Terror of murder case witness

A father and his children who discovered a one-armed man and a motionless woman at a Patumahoe roadside on December 3 last year "high-tailed it" away when the man pointed a weapon at them, the Pukekohe District Court heard yesterday.

Pukekohe panel beater Brett Muirson was giving evidence at a depositions hearing where Shane Thomas Hoko is facing a charge of murdering 17-year-old hitchhiker Jennifer Hargreaves at Patumahoe on December 3.

Hoko, 32, unemployed of Pukekohe, also faces one charge of aggravated wounding and three firearms charges.

Under questioning from the Auckland Crown solicitor, Simon Moore, Mr Muirson said he had one of his sons in his vehicle and he was on his way to pick up another son when they turned into Cuff Rd, Patumahoe, at about 5.05pm on December 3.

Mr Muirson said he saw a green Toyota Corolla parked at the roadside and somebody struggling or fighting in grass nearby.

He could see only one person.

After driving past and picking up his other son 200m to 300m up the road they returned to the parked car where he noticed a male Maori lying on a woman at the roadside.

He said he yelled at the man, saying the woman better be alive.

"Let's see her move," Mr Muirson said he told the man. There was no movement, he said.

"When I said to him that she had better be alive, straight after that he said: 'That's my missus.'

"He started kissing her, to me, quite seductively on the lips.

"I said I had phoned the police and it was as if he panicked and got off her."

Mr Muirson said the man was wearing a patch, which he thought read Black Power.

The man then picked up a bat or gun from the car.

Mr Muirson said he already had a bad feeling and had put his vehicle into reverse. The man walked towards the vehicle Mr Muirson and his sons were in and was holding the weapon up towards them.

Mr Muirson said his boys were screaming, "He's going to shoot us" and he decided to high-tail it away from the scene.

As he was reversing away he screamed at his oldest son to get the registration number of the man's car.

His son started looking for a pen but could not find one but he had a good memory for number plates.

"He rattled the number off when I dialled 111," said Mr Muirson.

Later he returned to the scene alone to find a young woman lying in a drain. He thought he was looking at a mannequin.

"But as I got closer I could tell it was not a mannequin."

Mr Muirson said he did not see another male at the scene.

Earlier, Michael McMahon, of Waiuku, said he was at home at 7.30pm on December 3 when a one-armed Maori man whose head was freshly shaved arrived next door.

Mr McMahon said the man asked him where his neighbour was. He was not home.

Mr McMahon said the man then asked where another man was. He said the other man was in prison doing 10 years for a sexual offence.

Prosecutor Richard Marchant: "The man with the shaved head and the one arm you were talking to ... Did he respond to that?"

Mr McMahon said the man replied: "He is doing 10. For what I've just done I'll get 20."

The hearing continues today.