Ex-officer denies spicing up details of testimony

An ex-policeman has been accused of lying about what he can remember of the night a man was killed as he ran away from a police officer who allegedly assaulted him.

Benson Murphy yesterday denied he exaggerated evidence to make a former colleague, Clinton Hill, look bad. Hill is on trial at the High Court at Auckland for manslaughter, assault and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

He is alleged to have assaulted George Tipene Harris in the back of a police car on October 3, 2004, which led him to run away into the path of a truck that hit and killed him.

Mr Harris was arrested by an off-duty Hill and they hitched a ride to a nearby police station with Murphy and Constable Reuben Harris.

Before they got there the car was stopped at a Westpac Bank where Murphy was going to impound a vehicle. Hill is said to have told him to get out of the car. Murphy said he had a "gut feeling" something was going to happen to Mr Harris and believed he was assaulted by Hill in the car.

He told the court he thought he was being told to leave the car because he thought "something dodgy" might happen.

Lawyer John Haigh, QC, representing Hill, challenged Murphy's account of what happened. He asked him if he wanted the jury to accept he was telling the truth, why he left the car when he was the officer in charge.

Murphy said he needed to leave anyway. "I didn't feel like I had to say anything because Reuben was still in the car."

The car then drove away about 50m. Asked why he didn't follow it to find out what it was doing he said: "With the gut feeling I had, I didn't want to think [that] was going to happen."

However, he said he didn't know why he didn't go back.

"That's why I'm suggesting it didn't happen, but you don't agree do you," the lawyer said.

Murphy said "no".

When the three officers found Mr Harris after he ran away from them Murphy's original statement said he heard Hill say "get in the car" to Mr Harris. He now says he said that with an expletive added.

Mr Haigh said he "just added that word to make it worse for Clint Hill and to make it look like he's really aggressive". Murphy denied that.

Both Murphy and Constable Harris were convicted last year of conspiring to defeat the course of justice and have been granted immunity from prosecution if they testify against Hill.

Bouncer Glen Setu said he saw a man being chased along Great South Rd, closely followed by another man. The man in front crossedthe road, while the man behind hesitated.

Mr Setu said a truck approached and the front man waved his arms at it and shouted "help".

"I heard a sound and I knew that someone had been hit," he said.

The trial continues.