A Bay of Plenty man is on trial in the Rotorua High Court defending a charge of murder. Photo / NZME
A Bay of Plenty man accused of murdering an unarmed Tauranga man told police during a 111 call that he thought the man he’d shot had a gun.
The defendant claims he acted in defence of himself and his partner after they were earlier violently assaulted and seriously injured during a home invasion.
The defendant, who has name suppression, has pleaded not guilty in the Rotorua High Court to murder.
Police found 30-year-old Jamin Roemaata Harrison’s body at a McLaren Falls Rd property on January 25, 2021, after officers were told a person had been injured at the address.
The prosecution says Harrison, unarmed and accompanied by a female associate, drove to the property just before 10pm that day to buy drugs and, after a short verbal exchange, the defendant shot Harrison dead in the driveway with a shotgun.
Today the jury heard a series of 111 calls the defendant and his partner made on the night of the shooting.
The accused’s partner — who also has name suppression — called St John Ambulance on 111 at 9.50pm saying someone was hurt on the driveway and asked for an ambulance to be sent immediately.
When asked what was going on at the property, she replied: “Someone tried to hurt us again… someone’s come to hurt us again. Please send us an ambulance, I need the ambulance.”
Three minutes later, she called the 111 police communications centre, and told the operator people were “trying to get us” and “I need cops, I need an ambulance”.
Two minutes later she again called St John, saying someone was hurt by the gate and they had a gun and were “trying to hurt us again… trying to home invade us again”.
The defendant, who was also a party to the call, told the operator the injured man was still alive after he shot him but that he was “gurgling” and “pretty f****d”, and repeated the call for an ambulance.
The jury also heard a recording of a 111 call made at 10.15pm between the defendant, a St John Ambulance communication centre staff member and a police officer.
When asked whether the person shot was armed, the defendant said that while he could not see a gun on the injured man, he “guessed” the man’s associate had left the property to get rid of the gun.
He said he told the two people if they did not “f*** off” he would shoot but they “kept coming at him”.
The accused also told the 111 operator people visiting the address were “looking to kill him”.
The defendant claimed he had been aiming at the car, but there was no evidence of any firearm-related damage to the vehicle, the Crown said.
During cross-examination by defence lawyer David Niven, the accused’s partner said she heard him telling the man at the gate to get back in the car or he would shoot, but Harrison was “encroaching on the gate” and yelling back at her partner.
The witness also confirmed she had told her partner she had thought the shot man had a gun.
On Monday, the first day of the trial, Crown prosecutor Cindy Lee told the jury Harrison, accompanied by a woman, had turned up at the property to buy drugs to resell.
Their arrival at the gate set off a heat-activated sensor, which alerted the occupants inside the property to their presence, she said.
Lee also said the video camera at this gate captured Harrison waving at the occupants. The Crown says the defendant grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun, switched on the floodlights and made his way up a grass bank to get closer to Harrison.
“The defendant then loaded the shotgun and there was a short verbal exchange between him and Harrison, who was standing with his hands in his pockets, unarmed, in front of his car,” she said.
“Within seconds of the defendant getting to his vantage point, he points the shotgun at Mr Harrison and fires a single shot from approximately 26 metres away.
“That one shot was so successful that it hit Mr Harrison’s chest and abdomen area and resulted in seven out of nine buckshot pellets remaining lodged in his body.
“The shots dispersed to his chest, his abdomen and pelvic area. Mr Harrison suffered significant injuries including to his liver, spleen, lungs and aorta, and he died on the driveway.
“The perceived threat was not imminent and the force used was far beyond what was reasonable in the circumstances. Mr Harrison is fatally shot within less than a minute of him getting out of the car.”
The trial is expected to take up to three weeks.