One-armed man guilty of hitchhiker's murder

12.45pm - By TONY STICKLEY

An "evil" one-armed man was today found guilty of strangling 17-year-old hitchhiker Jennifer Hargreaves in a South Auckland ditch.

Shane Hoko, a 32-year-old Black Power supporter from Papakura, was also found guilty of pointing a gun at motorist Brett Muirson and his two boys when he tried to help the young woman.

Justice Rhys Harrison remanded Hoko, represented by Barry Hart and Mike Levett, for sentencing next month.

The Crown, represented by Richard Marchant and Brian Dickey, is seeking a minimum non-parole term.

After the jury's verdict, the officer in charge of the case, Detective Sergeant Dave French said: "Hoko is an evil man - this is one less evil man on the streets."

Ms Hargreaves' adoptive father John Hargreaves said that what Hoko had done was "despicable" and the family wanted him put away for as long as possible to protect the public.

Hoko was on parole for detaining a person in a house in Meremere. An associate was jailed for rape.

Mr Hargreaves said: "He has already had his chance and he has now been convicted of further crimes...He didn't hesitate to pull a gun on someone who tried to help and his two children."

He said that his daughter had been warned about the dangers of hitch-hiking, a caution other young people should heed.

"Please be aware that these things can happen...especially when you come across someone like Mr Hoko."

The Crown maintained that there was a sexual motive behind the "murderous" attack last December 3. Hoko claimed that another man, Shane Matthews, killed the former Diocesan schoolgirl and left him to take the blame, but the jury rejected his story.

He said that after he and Mr Matthews had picked up Ms Hargreaves, who was hitchhiking to Invercargill for a reunion with her birth mother's family, he left Mr Matthews with the girl in Cuff Road, Patamuhoe because Mr Matthews wanted to "hit on her".

Hoko told the jury that when he returned to Cuff Road a little later he saw Ms Hargreaves lying in the ditch.

Mr Matthews fled, he said, leaving him with the dead or dying girl. Hoko claimed he was trying to give Ms Hargreaves mouth to mouth resuscitation when Mr Muirson arrived in his van.

When Mr Muirson yelled out "She better be alive" and warned that he had called the police, Hoko said he panicked because he was on parole and pulled a gun on Mr Muirson. But the Crown maintained that what the Muirsons saw and tried to stop was Hoko in the process of strangling Ms Hargreaves.

Mr Matthews had an alibi, the crown said, and had gone home to Glen Eden before the killing took place.

In his summing up on Thursday, Justice Harrison queried why someone who was giving mouth to mouth resuscitation in the hope of reviving a victim would abandon the process, pull a gun on an innocent bystander rendering him incapable of helping, before fleeing the scene without checking whether she was dead or alive.

The jury would have to decide whether those were the actions of a man in panic. They would have to ask themselves whether Hoko was realistically at risk of being recalled on parole for trying to save the life of a dying girl.

The jury returned with its guilty verdicts nearly 24 hours after retiring.