Sao Yean murder trial: A jury is told two conflicting versions of how a Hamilton man died

Sao Yean, also known as Sao Young, was found dead with serious head and upper body injuries at Gordonton, northeast of Hamilton, on April 13, 2020. Photo / Supplied

Was Sao Yean’s death planned by a heavily-pregnant drug dealer and her “enforcer” looking for revenge over a friend’s fatal overdose, or was it the result of a “rookie meth user” who panicked at the thought of being identified by the innocent man?

The two versions of what might have happened in the early hours of March 13, 2020, that ended in Yean’s death, were put to a jury during closing submissions today following a four-week trial in the High Court at Hamilton.

Mihingarangi Tynneal Rameka, Daniel Payne, Neha Wiremu Grey, and Anton Rite are all charged with the murder of Yean, 40, whose broken and battered body was found in a water trough on farmland at Gordonton a month after he was last seen alive.

The Crown case is that Rameka, heavily pregnant and a paranoid drug dealer with Mongrel Mob affiliations, together with patched Black Power enforcer Payne, sought retribution for the death of their friend Christopher Matatahi in a fatal drug overdose.

Mihingarangi Tynneal Rameka didn't want to be blamed for the fatal drug overdose of friend Christopher Matatahi. Photo / Belinda Feek

Even though it was Rameka who allegedly sourced and supplied the MDMA at the 2019 New Year’s Eve party that was later found to be laced with heroin - killing Matatahi and hospitalising others - she sought to blame others, the Crown said.

Rameka and Payne zeroed in on other party-goers. First was patched Mongrel Mob Notorius member, Dean Mihinui, who was taken to Rameka’s Byron Rd home in Hamilton’s Enderley and beaten on the front lawn.

Nine days later on March 12, Jesse Whitiora, who also fell ill after consuming the drugs at the party, was taken to Byron Rd.

There he was beaten in the house and the shed before being put in the boot of a car and driven to Matatahi’s house in Casey Ave, the Crown said.

When Payne, also known as “Damage”, said he would bury Whitiora in the same place Matatahi died, the dead man’s girlfriend Te Aroa Puke protested, claiming Whitiora was innocent and he was soon let go.

Later that night, a friend of Rameka’s - Narath Chourn - delivered Yean to the Byron Rd property.

Daniel Payne boosted to police he was a "scrapper" who didn't need weapons as a gang enforcer. Photo / Belinda Feek

Rameka and Payne had spent a week “hunting” Yean because he was friends with Whitiora and had been seen in a rival car.

The Crown said it was in the garage at Rameka’s house sometime after 4am on March 13, when Payne and Grey were called back to the property, that Yean was savagely beaten and his body disposed of by Rite.

However, defence lawyers for Rameka, Payne, and Grey all pointed the finger at Rite, who they claimed was high and took Yean voluntarily from the house, returned later with Yean in the boot of the car, collected Grey and then stopped in Gordonton to murder Yean because he was known to have “a big mouth” and Rite was afraid of being recognised.

Quentin Duff said when his client, Payne, arrived at the house and saw Yean in the garage and realised he was a “civilian” and not a gang member, he exploded at Rameka for summoning him to take the man away.

“What the f*** is this?” Payne said. “I’m not taking this c*** away.”

Duff said before Payne even arrived Rameka sent a text to another associate: “Do you got a car?” to remove Yean. He said this contradicted the Crown’s case the assault was planned.

Neha Wiremu Grey, also known as "The Huk" for his connection to the Tribal Huk gang, in the dock in the High Court at Hamilton. Photo / Belinda Feek

Duff pointed to Rite as a “rookie meth user, very high and paranoid”.

Rite was the one who took a reluctant Yean from the car at Byron Rd and later, he “lost the plot” and beat Yean to death in front of Grey as they were on their way to Huntly, forcing Grey to help him dump the body, Duff said.

He said Payne was innocent and the witness accounts of Whitiora and Rameka’s cousin and flatmate at the time, Shanelle Horotini, could not be relied on.

Jessica Tarrant, for Grey, said the evidence from those prosecution witnesses should be disregarded.

She said Whitiora benefited from testifying because by doing so he secured bail and housing, and that Horotini - nicknamed “Baby Shark” - did not understand the word retribution and could not pronounce it despite it being in her witness statement.

Tarrant said Rite’s girlfriend Te Aroha Te Waaka was also not a credible witness because on the night she was so “fried” on drugs she spent hours in a bedroom at the Byron Rd house “besotted with a pink fluffy” toy and unaware of whether she was alone in the room or not.

Anton Rite ended up at the Byron Rd house by chance on the night Sao Yean was assaulted there and he is not the murderer, defence lawyer Adam Holland says. Photo / Belinda Feek

Rameka’s lawyer Rob Weir said the Crown did not know exactly what happened in the Byron Rd garage and it was having “a bob each way” by claiming Yean either died in the garage or died later from his injuries in the water trough where he was found face down in the water.

He cautioned the jury about reading too much into text messages between Rameka and Payne leading up to March 13 that the Crown claimed painted a picture of the pair planning the assault on Yean.

However, Adam Holland said his client, Rite, was randomly at the house that night and only helped get Yean from the car when Yean kicked out at the pregnant Rameka.

He said Rite was a “relative nobody” who had the misfortune of being there when Yean arrived and had no interest in seeking revenge for Matatahi’s death as they were not friends.

Once Rite realised violence was to be meted out he wanted no involvement and it was Horotini who heard Rameka, Payne, and Grey in the garage during the brutal assault on Yean, Holland said.

He argued that some prosecution witnesses appeared reluctant only because they were extremely fearful of Payne and the threats he’d made against them.

“What happened to Mr Yean that night is a terrible tragedy and it is understandable that you want to identify and hold to account the people responsible for that death but my submission is that Mr Rite is not the murderer,” Holland told the jury.

Justice Timothy Brewer will sum up the case on Friday morning before sending the jury out to deliberate.