Jury hears of deadly cycle of revenge

22.09.2004

Highway 61 gang president Kevin Paul Weavers died after being stabbed in the final of a series of escalating pay-back attacks, an Auckland jury was told yesterday.

Mr Weavers, 43, bled to death after receiving several wounds to his lower body, including two to the thigh that pierced his femoral artery.

The Crown says that Kelly Raymond Robertson, 45, of Brookby, and Michael Douglas Gould, 54, of Whangarei, carried out the fatal attack after being allowed into the fortified gang headquarters in Holmes Rd, Manurewa, in September last year.

In his opening address, prosecutor Brian Dickey said that the concerted attack on Mr Weavers was instigated by another man, Michael William Brittain, aged 44, who waited outside while the deadly revenge took place.

All three are charged with Mr Weavers' murder.

Strict security was in place as the trial began in the High Court at Auckland.

Mr Dickey told the court that some days earlier Weavers had attacked Brittain with a hammer. Brittain's Harley Davidson motorcycle was also taken.

Mr Weavers believed that Brittain had been involved in an earlier attack on two of his friends and the hammer bashing was retribution.

As a result of that attack, Brittain spent some days in Middlemore Hospital with injuries that included a broken arm. Mr Dickey said that in hospital Brittain told "anyone who would listen" that he intended to kill the person who put him there.

Brittain, he said, was "bent on revenge" and "vowed to kill Weavers".

After signing himself out of hospital on the morning of September 27, Brittain went straight to his friend Robertson.

They then picked up Gould and a fourth man, who is to give evidence for the Crown, and drove to the gang pad.

While Brittain and the fourth man remained in Robertson's vehicle, Robertson, a former senior gang member, and Gould, a serving gang member, were allowed into the headquarters by a sentry.

Mr Dickey said their purpose was to confront Mr Weavers and exact revenge for the assault on Brittain and to get his Harley back.

Mr Weavers was stabbed several times, including a "gruesome" 22cm deep wound to the thigh where the knife had been "cynically twisted".

As he sat outside, Brittain's intentions were clear, Mr Dickey said. "Everything he did after stating that intention to kill showed that he meant to have that intention carried out."

Mr Dickey said that after entering the gang pad, Robertson and Gould went to the workshop at the back and attacked Mr Weavers almost immediately with two weapons, a knife or bayonet, and possibly a screwdriver or a pair of scissors.

Mr Weavers was in boxer shorts, barefoot and unarmed, according to the Crown. It maintains that Robertson probably inflicted the fatal wound, but all three were equally responsible.

As they left the headquarters, Robertson and Gould told the sentry to call an ambulance.

The sentry and Weavers' girlfriend tended to the stricken man, but he died in hospital from massive blood loss just over an hour later.

Mr Dickey told the jury that Robertson later apologised to Weavers' stepdaughter, saying that he acted in self-defence.

Brittain, represented by Chris Comeskey, told police that he went to the gang headquarters because of the stolen motorbike but was not involved in any crime.

Panama Le'au'anae, representing Gould with Mary Tuilotolava, said that his client had nothing to do with Mr Weavers' death and did not assault him, didn't touch him and didn't assist or encourage anyone else to.

Robertson is represented by Peter Neutze.

There are around 40 Crown witnesses, some with name suppression.

The trial before Justice Colin Nicholson is expected to take three weeks.

Nurses tell murder jury of beating victim's threats

23.09.2004

One of the three men accused of murdering Highway 61 gang president Kevin Paul Weavers told hospital staff he would kill the person who put him there, an Auckland jury heard yesterday.

Michael William Brittain, 44, was allegedly the instigator of the fatal stabbing of Mr Weavers at the gang headquarters in Manurewa last September.

Two other men, Kelly Raymond Robertson, 45, and Michael Douglas Gould, 54, are alleged by the Crown to have carried out the attack while Brittain waited in a four-wheel-drive vehicle outside the gang pad.

According to the Crown, Mr Weavers was responsible for a hammer attack on Brittain which put him in hospital on September 24, three days before Mr Weavers was stabbed in the leg and bled to death.

Yesterday a Counties Manukau Care nurse, Patricia Wenzlick, told the High Court that Brittain was given morphine for a severe beating which left his arm badly broken, injuries to his head and a 15-20cm wound to his leg which left the calf muscle bulging out.

Brittain told paramedic Warren Berkett who took him to Middlemore Hospital that three men had broken into his home and attacked him with a round-headed engineer's hammer. His Harley-Davidson was also taken.

Mr Berkett advised him to go to the police but Brittain allegedly said he would deal with the situation himself.

Middlemore nurse Julia Plaister told the jury that Brittain said he wanted to get a gun and get the people who put him in hospital and took his motorbike.

Brittain's lawyer, Chris Comeskey, suggested that he was more interested in getting his bike back, and the comments about getting back at the people were just letting off steam.

But Ms Plaister said that Brittain, who was upset and agitated, kept repeating the comments over and over. She was so worried she reported his comments to her supervisor.

A patient, Terrance Brown, who shared a room with Brittain, said that Brittain repeated a number of times that as soon as he got out of hospital he would kill the person who hit him with the hammer and took his bike.

Nurse Susan Sharpe also told the jury that Brittain said he was going to kill his attacker. She said she told him he would go to prison but he allegedly said it would be worth it.

Ms Sharpe said that the following Monday, one of the other nurses "put two and two together" when they read in the Herald of the killing of Mr Weavers, and they went to see the hospital legal adviser.

Mr Comeskey suggested that she had been influenced by the newspaper report, but Ms Sharpe insisted that Brittain said he was going to kill someone.

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