Nicky Dodd guilty of the manslaughter of Northland gang member

Outside of the Mower Rd house where Tribesmen gang member John Henry Harris was shot at by Nicky Dodd. Photo/NZME

It took a jury six hours to return a guilty verdict for manslaughter against a Northlander who shot to death a Tribesmen gang member.

Nicky Dodd was charged with murder in relation to the death of John Henry Harris who was shot while standing outside a property on Mower Rd, north of Whangārei, in October 2016.

Other Tribesmen gang members had gathered outside the house when Dodd, 43, fired a single shot from the intersection of State Highway 1 and Mower Rd.

A few hours earlier, the gang members went to Dodd's brother Adam Dodd's house in Kensington where they fired two shots while retrieving a red Holden Commodore and towed it back to Mower Rd.

The jury retired at 12.34pm on Friday to consider its verdict after Justice Ailsa Duffy summed up the case in the High Court at Whangārei. They could not reach a verdict that afternoon and were sent home about 5.30pm to return at 10am yesterday to continue their deliberation.

The verdict was delivered at 10.53am.Dodd has been remanded in custody for sentencing on December 14.

Nicky Dodd has been found guilty of the manslaughter of Tribesmen gang member John Harris. Photo/John Stone

Harris, 37, a Tribesmen member from Rangiahua in the Far North, who was also known as John Boy, was dropped off at the St John Ambulance station on Western Hills Dr in Whangārei in a critical condition after being shot.

He was loaded into an ambulance but died at the station about 6.40am.

The Crown case during the three-week trial was that Dodd discharged a firearm while knowing people were present at the Mower Rd house.

Dodd would not stash his car and drive to a public toilet for an associate to pick him up after the shooting if he did not mean to shoot anyone, the Crown told the jury.

Dodd said he fired a shot but it was not aimed at anyone but was rather a scare tactic after gang members let off two shots outside his brother's house.

He said the jury could not be sure the shot that killed Harris came from him as witnesses heard more than one shot fired. Dodd said at no time did he see Harris, have any intention of hurting anybody, or aim his firearm at anyone.