Williams, 34, is accused of shooting dead Woodford in the Adelphi Motel at 6.25am on March 6, 2022, at point-blank range in front of Woodford’s partner and children.
It is the Crown case Williams drove to the motel with Marty Durham - the Taupō Mongrel Mob’s second in command - in the passenger seat.
The Crown said Williams knocked on the door of Woodford’s unit while holding a gun with a Mangu Kaha gang patch draped over the top.
When Woodford answered, Williams fired one shot, in an execution-style killing, the Crown said.
Durham pleaded guilty to manslaughter before the trial started nearly four weeks ago.
The Crown alleges Woodford was killed in an act of retaliation after Black Power and Mongrel Mob tensions in Taupō.
At the time, Williams was remanded to the Grace Foundation drug rehabilitation facility in Auckland with an electronically monitored ankle bracelet.
The jury has heard evidence that the bracelet went offline for about 12 hours around the time of the shooting. Williams is accused of “foiling” his bracelet - putting tinfoil around it to stop the GPS monitoring from working.
It is Williams’ defence that someone else did it because he was not there and Williams was an “easy scapegoat”.
CCTV footage of the shooting showed the shooter was a man dressed in white with a face mask on.
‘Plethora of CCTV cameras’ tracked Williams’ journey - Crown
On Wednesday during her closing address, Gordon said it was “part of a plan to strike a blow” at Taupō Black Power.
“What he didn’t plan ... is the ultimate co-operation with the police of others that were commandeered to assist him ... and the plethora of CCTV cameras that have tracked his journey from the Grace Foundation to Taupō and back again.”
Gordon said the Crown accepted CCTV images were “not clear enough” for the jury to definitively say it was Williams.
“But the Crown do say to you that the evidence you have heard over the last three and a half weeks taken together will leave you with no doubt that it is Mr Williams and not anyone else.”
She said the Crown’s four “key” witnesses’ evidence was “credible” and “reliable” - their evidence was important as it covered the “key periods immediately before and after the shooting”.
Gordon said three Crown witnesses said Williams was wearing “all white”.
She said Durham could not have been the shooter as he was not wearing white.
Durham was also too short, according to height evidence from the CCTV shooting.
She said Williams’ height was about 1.80m or 1.81m and Durham was about 1.66m or 1.67m.
Gordon said footage analysis to calculate the shooter’s height showed he was 1.78m ”plus or minus two [cm]“, which was a “minimum”.
“That is almost exactly the height of Mr Williams ... ”
Defence questions credibility of witnesses
Williams’ lawyer, Ted Walsh, said Williams was not the shooter and was an “easy scapegoat”.
“On the evidence, the Crown has not come close to proving the charge beyond a reasonable doubt against Mr Williams.”
He said it was Williams’ right not to be called as a witness to give evidence and suggested the jury not read into that.
“He doesn’t have to prove or disprove anything.”
He said “some” witnesses were not credible or reliable, including Te Awatea Tawa, who said she had been awake for seven or eight days after smoking methamphetamine.
Walsh said Tawa and Dana Mihinui “at points” had said the shooter was wearing black pants.
He said the women were also not eyewitnesses to the shooting.
On the height evidence, Walsh said it was unknown if the person was wearing shoes or standing on a mat as this was out of view of the footage. Analysis said this could have added about 4cm.
Walsh accepted the shooter’s height was ”plus or minus 2cm“ from 1.78m.
“We suggest very squarely ... Mr Williams is simply too tall.”
He urged the jury to find Williams not guilty.
Justice Wilkinson-Smith was to sum up the case this morning and the jury was expected to start deliberating before midday.
Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.
