Bairds Rd shooting murder trial: Female tried tackling killer after two shots fired, teenager said

The murder trial comes after a man was shot dead and another injured in the Bairds Rd commotion late one night in February 2020. Photo / NZME

A teenager in a getaway car said he was told to "go, go, go" after his trusted friend and a mystery man were involved in a chaotic fatal shooting at a suburban house.

Timothy Kahurangi Huriwaka has pleaded not guilty to murder and not guilty to one charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Joseph Ngamu was shot in the stomach last year at the Ōtara unit and survived, but a man who has name suppression died after a bullet pierced his heart and lungs.

Today, the High Court in Auckland was shown a police interview with a teenager who drove the car shortly before and after the February 28 shooting.

"I was just chilling. They just came and picked me up. They knew I had a licence. They needed a driver."

The teenager said three people arrived at his house in Huriwaka's car. The three were a younger teenager, and Huriwaka, and Michael Keith Robinson.

"Tim just directed me where to go," he told Counties Manukau police five days after the shooting, referring to Huriwaka.

The teen said he hadn't previously met Robinson, whom he referred to as Mike or Mikey.

He said the group went in Huriwaka's car to a Bairds Rd address, although he didn't know the reason for the journey.

"All I really knew was, it was for Mikey's sake."

At the South Auckland unit, with the car in the driveway and its bonnet facing the road, Huriwaka and Robinson left and told the teens to wait.

"We heard two shots, 10 or 15 seconds apart. We knew there was a gun but didn't know where it was."

The driver said he saw Robinson running with a female in pursuit trying to tackle him, before Huriwaka pulled her off.

"That Mikey fulla sprinted to the car and Tim was trying to carry on talking."

A person talking to Huriwaka at the Bairds Rd unit sounded drunk, he said.

The young driver said the two men then returned to the car.

"Everyone was afraid. Tim was more wanting to know what was going on as well. We all were confused except for that Mike fulla."

Robinson lost a shoe during the commotion, police were told.

"He was telling us to go, go, go."

The presence of Robinson in the car caused paranoia, the teen said.

"If anything, I wanted to get far from him, away from him. I didn't know him and he had just shot someone."

The driver said he felt "uncomfortable peer pressure" and had known and trusted Huriwaka, but he and the other teen had no clue a shooting would occur.

Jurors have heard Robinson already pleaded guilty to murder, and to wounding with intent to cause GBH.

Prosecutor David Stevens said although Huriwaka was not the primary offender, he was a party to the shooting, and responsible for events that night.

Stevens suggested Huriwaka had a grudge against someone linked to the property, as that person went to police a year before, accusing Huriwaka of wrongdoing.

But defence counsel Shane Cassidy said this was nonsensical, in part because the two men shot had nothing to do with the police complaint.

Cassidy said there was no plan involving Huriwaka, and Robinson acted alone.

Jurors have been told the man who died was shot in the chest when trying to help Ngamu.

The trial before Justice Gerard van Bohemen continues.