James Arthur Holder is accused of murdering David Bridgwater (insert) in Aranui on January 4, 2024.
A man accused of murder says he was fighting with the alleged victim when his gun went off.
James Arthur Holder repeatedly denied shooting David Bridgwater during a fit of rage when he took the stand at his murder trial in the High Court at Christchurch today.
He is charged with Bridgwater’s murder on January 4, 2024.
Crown prosecutor Kerry White pressed him multiple times, saying he pulled the trigger in rage, intending to kill Bridgwater, and, at the very least, intended to injure him, then left him to die.
Holder said that was not the case.
Bridgwater had been partying with others at the Juicy Festival in QEII Park and continued into the early hours when things took a turn for the worse when he went to the Aranui address where Holder lived with his partner, Leanne Crighton.
It was the morning of January 4, 2024, when the 38-year-old was found on Carisbrooke St, lying beside his car, which was still running.
Holder says he shot Bridgwater in self-defence while the Crown alleges he had intent when he shot him in the abdomen.
White said Holder knew Bridgwater had been badly hurt or killed when he shot him.
“I didn’t realise I had actually shot him,” Holder said.
He said they had been fighting.
“I ended up on the ground; he came over me.”
Security camera footage from the property showed people yelling and scrambling, while cars arrived and left as people assisted Bridgwater.
White said the plan was for Holder to dispose of the gun and for his partner to get rid of the security camera.
“You had been working together against him; now you were working together to get rid of the evidence.”
The court heard Holder left the scene in his car.
Holder told the court he drove to the red zone and stashed the gun then returned a couple of days later, then ground the weapon up with a grinder, and dumped it in the sea.
He said he didn’t return to the Carisbrook St address because he knew that the police were there, because they had set up a cordon.
He went to a shop later in the morning to buy tobacco and was seen on security camera wearing a different coloured shirt to earlier that day.
He denied taking a change of clothes when he left the Carisbrooke St property.
That day he asked a friend to drive his car across town to Papanui to visit a relative.
White suggested that was because he didn’t want to be seen in the vehicle.
Holder said that was not the case as his friend wanted to drive the car.
When Holder arrived at his relative’s house, he made a cutthroat gesture when asked how he was.
White asked if he was signifying a death.
“No, I was signifying things weren’t good. I believed that things weren’t good because I had shot a man.”
He returned to the Carisbrooke St address later that evening.
When police executed a search warrant at the property on January 6, they found a security camera burned out in a drum .
Holder said he hadn’t burned it.
On January 11 he left Christchurch for Timaru.
White said an intercepted phone call between Holder and his partner on January 12 suggested she told him that one of his friends had been stopped by police.
White asked if he was relieved that he hadn’t been stopped by police as he wanted to evade them.
Holder said he didn’t want to be stopped by police as his car had no registration or warrant of fitness.
“I wasn’t aware police were looking for me.”
In another conversation, his partner was heard telling him to lay low and not text anyone.
White asked if that was because text messages left a trail.
“I couldn’t tell you,” he replied.
In another phone call Crighton was heard to call Holder a “reactor”.
White asked him if that meant he was known to lose his temper.
He said no and that he was not talking to her about the shooting.
Holder told White he knew the police would find him eventually.
She asked if he was laying low in Timaru, hiding from police.
Holder said he wasn’t.
In a conversation between Holder and his son on January 20, Holder told his son to be mindful of what he was saying.
Holder said he had concerns police were listening in on the conversation.
“Your son asks, ‘Has everyone covered their tracks?’,” White said.
“You say ‘Yeah’. Does covering tracks means getting rid of the firearm and getting down to Timaru, leaving Christchurch.”
“No,” Holder said.
Holder said Crighton joined him in Timaru on January 20.
They were stopped by police in Glentunnel on January 24 and she was arrested in relation to her attempts to interfere with the footage.
“You pulled the trigger in rage,” White said. “You intended to kill him, at the very least you intended to injure him.
“You can see there is utter callousness in leaving him to die. By your actions you murdered him.”
“No,” Holder replied.
Police arrested Holder and charged him with murder on February 2.
The Crown and defence are expected to close on Wednesday.
The trial is being heard by Justice Lisa Preston, who is expected to sum up on Thursday.
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 last 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.