

"I said 'you have got the wrong house'."

During the attack, Jo Lanigan's phone dialled a contact while inside her top. The 2.54-minute audio from a voicemail message was played to the jury.

In it, Jo Lanigan's panicked breathing could be heard and muffled men's voices could be made out. Among the instructions were "hurry up" and "where is it".

"You know how they call them butt-calls? This one I call a heart-call," she told the court.

We're 65 years old, do we really look like we have drugs or money?

The court heard that one of the men heard a voice from the phone, snatched it from Jo Lanigan and smashed it with a knife.

The man who had been holding her down then produced a fistful of cable ties.

"I knew what was coming," Jo Lanigan said.

The court heard it was at his point police arrived and the intruders fled. The Lanigans were left alone, and in shock, in their bedroom, she said.

Dark figures were seen jumping the fence and fleeing on foot, pursued by police.

The trial continues.

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