Audain and a seventh man, Manuel Hohepa Wynyard, are charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice, by altering the appearance of a car. Audain pleaded guilty, and Wynyard not guilty.
A jury was chosen on February 24, but the trial was delayed by the illness of one of the jurors.
Members of the public were subjected to two bag searches before being admitted to the courtroom, where there were many lawyers. The seven accused lined up along two walls.
Crown prosecutor Michele Wilkinson-Smith began with a brief outline of what the Crown alleged. She said James and Brent Butler and another man were at their house when two carloads of armed men arrived, all disguised by bandannas and balaclavas.
"They were there for drugs, and whatever else they could get."
The brothers fought back, and James Butler was shot in the back and died. Brent Butler was hit on the head with a weapon. The third man saw what happened, and ran away.
James and Brent Butler were from a close family and very different from each other, Wilkinson-Smith said. Brent was a supervisor at the Imlay meatworks and a home kill butcher. James had been involved with drugs and was known to sell them. He was often referred to as "Uncle".
With him that night was a man who had come to buy marijuana. He will be a witness in the trial and his name is suppressed.
Just after 6.30pm two cars pulled up in the driveway, which James Butler could see through CCTV cameras. Two men knocked on the door and asked if he was home. When he said no, a group of at least six kicked his door in.
A man held him at gunpoint, while another asked where the drugs were. They started roughing him up and Brent Butler came from the other room and confronted them, the prosecution said.
When things got rougher Brent Butler got an axe handle from the kitchen. He pulled a balaclava off one man and tried to grab the gun. The man who had come to buy marijuana went outside, where he saw another man with a gun, and he was told to return.
The Butlers followed their assailants down the stairs to the driveway. James grabbed a mallet and ran to the first car, while Brent went to the second.
The third man heard gun shots. He saw James Butler was injured, believed he was dead, and ran away.
Brent Butler was hit on the head from behind, and left unconscious in the driveway while the assailants drove away. When he came to he saw where his brother was lying, and tried to move him.
The assailants had left behind a police scanner and mag wheels.
The whole incident only lasted a maximum of five minutes, Wilkinson-Smith said.
The unnamed man went to the police station, but no one was there. He told James Butler's daughter what had happened. Natasha Butler arrived in Wikitoria Rd soon afterward and she called police and ambulance.
James Butler was given CPR, but died. A post mortem found he died of a gunshot wound. Brent Butler was admitted to hospital, and had surgery for a broken finger.
The guns, said to both be .22s, were never found, though police searched the Whanganui River for them. There were three bullet casings found at the scene.
The Crown said it will rely on evidence from people who said they saw some of the defendants during the incident, and on CCTV footage and analysis of the defendants' phones. Each charge, against each defendant, would have to be treated as a separate trial.
Defence lawyers for the accused spoke next, with Debbie Goodlet, for Audain, and Susan Hughes, for the defendant whose name is suppressed, both saying their clients were not present when the incident happened. Simon Lance, acting for Rippon, said the details were "hazy".
"The Crown can't say who did pull the trigger. It may be that it wasn't one of those people in court."
Defending Reardon, lawyer Lucie Scott warned the jury to be without sympathy or prejudice, and to consider the evidence. She said Wilkinson-Smith's summary might sound convincing, but it wasn't evidence.
Wynyard's counsel, Stephanie Burlace, said Audain's guilty plea for altering a car didn't mean her client was guilty as well.
"He accepts he altered the car, but did he know a murder had occurred?"
The trial is set down for six to eight weeks, with many witnesses including friends and family of the accused, Wikitoria Rd neighbours, police and medical staff expected to testify.
