Jury told differing versions of carpark death

A murder trial jury has today heard differing accounts of where Joanne Wang was positioned beside a car just before she suffered injuries which would later kill her.

Mrs Wang, 39, received a head injury after chasing a car driven by Christopher Shadrock, who allegedly snatched her handbag in the Manukau shopping mall carpark.

Shadrock, 23, is on trial at the High Court in Auckland for Mrs Wang's murder and the theft of her handbag. Five other men face other charges in connection with the incident.

The Crown alleges Shadrock, having snatched the handbag, tried to back away from a chasing Mrs Wang but then chose to drive forward into her to get away when his path behind was blocked, thus killing her.

Shadrock's lawyers say he is guilty of manslaughter and not murder. They argue he had no intention of harming Mrs Wang, and say Mrs Wang was on the passenger's side of the car rather than in front when Shadrock drove forward.

Fusi Sio, a passenger in a car at the carpark, said he heard some screaming behind him and turned around to see an Asian woman holding onto a white four-wheel drive car and running along with it as it was reversing.

Mr Sio said the 4WD car stopped and then moved forward, and "just ran over" the whole left side of her body.

Janice Brown had been in a car immediately behind the white 4WD, saying she pulled into the carpark to see it reversing towards her.

She said she also noticed a small Asian woman of stocky build with her hands holding the bonnet of the 4WD, yelling at the driver.

Mrs Brown said the 4WD stopped less than 1m away from her before it accelerated smoothly forward, causing the woman to fall backwards and hit her head on the tarmac.

"I could see the left front wheel running over her foot and going over her left hand side and up over her left shoulder."

Under cross-examination from Shadrock's lawyer Michelle Wilkinson-Smith, Mrs Brown said Mrs Wang's right foot and leg were to the side of the vehicle, but she reaffirmed that the rest of her body was to the front of the car.

She said the white 4WD's left passenger side went slightly to the right after it ran over the woman's foot.

Natahl Vaughan was in a car behind Mrs Brown but at an angle to it and said she could clearly see the passenger side of the white 4WD.

Ms Vaughan said the woman had her hands on the bonnet below the windscreen near the pillar between the windscreen and the front passenger window.

"She was trying to keep up with the vehicle. She looked like her hands were stuck on the vehicle trying to get the attention."

Ms Vaughan saw the car stop and then heard the tyres screech as it took off quickly.

The woman on the car slid across as she came down the front of the car and then fell down.

Ms Vaughan's account was similar to that which witness Tania Smith, who was on the other side of the white 4WD, told the court yesterday.

Ambulance officers Melanie Wintle and Kevin Harnett told the court about attending Mrs Wang at the scene.

They described seeing her with bleeding which was consistent with a head injury.

Mr Harnett said he removed her upper clothing once in the ambulance to check for chest injuries as he had been told she had been run over, but did not find the expected bruising or possible tyre marks.

"We'd been led to believe she'd been run over. The examination didn't bear that out," Mr Harnett said.

Shadrock is one of six people standing trial at the High Court in Auckland in relation to Mrs Wang's death.

Maka Tuikolovatu, 21, Lionel Tekanawa, 23, Vila Lemanu, 25, Mateni Lynch, 20, and Terence Tere, 22, all face charges of being an accessory after the fact to murder by trying to help Shadrock avoid apprehension.

Shadrock, Tuikolovatu, Tekanawa and Lemanu also face charges of the theft of Ms Wang's handbag, which had about $4000 cash inside it.

The trial before Justice Rodney Hansen is in the first of what is expected to be four weeks.

- NZPA