Abel Wira is on trial in the High Court at Whangārei, accused of the manslaughter of Neville Thomson (inset) in August 2022.
A pack of dogs that mauled a man to death had a reputation for lunging at visitors, attacking livestock and even allegedly turned on their owner – resulting in him needing a trip to the emergency department.
Despite their history, Abel Wira kept at least 21 dogs confined to a caravan on Neville Thomson’s property – until the morning they allegedly broke free and fatally mauled the man he called his brother.
Now the 61-year-old is on trial in the High Court at Whangārei on charges of manslaughter and owning a dog that caused injury or death.
On day two of the trial the jury heard from Wira’s friend Daniel Knopp, who said he’d come across the pack at least six times.
“They were vicious-looking dogs.
“[I] had to wind the window up so they didn’t jump in the window ‘cause they were bailing up the truck.”
Knopp said the dogs were often in the caravan fighting with each other and he noticed the door was only secured by a log.
“It wasn’t that secure, I don’t think it was, just leaning up against it, dogs could probably push it open,” Knopp said.
Knopp also recalled a story Wira had allegedly told of his own dangerous encounter with the dogs.
“One time he told me his own dogs attacked him. He was saying it was on the beach and he had to go in the water to try and drown them to get them off him.”
The jury heard on Monday that Wira had been staying at Thomson’s Puketawa Rd property in Panguru in a caravan with his dogs.
At least six of the dogs were adults and the rest were at varying stages of puppy life.
On August 4, 2022, Wira went out to retrieve a car he had crashed weeks beforehand and then went to Broadwood to pick up items, including dog food.
Thomson was home alone and on the phone to his partner when the pack of dogs, which were allegedly barricaded in the caravan, got out and mauled him to death.
Wira arrived home to discover Thomson’s body, which he dragged into the house and covered with a blanket before sending a friend a Facebook message.
“I need help bro please my dogs have attacked my bro and hes gone please bro,” he said.
He then locked the dogs in a truck, closed the gate and drove Thomson’s truck an hour away to Ahipara, where he was able to wave down police officers.
Emergency services arrived on the scene more than three hours after the incident and pronounced Thomson dead.
Thomson’s partner Shirley Orchard gave evidence about their 17-year relationship, which was mostly long-distance.
Orchard lived in Auckland and would speak to Thomson on the phone every morning when he had his morning coffee.
She said on that morning, about 10am, he was chatting about his garden and she could hear that he was outside.
With her knowledge of the property, she believes Thomson was walking along the gravel towards the back of the house and the dogs, which were locked in the caravan, caught sight of him.
“They started off barking, as soon as he walked into sight of the caravan, they thought he was a stranger because he had shaved off his beard,” Orchard said in evidence.
“The barking all started up and got louder and that was when I heard him shout out ‘get out, get the f*** out’ then the noise escalated from the dogs and I never heard not another sound out of him.”
During cross-examination, defence lawyer Connor Taylor suggested to Orchard that Thomson himself may have released the dogs from the caravan.
“I’m not a stupid woman, as soon as he walked into sight of those dogs they busted out of the caravan and attacked him,” Orchard responded.
“You’re just guessing, aren’t you?” Connor questioned.
“The evidence is he was attacked by dogs, whether he was by the fish pond or I’m making it all up the fact was, he was out in the garden and he was hurt by dogs,” Orchard said.
Orchard then gave evidence she spent the next hour trying to contact Thomson and asked a neighbour, Lucy Burkhardt, to check on his house.
When Burkhardt texted her saying the gate was closed, Thomson felt a slight relief as it was his normal habit to close the gate if he had left the property.
“That’s a good sign, he’s out and not lying in a pool of blood maybe he’s in Rawene getting stitched up,” she texted back to Burkhardt.
Orchard assumed Thomson was okay but made a call to 111 as a safety check.
The call was played to the jury.
“The dogs are going off for quite a while and I couldn’t hear him then the dogs have settled down.
“Those dogs have actually attacked me and I know they haven’t been fed for two days. I thought ‘my God have they attacked him?’ I’ve got no way of knowing,” Orchard told the operator.
When asked what kind of dogs they were, Orchard responded “mongrels”.
Burkhart gave evidence the dogs had mauled her pig’s ears on one occasion.
The trial continues before Justice Andrew Becroft.
Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.