NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather forecasts

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
    • The Great NZ Road Trip
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Lawyers sum up in stop-go murder trial

Stephanie Arthur-Worsop
By Stephanie Arthur-Worsop
News Director, Rotorua Daily Post·Rotorua Daily Post·
6 Sep, 2016 05:54 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Quinton Paul Winders. PHOTO/FILE

Quinton Paul Winders. PHOTO/FILE

The lawyers in the stop-go murder trial have addressed the court for the final time, with the Crown declaring there is only one conclusion the jury can reach - that it was Quinton Winders who killed George Taiaroa.

But Winders' lawyer Jonathan Temm says this was a case of a stop-go worker who was wrongly killed and a fencer (Winders) who was framed by police.

In her closing address today, Crown solicitor Amanda Gordon reiterated key points made in the five-week trial in the High Court at Rotorua.

Mr Taiaroa was shot and killed while he worked at roadworks near Atiamuri in 2013.

Ms Gordon said there were crucial things about Winders that linked him to the murder.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

These included his blue Jeep Cherokee, CCTV footage showing Winders could have been at the scene at the right time, his .22 rifle that matched what is believed to be the murder weapon, his contact with Mr Taiaroa a week prior on March 12, 2013, the fact he lied to police and that he lied to his employer Kieron O'Dwyer about his whereabouts.

She said while the Crown's case was circumstantial, "when the evidence is combined it clearly establishes the defendant is the murderer".

She also addressed suggestions by Mr Temm that the murder was a case of mistaken identity and another stop-go worker, Michael Pengelly, was the intended target.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Prior to the shooting, Mr Pengelly had been confronted by two Mongrel Mob members after he was convicted of a sexual charge involving a young girl.

"The Crown suggests you could not get two more different looking men. Mr Taiaroa was a large Maori who was bald, you have seen Mr Pengelly - he has a small stature with long scraggly hair.

"The suggestion that this was a case of mistaken identity was just a sideshow or dead end to divert attention from the real evidence."

Ms Gordon said Winders told a number of lies about his movements the day Mr Taiaroa was shot, many of which in his police interview on April 4, 2013 after he was arrested for reckless driving.

Ms Gordon drew the jury's attention to Winders' confusion about the 'traffic stop' but not the fact police wanted to talk to him about a murder.

She said Winders' account "didn't stack up" and needed to be contrasted to the account he gave to Mr O'Dwyer after he did not show up for work at the Benneydale farm.

Winders told Mr O'Dwyer his Jeep Cherokee had a flat battery and he was waiting for money from Edward Bradford.

"He doesn't say to police that he went home with a flat battery... If he did not have anything to hide then why did he lie to the police and why did he lie to his friend, Mr O'Dwyer."

Ms Gordon said Winders' account needed to be contrasted further with another account he gave to Mr O'Dwyer, saying he panicked when he found out police were looking for a blue Jeep Cherokee and a .22 rifle.

"The [.22 rifle] was never released by police to the media. That information could only have been known by the person who pulled the trigger."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Ms Gordon told the jury Winders' "incredible" account of having his .22 rifles stolen in 2009 was another lie.

"[Winders] knew if police found his rifle he would be positively linked to the murder of Mr Taiaroa."

Ms Gordon said Winders also lied about the whereabouts of his .22 rifle to Mr O'Dwyer.

"Mr O'Dwyer asked Winders where his .22 was and Winders said 'oh, that's been stolen'."

Winders explained it had been stolen by 'Bigfoot', a neighbour over the hill, when he left it outside.

"Winders then said 'well that's what I'm saying anyway'. Winders knew he was lying... His rifle was never stolen, it was hidden, destroyed or thrown away by [Winders] because he knows he killed Mr Taiaroa with it."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Ms Gordon concluded by saying the evidence could only lead the jury to one conclusion, that Winders killed Mr Taiaroa.

Mr Temm then gave his closing address.

He started by saying Winders was framed, using that term because he believed there were lines of inquiry and information the police ignored during the investigation.

Mr Temm said Winders did not know Mr Taiaroa.

"Why would he travel 250km both ways to kill a man against whom he had no animosity?"

Mr Temm urged the jury to look at the evidence in a "cool, objective and clinical way".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

When challenging the Crown's propensity evidence, Mr Temm explained why he called defence witnesses Aaron Jane and Glenn Law.

The pair shot some of Winders' goats at his Pohokura property in 2012 and were confronted by an angry Winders with a shotgun on his lap.

"The Crown says this man has a tendency to overreact...The Crown has created that tendency - a personality disorder - to fit with their case.

"If there was ever a time for [Winders] to display this tendency, it would have been during his dealings with Mr Jane and Mr Law. He did not."

Mr Temm said the Crown case left the jury with "unsolvable uncertainties" and it would not be able to find Winders guilty unless there was no other reasonable hypothesis available.

He said the only appropriate verdict was not guilty.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Justice Kit Toogood will sum up tomorrow before the jury retires to consider its verdict.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

Her husband died years ago. Then she found a 'miracle' in her house's charred ruin

09 May 06:00 PM
New Zealand

Local contract for $70.5m Napier council and library precinct

09 May 06:00 PM
Premium
Letters to the Editor

Letters: Brooke van Velden should remember she rode women’s wave to win Tamaki electorate

09 May 06:00 PM

One tiny baby’s fight to survive

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Her husband died years ago. Then she found a 'miracle' in her house's charred ruin

Her husband died years ago. Then she found a 'miracle' in her house's charred ruin

09 May 06:00 PM

'For the unluckiest people, we are very lucky.'

Local contract for $70.5m Napier council and library precinct

Local contract for $70.5m Napier council and library precinct

09 May 06:00 PM
Premium
Letters: Brooke van Velden should remember she rode women’s wave to win Tamaki electorate

Letters: Brooke van Velden should remember she rode women’s wave to win Tamaki electorate

09 May 06:00 PM
Gisborne mayor invites Act leader to witness community support efforts

Gisborne mayor invites Act leader to witness community support efforts

09 May 06:00 PM
Connected workers are safer workers 
sponsored

Connected workers are safer workers 

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP