A killing in New Lynn: Steve Braunias at the murder trial of three co-accused

Dylan Harris, Adam North and Jasmine Murray appear in the High Court at Auckland. Photos / Alex Burton

Not one of them, it was stated, did it. None of the three people sitting in a strange formation in the High Court of Auckland, co-accused of an execution-style killing in New Lynn on November 5, 2021, had murdered Robert James Hart, 40, said their lawyers in a tremendously fast statement of denial that lasted all of 19 minutes on Monday morning.

Ron Mansfield, a ubiquitous presence these past few years in criminal proceedings, represented Dylan Harris. The Crown allege Harris shot Hart in the head through his motorcycle helmet at what can be fairly described as point-blank range - to be precise, at a distance of 30 centimetres. “Can I say,” Mansfield told the jury in his opening address, “that what occurred was not an execution. Nothing like it.”

Mansfield has a nasal honking voice. “Can I suggest,” he further honked, “that at the conclusion of this trial, you will be satisfied there was no motive or intent to kill Mr Hart.”

His address came in at 11 minutes. Epic, compared to Sam Wimsett, acting for Adam Malaki North, 40, who the Crown allege was the getaway driver. Wimsett agreed North was the driver of the Suzuki Swift that day. No question about that. “But,” said Wimsett, giving the jury a cheerful smile, “was he a willing or knowing participant to what happened? The defence says no.”

The defence says not much else; Wimsett’s address came in at six minutes. A lifetime, compared to Lorraine Smith, acting for Jasmine Murray, 20, who the Crown allege enticed Hart to meet them. “She knew nothing of any gun or plan to kill Mr [Hart],” said Smith, peering at the jury beneath her bangs. She didn’t peer for long. She spoke for two minutes.

The shooter, the getaway driver, and their young female accomplice - this is the Crown narrative, its powerful casting of the three defendants. Weirdly, these alleged roles are acted out in a kind of mime, or silent choreography, in Courtroom 11, the prettiest courtroom at the High Court - the north-facing window is filled with a plane tree on Parliament Street, an oak tree occupies the east-facing window.

Harris sits in the very middle of a nine-seater row. In the row beneath him, North sits at the extreme right, and Murray at the extreme left. It makes Harris look like a kind of kingpin, superior and on a higher plane to his two subordinate co-accused.

The three of them are the moving parts in a murder trial that the Crown are trying to fix into place.

In her opening address last week, Crown prosecutor Sarah Murphy said Harris “snuck up” behind Hart and wasted him. North and Murray, she said, waited nearby in a getaway car. They all duly did indeed get away that Guy Fawke’s morning (a witness who heard the shot thought it was fireworks) but are back together, in Courtroom 11, as far away from each other as possible in the glassed-in dock - they look like occupants in a stationary vehicle, peering through the windscreen at the passing traffic of their own trial.

Monday was the first day of Crown evidence. Various cops were called and described Hart’s body lying on top of his motorbike; no, they said to Crown prosecutor Robin McCoubrey, he wasn’t moving, no, he didn’t have a pulse, yes, they did notice a gunshot wound.

CCTV evidence is expected to be shown on Wednesday. It will include footage of Harris, the accused shooter, and Hart, his alleged murder victim, that will show both of them in the same driveway for 37 seconds before the shot was fired. “The key 37 seconds,” said Mansfield, in his opening address. And: “That key 37 seconds.” Also, not even needing the adjective: “The 37 seconds.”

Small measurements and vital statistics - 19 minutes to declare three people not guilty of murder, 37 seconds towards a killing, a firing distance of 30cm - in a pretty courtroom.

The trial is set down for a fortnight.