Shane Hoko was no good Samaritan, no saviour, but a one-armed strangler who killed a young woman hitch-hiker in a South Auckland ditch, a prosecutor told the High Court at Auckland yesterday.
In his closing address to the jury, Crown counsel Richard Marchant said there was overwhelming evidence that Hoko killed
17-year-old Jennifer Hargreaves in Cuff Rd in broad daylight last December 3.
Hoko, 32, of Papakura, denies charges of murder and aggravated wounding, relating to pulling a gun on motorist Brett Muirson, who tried to intervene.
Hoko acknowledged to the jury that he panicked and produced the gun, but he says the real killer was Shane Matthews, who had already fled the scene, leaving him with the dead woman when Mr Muirson arrived.
But the Crown maintains that by the time Ms Hargreaves was killed in the watery ditch, Mr Matthews, who was initially with Hoko, was already home in Glen Eden, in West Auckland.
Mr Marchant described Ms Hargreaves as naive and trusting; getting into Hoko's car was a "fatal decision" on her part.
He said that what Mr Muirson and his sons came across was Ms Hargreaves in the process of being strangled.
"He is her killer, not a good Samaritan, not the saviour that he might suggest that he was when Mr Muirson turned up."
Wouldn't a good Samaritan have tried to get her out of the water, called for help on his cell phone, gone to a nearby orchard for help, or called out to Mr Muirson that something was wrong?
At first Hoko tried to make it look like they were a couple engaged in a "bit of romance", said Mr Marchant. Then he went for his gun.
"The only person who would pull a gun on people who were coming to help would be the murderer," he said.
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Defence counsel Barry Hart told the jury that the person who killed Ms Hargreaves was someone with two arms, strong and violent. He said Mr Matthews best fitted that profile.
Mr Hart said Mr Matthews' alibi was not subjected to robust investigation to properly exclude him from the murder.
Mr Muirson's evidence of seeing what appeared to him to be a struggle was consistent with Hoko as a good Samaritan trying to help Ms Hargreaves in the ditch, he said.
Hoko, a Black Power supporter, had been protecting Mr Matthews because of a code of silence and to keep his loved ones from harm. But Mr Matthews was now in prison and they were no longer at risk so Mr Matthews' full involvement could come out.
Justice Rhys Harrison will sum up today.
Shane Hoko was no good Samaritan, no saviour, but a one-armed strangler who killed a young woman hitch-hiker in a South Auckland ditch, a prosecutor told the High Court at Auckland yesterday.
In his closing address to the jury, Crown counsel Richard Marchant said there was overwhelming evidence that Hoko killed
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