Attack left Jones brain-dead, court told

Glen Jones, 40, died after an attack at his Featherston home last January.

A disabled Wairarapa supermarket worker was bashed so severely he was brain-dead, according to evidence from an intensive-care specialist at the trial of a group of people accused of his murder.

Glen Jones, 40, died after an attack at his Featherston home in January last year.

Five people are on trial before Justice Alan MacKenzie and a jury in the High Court at Wellington.

Four of the five - Kristofer Jones, 23, Tariana Jones, 33, Matthew McKinney, 29, and Hayden Ranson, 28 - have been charged with Mr Jones' murder.

A fifth person, Toni Miller, 23, is standing trial on a charge of aggravated burglary with a wooden bat and an axe handle.

A statement of evidence from Christopher Poynter, who saw Mr Jones when he was taken into the Wellington Regional Hospital on the morning of the attack, said he had a severe open head wound and facial injuries.

His pupils were also fixed and dilated indicating brain death, according to the statement from Dr Poynter - an intensive care-specialist at Capital and Coast District Health Board.

"It was agreed that Glen was brain-dead."

The Crown case is that Mr Jones was attacked by the four defendants charged with murder in his Featherston flat, while Miller waited on the street.

The attack was in retaliation for the alleged rape of a woman, Crown Prosecutor Grant Burston said.

The woman, who was known to the group, had made a complaint of rape with the police the month before Mr Jones was attacked.

She said he had raped her at his flat when she went there to drop off some mail the previous month.

The court has been told Mr Jones had some disabilities, including learning difficulties and epilepsy.

He lived independently at his small flat on Fitzherbert St and had worked at a supermarket for 15 years.

The trial continues.APNZ