A former North Harbour rugby player has described how he tied a man's hands, covered his head and forced him face down on to a garage floor while the man begged for help.
Kenneth Bracken, 25, gave evidence in the High Court trial at Whangarei yesterday in which his half-brother, 35-year-old Wayne James Bracken, is charged with kidnapping and murdering Jack Davis on February 25, last year.
Neville Joseph Dangen, 24, is also on trial for the murder and kidnapping of Mr Davis.
Mr Davis' body was found in scrub off the remote Wairakau bush track on the northern side of the Whangaroa Harbour. The Crown has told the jury Mr Davis was killed with a thistle grubber.
A packed public gallery and the jury of six men and six women heard how Kenneth Bracken, who has been granted immunity by the Solicitor General, bound Mr Davis as Wayne Bracken stood over them wielding a thistle grubber.
"Jack was begging me to try and get me to help him. He was going 'Please bro, please bro'. I couldn't do anything," Kenneth Bracken said. "Wayne had it (thistle grubber) cocked back as if he was ready to swing and he was threatening Jack to get down. I did what Wayne asked and tied him up with some strops."
Dangen had been in the garage but when he asked to leave, Wayne Bracken allowed him to exit.
Mr Davis was then marched to a woolshed on the farm belonging to Dangen on Salvation Rd, near Kaeo.
"He (Wayne Bracken) made me hog tie Jack and tie him to a railing so he couldn't move. He was standing over me making sure I was tying his hands tight so he couldn't get away."
They left Mr Davis in the woolshed and arranged to meet a mate Mano Warmington - who was also the partner of their sister Georgina - at Waipapa near Kerikeri.
After meeting with him, they drove to a boat ramp on the northside of Whangaroa Harbour where Wayne Bracken "started freaking out" and saying their father had told him in a dream that Mano was going to kill him.
They left there and were heading to a friend's place where Wayne Bracken said he was going to get a firearm. Kenneth Bracken said he was freaked out and started crying. He also said his brother had smoked P twice, only hours before they tied Mr Davis.
Kenneth Bracken told the court he had attended Kerikeri High School, where he won a rugby league scholarship to St Pauls in Auckland. He changed played rugby union for the North Harbour development squad then the senior side in the NPC.
Wayne Bracken faces additional charges of aggravated robbery, assault with intent to injure and unlawfully entering a building, all relating to separate events between January 1 and February 25, 2011. Dangen is also charged with receiving a boat worth in excess of $1000.