When a Tribesmen gang leader found out one of his members had been stealing money from the gang’s bank account, he allegedly said the thief “needed to be killed”.
And that was what happened, Crown Solicitor Richard Jenson told the jury in the High Court at Hamilton after detailing the hotbox attack in which Mark “Shark” Hohua was “beaten to death”.
Jenson today delivered his closing statement to the jury in relation to the murder-accused – Tribesmen Aotearoa gang president Conway Rapana, vice-president Heremaia Gage, patched members Ngahere Tapara and Te Patukino Biddle, and prospect Dean Collier – and their fatal “hotbox” attack in June 2022.
A hotbox is when a gang delivers a beating to one of its members.
The court earlier heard how the hotbox was organised to happen at Rapana’s property in Hodges Rd, Waimana, Eastern Bay of Plenty, where he lived with his partner and children.
The assault was ordered, Jenson claimed, after Rapana found out Hohua had spent about $2000 buying a PlayStation 4, 43-inch television, sound bar, gaming headset, Bluetooth speaker and a Casio G-Shock watch from online website Layaway.
Hohua had set up an automatic payment for instalments to come from the gang’s bank account.
Jenson pointed to Rapana’s phone records from the day he found out, which showed him immediately ringing around the gang.
He tried Biddle twice, then Collier, then unsuccessfully tried Hohua twice, and Gage.
“From the moment he learned Mr Hohua had been taking money, Mr Rapana almost immediately began to arrange for there to be a punishment,” Jenson said.
“It’s apparent that each of the other four defendants became aware of that and ... they were committed to being involved and carrying out Mr Rapana’s wishes: that Mr Hohua suffer serious violence in the form of a hiding.
“Mr Hohua was killed as a result of the collective actions of the five defendants ... angry at him taking the money from the gang account.”
Jenson also referred to another witness who claimed to hear Rapana say, “someone was going to have to kill Mr Hohua”.
Jenson said all the defendants were either involved or complicit in what happened.
The Crown didn’t have to point out who caused Hohua’s fatal injury, “but there was ample evidence that it was one of them”.
As for Biddle, he’d suffered a hand injury and told a witness it had “come from Shark”.
He was the Sergeant at Arms of the gang and “amped up that morning” and a “real driver” of the discipline, Jenson said.
At the start of the trial, Biddle pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter on the basis of admitting he had assaulted Hohua but that the victim suffered his fatal injury after falling down some concrete stairs on the property.
Jenson said that was “at best... a suggestion without any credible or reliable evidence to support it”.
Mention of the fall was discovered in a covert recording of a phone conversation Biddle had 10 days after Hohua’s death.
“He suggests that it was all an accident and then gives a somewhat bizarre and exaggerated account of this fall.
“Not only a fall, but Mr Hohua running into a post down the driveway, throwing rocks at people, none of which we heard from anyone else at trial.
“Those aspects of the phone call are obvious embellishments to his friend ... it was just an invention to give some basis that it was all just an accident and that Mr Biddle isn’t to blame.”
He was also seen celebrating afterwards with Tapara.
Jenson warned the jury about Tapara’s evidence “having credibility issues”, because in his police interview he threw Biddle under the bus, hoping that what he was telling police was “enough to get the c***” in an attempt to save the rest of the gang.
However, it did prove that he was present at the river, so he “has actually drawn some truth to fit his lies”.
Tapara had also told a witness he “got a couple of hits in”.
Tapara, together with Collier, drove Hohua to Whakatāne Hospital.
Collier was present at all three scenes at the property related to the attack: the shed, the deck and the river, Jenson submitted.
Biddle and Gage were also at the shed and Collier’s role was to stop Hohua from being able to leave.
Jenson accepted that Gage didn’t go to the river but was involved in the shed’s hotbox.
Collier had told a witness there were “multiple hotboxes” delivered that day.
He acknowledged it was “rats***” what happened to Hohua but said it was justified, given he’d stolen money from the gang.
“This was an ongoing, violent assault on Mr Hohua that started in the shed, continued on the deck, and finished at the river,” Jenson said.
“Mr Hohua has effectively been beaten to death.”
Defence counsel closing submissions will continue tomorrow.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.