KEY POINTS:
Former All Black captain Sean Fitzpatrick has given evidence vouching for the good character of property developer Richard Kroon, who is on trial for allegedly kidnapping his former business partner.
Fitzpatrick's evidence was provided via video-link on Friday from London, where he lives, and played yesterday to the
jury in the Auckland District Court.
Fitzpatrick said he had become a strong friend of Kroon after their wives met at law school 16 or 17 years ago. He had also bought properties in Kroon's developments.
Their relationship had developed to the point where he and his wife counted the Kroons among their closest friends.
"I'm a pretty good judge of character and I don't take on friends too lightly," Fitzpatrick said. A friend was someone "you can ring at 1am and say, 'I'm in trouble, can you help?' and they will jump on a plane."
Fitzpatrick and Kroon shared mutual friends, he had seen him in family situations such as birthdays, and regarded him as having a strong character and someone who did quality developments.
Kroon and Craig Hamish Weller each face charges of kidnapping and demanding with menaces in relation to events that allegedly took place on November 16, 2004, at Pakiri, near Wellsford.
The Crown alleges that Kroon organised the kidnapping of his business partner, Kim Spencer, and recruited Weller, a member of the Mothers Motorcycle Club in Palmerston North, to lure Mr Spencer to the Pakiri property they were sub-dividing in a joint venture by posing as a buyer.
It is claimed that a number of unidentified men wearing balaclavas were hiding in a shed on the property and that Mr Spencer was stripped, beaten and forced to sign documents that had the potential to net Kroon $2.5 million from a deal Mr Spencer had recently concluded with another business partner.
Fitzpatrick told the court he knew of Kroon's connection as a young man with the Mothers Motorcycle Club, something they had regarded as "a bit of a joke" from Kroon's past.
Fitzpatrick said he was aware of the kidnapping allegations and that if they proved to be true it would be totally out of character for the man he knew. He said friends and associates who also knew Kroon shared that view.
Answering questions put by prosecutor Ross Burns, Fitzpatrick said he had read that Kroon had recently been adjudged bankrupt but had not known that Mark Lyon, a former business partner of Kroon, was suing Kroon regarding issues arising from their joint-venture development of The Chancery precinct in Auckland. Fitzpatrick said these matters did not alter his good opinion of Kroon.
Judge David Wilson, QC, told the jurors it was for them to accept, disregard or decide what weight to give the character evidence Fitzpatrick gave.
Kroon maintains he met Mr Spencer on the Pakiri property on the day of the alleged kidnapping but that it was an ordinary business meeting at which they discussed issues regarding the property and that the charges arose from a story that Mr Spencer had concocted.
Defence witness Craig Matheson, a real estate agent, told the court that Kroon had wanted him to meet him and Mr Spencer at the Pakiri property at 3pm that day to discuss pricing, and that he had made a note of it in his diary.
He said other commitments prevented him from attending and he believed a call detailed on phone records from Kroon to him at 3.19pm that day would have been to ask where he was.
Kroon was cross-examined yesterday about records of telephone calls on November 16 and 24.
The Crown alleges that a man photographed by a security camera buying a $10 phonecard was Weller, that Weller used the phonecard to call Mr Spencer minutes later from outside the shop, and that the same phonecard was used at the later date to call Kroon from High St near Kroon's offices after Weller returned to Auckland to collect payment from Kroon for the kidnapping.
Mr Burns asked Kroon about phone records indicating that the phone of Alan Smart, a friend of Kroon, made and received calls to and from Weller on the evening of the alleged kidnapping.
They also indicated that calls were made from Mr Smart's phone to Kroon's earlier that day.
Kroon told the court he met Mr Smart in Milford, where they were involved in a development, on his way home from Pakiri.
At 8.06pm a call was made from Mr Smart's phone to that allegedly used by Weller. The call from Mr Smart's phone was directed by a transmitter on the NZI building near Kroon's Chancery office to Weller's phone in Ponsonby.
At 11.15pm Mr Smart's phone again called Weller's but this time both were in the area covered by the NZI building transmitter.
Mr Burns: "Did he [Weller] come to The Chancery to meet with you and Mr Smart?"
Kroon: "Not at all. I haven't seen him for a number of years. I wasn't even aware Alan Smart was calling him."
Kroon described as "bizarre" five calls on November 24, 2004, from 6.43am to 12.54pm to his office and cellphone from the same phonecard the Crown says Weller bought before the alleged kidnapping.
The calls were made from High St, two minutes' walk from Kroon's office.
Kroon said he had had some unusual calls relating to vehicles for sale, a Mercedes-Benz and a Porsche, from two people who had not identified themselves. He hadn't had such cars for sale. The case continues.
