Wellsford murder: Desmond Bourne sentenced for shooting death of Zane Smith

A man who said he was blacked out drunk on the evening he repeatedly fired an illegal semi-automatic weapon into the cab of an SUV – out of misguided fear, he claimed, for his own safety – had his explanation rejected by a judge today as he was sentenced for murder.

Desmond Lawrence Bourne, 48, stood in the High Court at Auckland dock wearing a black hoodie as Justice Timothy Brewer ordered him to serve a life sentence with a minimum period of imprisonment of 12 years. He was also ordered to serve a concurrent sentence of three years for injuring his friend, Scott Fowles, in the November 2020 shooting.

The decision was immediately followed by a supporter of Bourne kissing the glass partition, another man barking and a woman pointing her cane at others as people began to yell at each other.

Bourne was found guilty of both charges by a jury last month, while his girlfriend Serene Tilsley was acquitted of being an accessory after the fact to murder.

Authorities said he shot Zane Smith, 37, in the cab of Smith’s SUV as the victim sold methamphetamine to Fowles and Bourne while parked at an intersection near Wellsford.

Bourne claimed he had consumed “the better part” of a bottle of whiskey that day and was also on drugs. His first coherent memories of the night were of being attacked by Fowles in the vehicle before the drug deal, he said. It prompted him later to grab the weapon from under a seat in his vehicle and fire blindly, he contended.

“He’s devastated by the loss and grief he’s caused,” defence lawyer Shane Tate told the judge today. “He wasn’t angry at the time. He wasn’t motivated by a drug debt.”

But the judge bluntly dismissed the defence suggestion it was a reckless action rather than an intentional one.

“You shot and killed Zane Smith,” he told the defendant. “My conclusion is that you did that deliberately.”

Crown prosecutors Brett Tantrum and Danielle Houghton suggested the real motive for the shooting was Bourne’s festering resentment over a drug deal months earlier in which he was the one selling GBL to Smith. The deal went sour when Smith said the Class B drug was of poor quality and refused to pay the final $1000.

“In my view, you harboured resentment,” the judge agreed, noting that Fowles had tried to steer the transaction to a public place that evening and later told Bourne to stay in their vehicle because he also feared anger between the two might boil over.

Zane Smith was shot and killed by Desmond Bourne near Wellsford in November 2020. Photo / Supplied

But Bourne didn’t listen to the friend’s advice, grabbing the gun and approaching the vehicle where Fowles was sitting in the passenger seat and Smith was still wearing his seatbelt in the driver’s seat.

“You shouted to Mr Smith, ‘Where the f... is my money?’” the judge noted today as he read aloud the facts of the case. “You then fired into the front of the vehicle.”

The first bullet went through the windscreen. Neither victim was directly hit, but fragments lodged in Fowles’ chest. Bleeding, he scrambled out of the vehicle and ran away, hearing four more shots after a distinct pause.

The fatal shot, which pierced the driver’s side door before hitting Smith, must have been fired from no more than a few metres away, the judge surmised.

He described the evidence at trial as “overwhelming” that Bourne knew Smith was in the vehicle and he intended to kill him. But he disagreed with prosecutors that the shooting was planned.

“I think you were disinhibited by alcohol and drugs,” he said.

Murder generally carries a minimum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years. Prosecutors had asked the judge to impose a minimum term of 17 years, which is allowed under the law for murders found to have been committed with a high level of brutality, cruelty, depravity or callousness. The judge disagreed that the murder was more brutal than other killings.

Desmond Lawrence Bourne has been sentenced for the murder of Zane Smith. Photo / Police

The defence asked for a minimum term of 11 years, while the Crown sought a sentence, if the 17-year minimum wasn’t to be imposed, of between 13 and 13½ years. Justice Brewer settled on a 10-year starting point, with two years added due to the “significant aggravating feature” that his actions could very easily have resulted in Fowles’ death as well.

Smith was remembered by family today as someone with an at-times silly sense of humour who was also known for his brutal honesty and his willingness to stand up for the underdog.

“He was the most amazing man in every way possible,” his fiancee said in a victim impact statement read aloud by prosecutors. “He was loyal, honest and stood by his morals.

“He was truly one of a kind and I absolutely adored him.”

His mother noted that Smith was her only child. He had developed a drug addiction as a teen but reached out to her in his late 20s wanting help, she recalled. After much hard work, he managed to stay clean for seven years, but his resolve started to crumble after he was made redundant from his longtime job.

Despite that, he still had hopes and dreams and was very much loved, she said.

“I’m tortured constantly by imagining his last minutes,” she told the judge as Bourne sat behind her in the dock. “These thoughts destroy me every single day.

“I will never be whole again. I am a mother without a child. My sense of identity and purpose is gone.”

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.