A woman alleged to have ordered the "hit" that led to the death of West Aucklander Deane Fuller-Sandys is facing a retrial for murder in the High Court at Auckland.
Gail Denise Maney is accused of inciting or procuring Stephen Ralph Stone to do the killing in the garage of a house in West Auckland in August 1989 when a number of other people, including teenage prostitute Leah Stephens, were present.
Maney, aged 32, also faces an alternative count, with Mark William Henriksen, 33, of helping Stone dispose of the body to enable him to avoid arrest or conviction.
In his opening address, prosecutor Charles Cato said that for years it appeared that Mr Fuller-Sandys had drowned while fishing.
The truth began to emerge only three years ago.
Mr Cato said Mr Fuller-Sandys, who was 21 at the time, inhabited the twilight zone of drugs and massage parlours.
After a burglary at her address in which a quantity of cannabis was stolen, Maney confronted Mr Fuller-Sandys in the Westward Ho tavern. He denied stealing her drugs.
Mr Cato said Maney was very angry at the theft.
A witness would say that she was present when Maney suggested killing Mr Fuller-Sandys and Stone agreed to do it.
Another woman, who had slept with Mr Fuller-Sandys, would give evidence that Maney got her to invite him over a few days after the tavern confrontation.
When he arrived, said Mr Cato, there was an argument about the drugs.
During the argument, Stone produced a small handgun and shot Mr Fuller-Sandys a number of times.
He then passed the gun to a number of other young men in the garage, instructing them to fire into the body as well.
Mr Cato said that Stone did this as a "guarantee of a sort that they would keep their mouths shut."
Mr Fuller-Sandys' body was dumped somewhere on the west coast and has never been found.
His car was driven to his favourite fishing spot at Whatipu and parked to make it look as if he had drowned.
About six days after the killing, said Mr Cato, Stone feared Leah Stephens was talking about what she had witnessed, so he stabbed and killed her.
Mr Cato said Stone took steps to implicate those present to prevent them talking to the police, and Leah Stephens was killed to ensure her silence.
The only person Stone did not try to implicate in some way in Mr Fuller-Sandys' killing was Maney.
"He had no fear that she would talk because, the Crown alleges, the killing had been instigated or procured by her, done at her behest.
"She would not talk, because if she did, she ran the real risk that her role in these events would come out."
When interviewed, Maney told police she would never put out a "hit" on anyone.
She said she would "not be able to sleep straight in her bed at night."
A number of suppression orders are in place, including on the names of some of the Crown's principal witnesses.
Justice Paterson told jury members the hearing was a retrial but they were not to concern themselves with the reason.
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