The Crown alleges Brady hit him with his ute intentionally, after issues between the pair escalated in the days before.
A slew of text messages from Brady to multiple phones was brought into evidence, sparked by a message Baldwin had written on Brady’s letterbox on July 29.
“Baldhead. Shanonuts. Dope grower, pay your dues or the mighty notorious will take it all,” the message said.
Brady sent a photo of the letterbox message to a person saved in his phone as JB. The Crown has not been able to locate this person.
For the next two days, JB and Brady exchanged a flurry of messages as they searched for Baldwin.
“lock you self in I get text to you whereabouts? I go see wharf til he shows stay home patient wait,” JB sent to Brady.
Other messages were sent from JB with “eyes out” for Baldwin in Ōpononi, walking along the road and at the wharf.
JB encouraged Baldwin to relax and that he would “move tonight and try fix”.
“I not sure how this will play out but won’t be good I think,” JB sent to Brady just after midnight on August 1.
Brady also sent messages to other locals letting them know he was “f**** s******” and ”c**** over when I find him”.
One of those associates texted him back; “Shoot the f*****”.
Brady and Baldwin had a shared associate, Bridget Taylor, relaying messages between the two.
“You better tell shanonuts, the louder he cries the better! Because ill be sending the dogs in tomorrow!! he obvioulsy thinks ima joke with no army so just in case you had doubt!,” Baldwin’s text - forwarded to Brady - said.
“Our army did juggo and our army did andy dunn! I will be passing shanonuts address to them to take everything even him if they have to no f***** joke you save carol you cant save him.”
Baldwin also sent Taylor two further messages on the morning of his death.
“Your b**** is a slow learner he told me to f* up from his whare and told him I was coming down on home invasion charges,” sent at 7.45am.
“If you got his number it will cost 1 ounce a harvest or I call the dogs in,” sent at 7.57am.
The last text from Brady’s phone was sent to JB at 7.53am on August 1.
“He just walked past down to shop.”
Baldwin was hit by a vehicle shortly after.
Brady’s lawyer Jasper Rhodes told the jury it was known locally that Baldwin would walk in front of cars and his client did not intend to hit him.
The trial continues before Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith.
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.
