Piopio home invasion: Grisly scene pics shown to jury

Piopio farmer William Bruce Burr, known as Bill, was heard telling a burglar, 'that will teach you for being a thief', after cutting off the tip of his finger. Photo / NZME

Grisly photos of a violent home invasion - when a burglar had part of his finger chopped off - have been shown to a jury.

The then 17-year-old is seen lying on his side, but face down, with his head and hand in a pool of smeared blood on the kitchen floor, while his knees appeared bruised.

He had minutes earlier broken into the home of Piopio farmer William Bruce Burr, known as Bill, with his girlfriend, then aged 15, with the aim of getting his keys to steal his car.

Defence counsel Philip Morgan QC showed pictures of both the burglar and Burr snr to the jury this afternoon.

They had been taken by Piopio Constable Tony Schrafft during the early hours of October 1, 2020.

He was the first of emergency services to arrive, getting there shortly after neighbours Bruce Palmer and Gary Woolston, who were both shocked at what they'd been confronted with.

Woolston earlier testified in the High Court at Hamilton that he didn't want to go inside the house, preferring to be a "chicken" and stay outside, hiding behind a tree by the driveway.

He and Palmer had looked through the kitchen window at what was going on.

Burr snr had earlier called Palmer to get over to his house as he'd been broken into and had the culprits at gunpoint on the floor.

Constable Schrafft said he went inside and almost bumped into Burr snr who was near the back door.

"He was pretty panicked. He was still breathing heavily. He was amped up or excited.

"As soon as I walked in there he just sort of started blurting stuff out at me. He thought he had almost died, 'they got me in my bed, I had to fight for my life'. That sort of thing."

He looked down and saw a splintered piece of wood with blood on it and also saw two people lying on the floor in front of him.

"There was blood around the top part of him on the lino and I could see a gash in the back of his head and around there, that's where the blood was coming from."

He didn't notice the teen's finger at that point.

"He didn't move at all ... I could see bruising on his legs ... I asked if he was alright and he said 'yep, I will f****** kill him'."

He said Burr snr was still "moving around a lot, back and forwards" and he was trying to manage him, to make sure he knew where he was.

"He was on the phone, talking to different people at different times."

Burr snr would lie down on the couch for about 30 seconds before getting up again, "he was all over the show", Schrafft said.

He got Burr jnr to get the pump-action shotgun from outside. He discovered it loaded with five shotgun shells.

'Everyone's going to know you're a thief'

Te Kuiti St John Ambulance paramedic Jane Murray told the jury she thought the teen burglar was dead when she first saw him.

The top part of his little finger was "hanging on by a piece of skin and it was a clean-cut right across it".

He also had a cut to his knee and was deemed initially status 2 - or with life-threatening injuries - when they called for a rescue helicopter.

She said she had to ask for Burr snr to be removed from the kitchen as he was interrupting them as they tried to treat the teen.

"I asked police to remove him. I also asked the young police officer, that if this ended up being a murder investigation everyone was contaminating the scene."

She said Burr snr responded by saying he "wanted some f****** Nurofen and that he was the f****** homeowner".

Burr snr said then said to the teen, "that will teach you, everyone's going to know that you are a thief".

"He was indicating that he had cut the finger as proof that the patient was a thief, to let everyone know .... and implying that's what they do overseas."

Te Kuiti St John Ambulance officer Jan-Maree Pool recalled seeing blood splatters on the kitchen cupboards and up the wall as she treated the boy.

She also noticed what looked like had previously been a fence baton - scattered in pieces in the kitchen.

"The whole situation was a pretty volatile situation. Everyone was kind of on edge."

* Burr snr, and his son Shaun Burr, deny multiple violence charges including wounding and maiming with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The trial continues.