Crash victim injured in hours before tragedy

By TONY WALL

A rookie security guard who died with the stepfather of All Black legend Michael Jones when their cars collided in Auckland last weekend appears to have been seriously assaulted before the smash.

Armourguard worker Nathan Martin, aged 22, was caked in blood, covered in grazes and in a state of shock when he got behind the wheel of his car in the loading dock at his workplace, the Herald, in downtown Auckland early on Sunday.



A colleague's efforts to find out what was wrong were met with silence.

Mr Martin slept in the red Mazda RX7 for about 15 minutes before driving off.

Two hours later, he and Jim Wearne-Jones, stepfather of the former All Black, were fatally injured when their cars collided head-on in Great North Rd, Waterview.

Police have ordered pathology tests to determine whether head injuries might have caused Mr Martin to black out in the car.

Armourguard worker Ken Shankland, 64, who was on duty at the Herald on Saturday night, said Mr Martin was off-duty but had parked his car there about 1 am, saying he was going for a walk.

He was his normal happy self and had not been drinking. He returned about 90 minutes later in an "unbelievable" state.

"He was virtually covered in blood," Mr Shankland said.

"He had grazes all over his body. His eyes were wide open and he was sweating - he was in a state of fear."

Mr Martin would not say what was wrong, but Mr Shankland assumed he had been beaten.

He sat in his car and fell asleep, so Mr Shankland continued his patrols.

Mr Shankland said he had not called 111 because the situation was not life-threatening.

He was considering asking a colleague to take Mr Martin to hospital when he drove away.

Mr Martin had been a security guard for only six weeks.

He was a keen boxer and had a three-year-old daughter, Allazee.

His mother, Frances Carnell, said concussion might help to explain the accident.

"We can't fathom it. He was always such a careful driver," she said.

The officer in charge of the case, Senior Sergeant Keith Brady, said police were trying to piece together the "missing" hours after Mr Martin parked his car, and after he drove off injured from the Herald building.

He appealed for information from anyone who saw Mr Martin in the downtown area after midnight on Saturday or driving his distinctive car with chrome mag wheels towards West Auckland.

The death of Mr Wearne-Jones, 68, who was on his way to pick up a friend to take to the airport when the smash happened, was a second tragedy for Michael Jones.

His mother, Maina Wearne-Jones, was killed in a crash in Kenya in 1997.

Jones was a pallbearer at his stepfather's funeral yesterday. "Pop is with his Lord - that's our comfort."

He had been in Italy with the Manu Samoa rugby team and was at Heathrow Airport when he got news of his stepfather's death.

Jones said his stepfather had been married three times - to an Italian Dalmatian, a Samoan and a Chinese - and had tried to help those communities in New Zealand.

At the funeral were several rugby personalities, including Olo Brown, Joe Stanley, Eroni Clarke and John Hart.