A man police say was William Dwane Bell masqueraded as a police officer after the Mt Wellington-Panmure RSA triple slaying, a jury in the High Court at Auckland heard yesterday.
The man - wearing a police shirt with police badges, and a pair of brown or cream-coloured trousers - caught a
taxi close to the Manukau Institute of Technology in Otara, where a car belonging to the sole surviving victim of the attack, Susan Couch, was abandoned about 8.45am on the day of the killings.
Bell, 24, and Darnell Kere Tupe, 23, have pleaded not guilty to joint charges of murdering Wayne Johnson, Mary Hobson and Bill Absolum last December 8.
They are also charged with the attempted murder of Ms Couch and the aggravated robbery of Ms Couch and the RSA of cigarettes and cash.
Bell faces an additional charge of stealing $4800 from the St George Tavern in Papatoetoe on or about last December 1.
Taxi driver Feiloaiga Vetemotu told the court that the man in the police shirt loaded the boot of his vehicle with two guitar cases and a plastic fish container from a shopping trolley.
On the way to Manukau, the man sat back in the seat, his eyes closed and twice said: "Oh, what a chase."
Mr Vetemotu said he thought the man, who smelled of alcohol and body odour, was referring to police work.
He thought the man might have been an off-duty officer called out to help colleagues. He asked him if he wanted to be dropped off at the Manukau police station, but the man said the station had moved.
Mr Vetemotu said there was no new police station where he let the man out near the Manukau mall.
The man paid the $12 fare with a $20 note and told him to keep the change.
As he was loading his possessions into another shopping trolley, Mr Vetemotu warned him that notes were about to fall out of his trouser pocket, which was "full of money".
The man headed into the mall - the opposite direction he had said he was going.
Cross-examined by Bell's lawyer, Ian Tucker, Mr Vetemotu said he saw no blood on the man's shirt or trousers.
Tokorua Bacon, a part-owner of Speedy Monograms in the Manukau Shopping Centre, told the court that a man wearing a police shirt and brown trousers pushing a shopping trolley asked to use her phone about 9.15am.
She identified Bell as the man in the police shirt.
Mrs Bacon said Bell claimed to be a policeman and had just chased some youths and confiscated stolen property.
Bell said he was ringing base - pointing to the Manukau police station - for someone to pick him up.
He complained to her about police pay and the fact that he did not have his own police car.
While he was in the shop, Mrs Bacon's niece arrived with her boyfriend. Bell and the boyfriend exchanged "high fives" and greeted each other with "Hi, bro."
The trial before Justice Judith Potter continues today.
A man police say was William Dwane Bell masqueraded as a police officer after the Mt Wellington-Panmure RSA triple slaying, a jury in the High Court at Auckland heard yesterday.
The man - wearing a police shirt with police badges, and a pair of brown or cream-coloured trousers - caught a
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