Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Historical attempted murder trial: Victim gives evidence of being shot during tussle

By Jill Nicholas
Rotorua Daily Post·
11 Sep, 2019 06:45 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The trial of Tauranga man Warren Uata Kiwi, 58, trial began today in the High Court at Rotorua. Photo / File
The trial of Tauranga man Warren Uata Kiwi, 58, trial began today in the High Court at Rotorua. Photo / File

The trial of Tauranga man Warren Uata Kiwi, 58, trial began today in the High Court at Rotorua. Photo / File

In the early hours of a mid-winter morning 17 years ago, with frost lying heavily on the ground, Rotorua truck driver Karl Nyman was shot at by a man hired to kill him.

That is the basis of the Crown case against Tauranga man Warren Uata Kiwi, 58, who went on trial today in the High Court at Rotorua. He has pleaded not guilty to conspiring with others to murder Nyman and attempting to murder him.

The first charge relates to a period from April 30 and July 31, 2002, the attempted murder charge is dated July 31 the same year.

Opening the Crown's case, prosecutor Chris Macklin outlined how a plot had been hatched for Kiwi to kill Nyman. In return, he would be rewarded with five pounds (2.3kg) of cannabis.

"He was informed he was to 'take out' this man, kill him, murder him," Macklin told the jury. A police inquiry into the identity of those involved in the alleged conspiracy was on-going, the prosecutor said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In a brief opening statement, Kiwi's lawyer Gene Tomlinson said it was not Warren Kiwi but his brother Graeme who had pulled the trigger when Nyman was shot.

Nyman testified he was halted in his tracks as he walked down his driveway on the day he was shot at by a voice telling him to "hold it right there".

"I turned around, there was someone pointing a rifle at me, I was looking right down the barrel, he was no more than a metre from me. I said 'what the f*** do you want?' He was balaclavaed up, told me to get into the shrubbery. I said 'who sent you?, did JC send you?' He told me to **** up, to turn around but I didn't.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I told him either shoot me while I'm looking at you because if I get that gun, I'll shoot you."

Nyman said he dropped the chilly bin he was holding, grabbed the gun and, as the pair wrestled, he flipped the gunman over his head. Both lost their grips on the rifle as they fell, the other man reached it first. A shot was fired.

Nyman described running to his porch and hearing the sound of a bullet being fired.

"I felt a burning sensation. I knew I had been shot, I was shot in the bicep. I was yelling at my partner to call the cops."

Discover more

The Hits daytime radio show favourite local show: survey

12 Sep 04:09 AM
New Zealand|crime

Chainsaw bar murder: Tokoroa man pleads not guilty

12 Sep 09:19 PM

High Court Jury is out in Rotorua on Warren Uata Kiwi murder trial

16 Sep 03:37 AM
New Zealand

Family fight contract kill: Guilty of attempted murder 17 years after trigger pulled

17 Sep 03:07 AM

The pair again wrestled their way down the driveway with both gripping the rifle.

"I still had hold of it at that point, it was pretty much under his chin I was about to push my finger into the trigger guard, he got his finger onto the trigger, I didn't know if a bullet was loaded into the breach."

When they reached his truck, Nyman rammed his opponent into the grille several times.

He outlined how he had aimed at the other man with the intention of shooting him but his partner had pleaded with him not to shoot as the police were on the way.

Nyman told Crown prosecutor Chris Macklin, "the fullah" was no pushover.

"I had to use everything I had. I am used to that playing rugby, but I was pretty spent."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Before the shooter ran off he apologised at least half a dozen times saying "wrong house, wrong fella, wrong street".

Questioned by Kiwi's lawyer, Gene Tomlinson, Nyman acknowledged he had managed to grab the defendant's balaclava but it was so tightly laced he was unable to wrench it off.

He reiterated his earlier evidence that the man had such bad body odour it was as if he had not washed for a couple of days. He agreed with the lawyer he had told police the man's breath smelt like a dog's.

Nyman's partner Andrea Swinton recounted hearing him banging on their door yelling at her to call the police. She turned on the light, opened the door and saw a gunman with a rifle trained on Nyman

"I could see blood on the porch but I couldn't see what was going on, I was really confused then I realised he [Nyman] had already been shot, there was blood on him."

She described seeing the two fighting their way down the driveway and her partner getting the better of the gunman.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It looked like Karl was going to shoot him, I yelled at him 'don't shoot him, the cops are coming', all I wanted was to get him back inside, I didn't want him to chase after that guy."

The trial, which is before Justice Pheroze Jagose and a jury of four men and eight women, is expected to last two weeks.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

He's NZ's longest-serving councillor – and he's not done yet

Rotorua Daily Post

'So lucky': Rotorua writer, publisher Mairātea Mohi named on Y25 list

Rotorua Daily Post

'It's on in the Tron': Robertson looking forward to final test


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Recommended for you

Netanyahu expresses regret after three killed at Catholic church in Gaza
World

Netanyahu expresses regret after three killed at Catholic church in Gaza

Storm hits Northland, 500 still without power as crews work to restore
Northern Advocate

Storm hits Northland, 500 still without power as crews work to restore

Watch: Govt announces $231m new Auckland-based NZ Institute for Advanced Technology
Politics

Watch: Govt announces $231m new Auckland-based NZ Institute for Advanced Technology

Worry and speculation as manager of Molesworth Station resigns
The Country

Worry and speculation as manager of Molesworth Station resigns

Fat Freddy's Drop founder Chris Faiumu 'Mu' dies
Entertainment

Fat Freddy's Drop founder Chris Faiumu 'Mu' dies

NZ Herald comments: The stories open for discussion today
New Zealand

NZ Herald comments: The stories open for discussion today



Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

He's NZ's longest-serving councillor – and he's not done yet
Rotorua Daily Post

He's NZ's longest-serving councillor – and he's not done yet

Rotorua's Trevor Maxwell will go beyond 50 years as a councillor if re-elected.

17 Jul 08:33 PM
'So lucky': Rotorua writer, publisher Mairātea Mohi named on Y25 list
Rotorua Daily Post

'So lucky': Rotorua writer, publisher Mairātea Mohi named on Y25 list

17 Jul 08:01 PM
'It's on in the Tron': Robertson looking forward to final test
Rotorua Daily Post

'It's on in the Tron': Robertson looking forward to final test

17 Jul 05:00 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
All Access. All in one subscription. From $2 per week
Subscribe now

All Access Weekly

From $2 per week
Pay just
$15.75
$2
per week ongoing
Subscribe now
BEST VALUE

All Access Annual

Pay just
$449
$49
per year ongoing
Subscribe now
Learn more
30
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search
iiq_pixel