Hit-and-run victim left bleeding, court told

Christopher Shadrock is accused of driving the car that hit Joanne Wang. Photo / Natalie Slade

Hit-and-run victim Joanne Wang was left rolling on the ground, bleeding and crying after a vehicle ran over her left foot and part of her body and flung her down onto the concrete, a court has heard.

Ms Wang, 39, was chasing a man who allegedly snatched her handbag, containing a large sum of cash, away from her in the car park of the Manukau mall on June 16, 2008 when she was allegedly run down by the man as he tried to escape.

The Crown says the man is Christopher Jacob Junior Shadrock, 23. He is on trial at the High Court at Auckland for her murder and the theft of her handbag. He has pleaded not guilty.

Witness Janice Brown was driving into the mall and encountered Shadrock, in a stolen Nissan Regulus, reversing quickly towards her. She blasted her horn and it stopped about a metre away from her.

Mrs Brown told prosecutor Rachael Reed the man didn't look behind him as he reversed. She saw Ms Wang running with the vehicle with both hands on the bonnet.
CCID: 33186

She saw Ms Wang yelling at the driver but couldn't say what was being said. "Her lips were moving and I could see from her facial expressions that she was angry."

When the 4WD stopped Ms Wang didn't take her hands off the bonnet. The vehicle then moved quickly forward at such a speed the "lady would have had to run in front".

Before the vehicle moved forward she could see Ms Wang still had her hands on the bonnet - and she was still angry and was looking at the driver.

She told the court she saw the left wheel run over Ms Wang's right foot and then over her body before she fell back and "hit her head on the bitumen".

"The vehicle carried on straight ahead. She was moving on the ground, crying and rolling."

It moved off smoothly, without squealing tyres and didn't change speed as it moved away.

Mrs Brown was in disbelief that someone had been run over. She and another person went to her aid, rolling her into the recovery position and covering her with tarpaulin as rain began to fall,

"She was still conscious at that stage. She was crying. She had blood coming from her ear and from the back of her head."

The 4WD didn't change speed as it left the mall car park. Mrs Brown said she saw the driver, whom she described as "male, clean shaven, tidy," look across to where they were kneeling with Ms Wang.

"He turned and kept driving," she said.

Shadrock's lawyer Michele Wilkinson-Smith asked her if Ms Wang was ever at any stage in front of the driver. Mrs Brown said Ms Wang was never directly in front of the driver.

Mrs Wilkinson Smith said if the left wheel ran over her right foot then Ms Wang must have been off to the side and not in front of the bonnet. Mrs Brown said she was partly in front but she still had her hands on the front of the bonnet.

The lawyer said the vehicle never went too fast for Ms Wang not to be able to take a few steps backwards to which Mrs Brown replied: "She took four steps."

She agreed the whole thing happened in a matter of seconds.

"It's your perception that what caused her to fall back on the pavement was her right foot being run over?"

Mrs Brown: "He ran over her foot, yes."

The witness said after the left wheel ran over her shoulder it continued straight ahead. However, after being referred to her statement at the depositions hearing Mrs Brown said it may have veered to the right.

Five other men are on also trial on charges relating to Ms Wang's death.

Vila Lemanu, 25, Maka Tuikolovatu, 21, and Lionel Manaaki Tekanawa, 23, are charged with stealing her handbag.
CCID: 33186

Tuikolovatu is also charged with helping Shadrock to avoid arrest by hiding the handbag and being an accessory after the fact to murder.

Tekanawa, Lemanu, Mateni Lynch, 20, and Terence Tere, 22, are accused of being accessories after the fact to murder for allegedly burning the Nissan Regulus used in the hit-and-run.

The trial continues.