Crown says video shows car being used as 'lethal weapon'

Garrath Richard Collings has gone on trial in the High Court at Christchurch charged with murder over an incident in which a man was crushed by a car. Photo / Herald

Video footage of the moment the Crown alleges Garath Richard Collings used his car as a lethal weapon has been shown to a High Court jury.

The jury in the High Court at Christchurch was warned beforehand about the graphic nature of the 1min 20sec video.

Crown prosecutor Aaron Harvey said the surveillance camera footage from a nearby property had sound and the victim - Robin Friend - could be heard screaming.

Harvey said the video would be analysed during the trial, and also played in slow motion.

Collings, 42, has pleaded not guilty to the charge of murdering Friend in the incident in Four Elms Place, in the Christchurch suburb of Parklands, on July 30, 2020. The jury was told he had offered to plead guilty to manslaughter, but the murder trial is continuing.

The Crown said it was not in dispute at the trial that Collings was driving the vehicle, but the central element in the case will be Collings' intentions.

Harvey said murder could either be an intentional killing, or when someone intended to cause bodily injury and continued with their actions knowing that there was a risk that death could happen.

After the jury was selected, the start of the trial was delayed while all members were tested for Covid-19. The trial before Justice Cameron Mander is scheduled to take up to two weeks.

Harvey said in his Crown opening that Collings had used his vehicle as a "lethal weapon".

Collings had gone to the Parklands address after a woman requested to be picked up. There had apparently been an earlier confrontation between Collings and Friend.

Collings stopped on the road, the woman got into the car, and Friend then came up to the car and spoke to the woman. He then walked around to the driver's window to speak to Collings.

As he walked back to the house past the front of the car, the car suddenly accelerated, pitching him up onto the bonnet. The car then drives off the road, and crashes into a roadside power box. All to this is shown on the video.

Collings then backed up and drove away. He consulted a lawyer and gave himself up to the police later in the day.

Neighbours tried to help Friend, who had been crushed by the vehicle. Pathologist Martin Sage would give evidence in the trial that his crush injuries were not survivable.

Harvey pointed to the video showing the car suddenly accelerating and turning towards Friend as he walked away. It never braked until it crashed into the power box and stopped.

In the defence opening statement, Olivia Jarvis said Collings would have pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter, but she said he was not guilty of murder. He did not intend to murder Friend and he did not consider or see the consequences of his actions in an incident that was over in seconds.

The focus of the trial would be on what Collings' intentions were at the relevant time. "We say he did not have the necessary murderous intent, and therefore he is not guilty of murder."

She urged the jury to consider the evidence coldly and dispassionately. "It is critical that your reaction to that video does not overwhelm you," said Jarvis.

The trial is continuing.