Jhia Te Tua. Photo / Supplied
Gang prospects must obey orders of patched members or there will be "punishment and repercussions", a former Wanganui Mongrel Mob prospect told the High Court at Wellington today.
Shane Roberts was giving evidence in the trial of seven men accused over murdering two-year-old Jhia Harmony Te Tua.
She
died on May 5 last year after she was hit by a shot fired at her parents' home in the Wanganui suburb of Gonville during a gang-related drive-by shooting.
On trial accused of her murder are Hayden John Wallace, 27, Karl Unuka Check, 26, Ranji Tane Forbes, 21, Godfrey Thomas Muraahi, 27, Erueti Chase Nahona, 20, and Richard Anthony Puohotaua, 28.
Luke John Check, 24, is accused of being an accessory to murder after the fact.
They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Mr Roberts was Karl Check's prospect from November 2006. They had known each other since Check was in high school.
Check approached Mr Roberts asking him to become a prospect and telling him it was a good life.
"He told me about how good it was, how they looked after you, looked after your missus if you had to go to jail, if you needed a car...all I had to do was drive him around when he's drinking."
Mr Roberts said he had seven kids who "sort of come first", but agreed to become a prospect.
Although the Mobsters chapter had no president, prospects had to listen to patched members, he told the court via videolink.
"You had to commit to whatever to make them money.
"You had to do it (if given an order) or else there'd be punishment and repercussions."
On the day Jhia was killed, Mr Roberts had been with Karl Check and several other Mongrel Mob members and associates at a rugby league game when a scuffle broke out between Mob and Black Power members.
He played 75 minutes of the game and only became fully aware of the incident after the game, he said.
At the league team's after-function outside the Castlecliff Hotel later that day Mr Roberts ran into Check and several of the other accused and was told to drive them because they were drunk.
Mr Roberts said Check "seemed pissed (drunk) and abusive" and was asking if there were any Black Power members around.
The trail continues.
- NZPA
