James Arthur Holder murder trial: Emotional 111 call played to Christchurch jury

James Arthur Holder is accused of murdering David Bridgwater (insert) in Aranui on January 4, 2024.

A woman burst into tears as a 111 operator told her to move towards David Bridgwater’s body and put him on his back as he lay dying in the street.

The call was played back to the woman today in court, where James Arthur Holder, 55, stands trial before a jury in the High Court at Christchurch.

He’s charged with Bridgwater’s murder on January 4, 2024.

The woman, whose name is suppressed, was visibly emotional in court as she was heard telling the operator that a man had been run over.

As she was told by the operator to move closer to Bridgwater, she could be heard sobbing and crying with increased intensity.

The operator told her to lay Bridgwater flat on his back and remove anything from under his head.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh no, help me,” she could be heard saying.

A male voice could then be heard in the background saying an ambulance had arrived.

David Bridgwater was found dead outside his car on Carisbrooke St, Aranui in Christchurch.

The woman had been with Bridgwater that night after the pair met following the Juicy Festival in QEII Park.

The court earlier heard the party continued into the early hours when they went to the Aranui address where Holder lived with his partner, Leanne Crighton.

It ended when the 38-year-old was found outside their Carisbrooke St address, lying beside his car, which was still running.

He had been shot by Holder and died at the scene. Holder doesn’t deny shooting him but claims it was in self-defence.

The court saw security camera footage from their property of people yelling and scrambling, while cars arrived and left as people assisted Bridgwater.

Crown prosecutor Kerry White asked the woman to identify herself in the footage, opening a gate as Holder left the property in his car.

She could be heard saying, “I think he is run over”.

Holder’s partner could be heard saying “Go, go”, as he drove off.

The jury was earlier told Crighton had been convicted this month of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The summary of facts said she was present at the time of the shooting and had returned to the property, and asked the woman to help her remove the CCTV camera.

The woman attempted to remove the Arlo CCTV camera, situated on the soffit of the house.

Crighton held a plastic storage box steady while the woman stood on it and tried to take the camera down.

The attempt only resulted in the angle of the camera being moved, and the camera remained affixed to the house.

White asked the woman why she tried to remove the camera.

The woman said she understood cameras contained SD cards and she wanted to keep the footage safe.

Crighton admitted to cancelling her Arlo subscription and deleting the Arlo application from her cellphone in an attempt to destroy the video evidence on the day after Bridgwater’s death.

On January 6, two days after Bridgwater’s death, police executed a search warrant at the property and located an Arlo camera in a barrel containing burned items in the back garden.

On January 24, Crighton was arrested in relation to her attempts to interfere with the footage.

Police arrested Holder and charged him with murder on February 2.

The murder trial is being heard by Justice Lisa Preston and is set down for five weeks.

Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the past 16 years. Most recently, he was editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands News.