Rebels kidnapping trial: Lawyers for gang pair close cases to jury

A prospect for the Rebels said he was following instructions by patched member Cliff Wharerau and associate Alexander Coe.

A jury of nine women and three men will begin deliberating to consider the fate of two men allegedly involved in the robbery and kidnapping of a man who managed to escape from the boot of a car.

Cliff Wharerau and Alexander Coe are both charged with aggravated robbery, using a firearm against law enforcement, kidnapping, participating in organised crime, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, doing a dangerous act with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and arson.

The trial against the two Rebels gang associates before Justice Michael Robinson at the High Court in Whangārei has faced multiple delays but in week three, Crown lawyer Richard Annadale and defence lawyers Jasper Rhodes and Chris Muston finally closed their cases to the jury.

Wharerau is a known member of the Rebels MC gang while Coe, who has a Rebels tattoo on his leg, maintains he is not a patched member of the gang.

The jury heard evidence that in the days leading up to Labour weekend 2020, Coe and Wharerau are alleged to have been planning a robbery targeting a bank and an Armourguard truck.

Together with a young prospect, *David, the trio allegedly scoped out Northland, arranged a decoy car and rehearsed practice runs to execute their criminal plan.

However, the plan took a turn on the evening of October 26, when they were allegedly travelling in a Honda Odyssey near Waipapa and saw a “side hustle” opportunity and allegedly decided to rob a man in a parked Nissan Skyline.

The Crown said they disguised their appearance then forced the man out of his vehicle at gunpoint, blindfolded him and made him lie on the ground while they took his phone, keys and bank card.

With the victim in the backseat of the car, Coe and Wharerau allegedly drove the victim’s car to ATMs around Northland to get cash from his bank account. At some point, his wrists were bound and he was moved to the boot of the vehicle.

The shot was fired directly at the police officer, who was saved only by the car's windscreen.

In the early hours of the following morning, the victim managed to escape the boot of the car in Matauri Bay and sought help from a local resident.

After searching for the escaped victim, Coe, Wharerau and David allegedly headed back to the mid-North area but as they were driving along Puketona Rd towards Kerikeri, they noticed a marked police car driving behind them.

The Crown says the men stopped the Nissan Skyline in front of the police officer and exited with firearms, one firing a shot that hit the windscreen.

It is alleged that after fleeing the scene, they set fire to the Skyline and returned to Auckland, leaving a trail of evidence.

The star witness

In Crown closing, Richard Annandale relayed a narrative of organised crime involving Coe, Wharerau and their prospect *David.

David took five days to give evidence and told the jury he was prospecting because he was broke and when he went to meet with Coe and Wharerau, a firearm was present.

“The defence would have you believe David is some conniving, criminal mastermind.

“He said he didn’t want a patch but he was broke. The purpose of the trip was to go and get money because of his financial situation at the time,” Annandale said.

David told the court that when they fell asleep in Matauri Bay and their victim escaped, he realised “we’re f*****”.

CCTV footage shown to the jury showed David filling the car and running in and out of petrol stations in what Annandale said was evidence of someone who was beneath Coe and Wharerau.

After five days off the radar, David returned home to a furious partner with no money and told her the plan with Coe and Wharerau had taken a turn.

When police came knocking on David’s door two months later, he broke gang code and spoke with police for three days about the weekend he spent in Northland with Coe and Wharerau.

“He snitched.

“He told police about his criminal actions and told police about the involvement of Coe and Wharerau.

“Putting himself in some serious jeopardy from several perspectives, he just admitted being involved, he just snitched on Coe and Wharerau.

“Snitches get stitches,” Annandale said.

Annandale said the Crown case did not rely solely on David’s evidence but the mountain of circumstantial evidence to back up David’s statement.

“They left a trail of breadcrumbs with the trio thinking they were smart enough to get away with it, but they led police right to their doorsteps.”

Crown solicitor at Whangārei, Richard Annandale, has led the prosecution in the High Court trial against Coe and Wharerau. Photo / Sam Hurley

The case for Coe

Lawyer for Coe, Jasper Rhodes, challenged the credibility of the key witness and questioned the police objective of the investigation.

Rhodes said there were inconsistent parts of David’s statements and that he was also unreliable and “outright dishonest”.

“He’s lying about his role, he’s talking to police.

“Get in first, get in early, give the police what they want and you’ll get looked after.

“He was a useless prospect who couldn’t be trusted,” Rhodes told the jury.

Rhodes said that during the five days David went awol, he fabricated a story to his partner, who was furious he had disappeared, as a convenient lie to avoid trouble.

Regarding David’s arrest in December, Rhodes said this was someone who “was caught red-handed” and he had stuck to the story he told his partner.

Rhodes suggested David’s motivation was to protect himself at any cost, even if it meant telling multiple provable lies.

Rhodes argued the investigation took a “biased” turn when a DNA sample on a bullet cartridge found on the road by the police car matched Wharerau, triggering a narrow focus on any evidence police could find that the accused had been in the North.

“They didn’t look at any other alternatives. They’ve focused on things that support their case and ignored things that don’t,” Rhodes said.

“You need to be sure before you convict someone who is presumed innocent.”

The case for Wharerau

Lawyer for Wharerau, Chris Muston, closed his case by saying there was no evidence Wharerau was planning to do a hit on an Armourguard truck or a bank.

Muston also questioned evidence the kidnapping victim had given that he identified a man who had taken him as having a tattoo on his arm.

“We are in Northland, there are a lot of men with tattoos on their forearms.

“There have been no photos presented of tattoos, so where does that take you? It’s a loose end,” Muston said.

Muston argued the DNA match on the cartridge also did not prove his client was there at the time of the shooting, as the cartridge could have been lying in the drain for some time.

He was also critical of the prospect witness and submitted to the same effect as Rhodes, that the prospect witness was not to be trusted.

“He’s not credible and he’s not reliable. The witness seeks to minimise his involvement in the offending.

“It is his [Wharerau’s] case he had no part in the offending.”

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.