Murder accused also face sex assault charges

Two men charged with murdering a 16-year-old boy also faced charges of indecently assaulting him, as their five-week trial opened in the High Court at Christchurch today.

Thomas Tihema Christie, 26, and Sonny Avon Rehu, 32, deny the joint charge of murdering Shaun Martin William Finnerty-Gallagher, who was found dead of positional asphyxia after a beating in the Christchurch's Auburn Reserve on February 13 last year.

They both denied indecently assaulting the boy when the charges were read before Justice Graham Panckhurst.

The news media had been banned from reporting the existence of these charges since a suppression order was made early in the legal process, but the order lapsed as the trial began.

Crown prosecutor Barnaby Hawes described Finnerty-Gallagher as "a young man with problems".

He had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and had run away from Child, Youth and Family care.

He had met the older men who were part of a group that was well known in "certain social circles" and spent time using the computers at the public library.

The youth had wanted acceptance and tried to fit in with the men and their associates.

"He was always going to be something of a whipping boy," he said.

The Crown said the youth was with a group that left a library on February 12 and walked to Riccarton for a day of stealing and drinking.

It said he was punished with a beating that night because he was caught while the group was shoplifting vodka at Liquor King in Riccarton.

He was tripped at the door of the store and tackled in the carpark. He called out to "Tom-Tom" - Christie's nickname - for help.

Mr Hawes said Rehu and Christie believed he had "narked" on them. Witnesses would describe him being picked on and beaten. A resident heard loud, drunken talk from the Auburn Reserve.

Crown pathologists would describe the injuries from the beating, including facial abrasions, a broken nose, an abrasion to his scrotum, cuts to his scalp, and a brain injury that could have caused unconsciousness.

The Crown case was the youth's death was mainly caused by postural asphyxia, with significant features being a high level of alcohol intoxication and head injuries.

His broken nose would have compromised his ability to breathe while unconscious.

Christie phoned an ambulance next morning, saying that he had found the youth lying in the park screaming that he was scared of Sonny Rehu. Ambulance officers found that the youth had been dead for some time.

The victim was naked from the waist down.

His blood was found on a picnic table, on a grassed area, and on the clothing worn by both accused. DNA from Rehu's saliva was found on the youth's abdomen.

The pair blamed each other for the beating in their statements, and Christie admitted helping Rehu to strip him.

Mr Hawes said the humiliation resulting from stripping the youth naked in a public reserve could be regarded as indecent assault even if the motive was not strictly sexual gratification.

- NZPA