But a trial for his five co-defendants went ahead this week anyway, with Crown prosecutors Robin McCoubrey and Sam Teppett saying Marcus Nielson, Fred Tanuvasa, Tyran Panapa, Paraire Paikea and a man with continuing name suppression should also be convicted of discharging a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm because they were in on the plan.
It’s very unlikely members of both gangs ended up at the $429 per night hotel by happenstance, McCoubrey told jurors today during his closing address.
“It’s an utterly bizarre hotel trip,” he said, pointing out that the defendants who spent the night in the hotel were there only one night, during which they didn’t seem to go out, had only one bag between them and took advantage of none of the hotel’s facilities.
“They’re not there to have a facial in the spa,” he said. “They’re not there to have cucumber sandwiches at high tea. They’re there to do a job.
“... Why else are five Head Hunters gathering in a five-star hotel?”
The confrontations had started a week earlier when police said the Head Hunters “firebombed” a motorcycle shop with strong connections to the Mongols. A Head Hunters-run gym was soon thereafter shot at, then a home belonging to a Mongols member and ultimately the Head Hunters’ gang pad in Mt Wellington.
None of the defendants have been charged with the previous incidents but it gives context to their thought process on the morning they converged on the hotel, prosecutors argued.
“I’m not overdramatising this ... but can you think of a more provocative act than shooting up the gang pad?” McCoubrey asked. “It’s the stuff of movies, frankly. That cried out for a response, and it got a response.”
While the previous incidents had involved rivals’ addresses, the group was furious enough to escalate the violence to “a new level” by moving it to a highly public place, he said.
“It was almost inevitable that the discharge of a firearm ... was going to happen,” McCoubrey said. “Few things could be as foreseeable ... This is what the plan was and they carried it out. It is what it looks like, and these five men are guilty.”
But lawyers for three of the five defendants responded today that the case is far from open-and-shut.
Common sense suggested a far more likely scenario was that Reihana acted alone as the gunman without any discussion beforehand with the other men, they said.
“Mr Reihana is just a numbskull. He’s dumb,” said lawyer Simon Lance, who represents gang prospect Tyran Panapa. “He’s not here - he’s not going to take offence to it.”
He went on to describe the confessed shooter as “stupid”, a “dummy” and “impulsive” and “trying to be the man on the spur of the moment” as he sought to impress his mates.
While the Crown’s theory about what happened that morning is “eloquent” it’s still just a theory, Lance said.
“No one ever in any court should be convicted on a theory,” he said.
Lawyers also urged jurors to follow Justice Simon Moore’s instructions about setting aside all pre-conceived prejudices about gang members.
“The Head Hunters are not on trial here,” noted lawyer Peter Kaye, who represents Nielson, a gang associate who was alleged to have been in a getaway ute parked in a loading zone outside the hotel for two hours before the shooting occurred.
Even if thoughts of the Head Hunters leave “a nasty taste in your mouth”, jurors must “completely forget it” when it comes to deliberations, he emphasised.
He and others pointed out that some of the defendants had been under heavy surveillance by police and there were no texts or calls congratulating each other on a job well done or referring to a shared plan.
“The Crown says don’t despair - just engage in some guesswork,” added lawyer James Olsen, who represents the patched member with name suppression.
He described the case against his client as “a house of cards built on inferences”, relying on prejudices about gang members to fill in gaps that prosecutors were required but unable to prove.
“The spirited closing did little to overcome the overwhelming lack of evidence in this case,” he said.
Lawyers for two more defendants are expected to give their closing addresses on Monday morning before Justice Moore sums up the case and jury deliberations begin.
