Gun test-fired at party before fatal robbery, court told

The gun used to shoot south Auckland liquor store owner Navtej Singh was test-fired at a party before a 2008 robbery, a court was told today.

The prosecution alleges that the gun then saw action when Anitelea Chan-Kee lined up Mr Singh and shot him in the stomach. He died the next day.

Chan-Kee, 22, and five others - Tino Faamele Felise, 19, Eti Filoa, 25, Walter McCarthy, 19, Myron Robert Felise, 22, and Jason Naseri, 21 - are on trial in the High Court at Auckland, accused of murdering Mr Singh and aggravated robbery.

A seventh man, Mefiposeta Chan-Kee, 26, is charged with being an accessory after the killing.

Summing up the Crown case, Kieran Raftery told the jury this was not just a case of shoplifting, it was an armed robbery where a killing took place.

"A large number of people had seen a gun in the garage that night. It was test-fired before they robbed the store," he said.

"It flies in the face of reality to say there were people in the garage who didn't have a clue that an armed robbery was going to take place."

The trial has involved 600 pages of evidence and 400 pages of video interviews.

Mr Raftery told the jury it should remember the character evidence called during the trial.

"Whatever was said about how virtuous these men are, they did indeed go to the Riverton Liquor Store, and some of them robbed the store, and one of their number shot the manager," he said.

Their part in the murder was also important, the jury was told.

The law said anyone who took part in armed robbery was just as guilty as the gunman, because they helped him commit the crime, Mr Raftery said.

Mr Singh, 30, was shot while working in his Manurewa East store in June 2008.

Crown prosecutor Kirsten Gray said Anitelea Chan-Kee, Myron Felise and Naseri entered the store just after 9pm on June 7.

Felise and Naseri grabbed as much alcohol as they could carry back to the vehicle, while Chan-Kee held up Mr Singh and his business partner, Gurwinder Singh, with the .22 rifle.

By the time Felise and Naseri returned to the store, Navjet Singh had been shot in the abdomen.

Ms Gray said that after the shooting the accused went back to a south Auckland house where they drank the alcohol.

A jury of seven women and five men are expected to next week retire to consider their verdicts.

A total of 54 witnesses have given evidence during the trial before Justice Graham Lang.

- NZPA