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Michael Brittain was acquitted by the jury at the High
Court.
Fight erupts after Highway 61 trial verdict
12.10.2004
9.50pm
A fight erupted when two men accused of murdering a gang leader walked free from
the High Court at Auckland tonight.
A jury found Michael Douglas Gould and Michael William Brittain not guilty of
murdering Highway 61 gang president Kevin Weavers.
Former gang president Kelly Raymond Robertson, who the Crown alleged stabbed
Weavers in the thigh, was found guilty of manslaughter.
Following the verdict, Mr Weavers' ex-partner Paula McBirney and her sister
approached Mr Gould, a life member of the gang, and his partner on the street.
The four struggled and Mr Gould was grabbed about the face.
Punches were thrown before police separated the group.
Earlier, when Mr Gould left the court room, he made an abusive gesture in the
direction of a police officer and Ms McBirney and swore at her.
She responded before police stood up to quell any outbursts in the public
gallery.
Mr Brittain and his partner Sue Hale quickly left the court after the verdicts
but his father Bill Brittain criticised police for not having a greater presence
outside court.
"Where are the police when they're needed?" he asked.
"Justice has been done in the court but where were the police for this
aftermath?"
Mr Brittain claimed witnesses had been "hassled" during the trial.
He showed the Herald a note which said Michael Brittain would be killed if he
was acquitted.
Mr Gould, who said he had spent nine months in jail before the trial, said he
always maintained his innocence and was "screwed by the police".
"I wasn't in the same room," he said of the killing.
Mr Weavers, 61, died after suffering a 22cm knife wound which cut his femoral
artery. He was killed at the gang's headquarters in Manurewa in September last
year.
The Crown alleged that Mr Brittain, an associate of the gang, wanted Mr Weavers
dead for an assault he had suffered at the hand of the president and four other
gang members armed with hammers.
Mr Weavers was killed when Robertson and Mr Gould went inside the gang pad while
Brittain sat outside in a vehicle, the Crown said.
Robertson gave evidence that an enraged Mr Weavers attacked him with a
twin-bladed knife when he asked about getting Mr Brittain's motorbike back.
He said Mr Weavers stabbed himself in the leg as they struggled and fell to the
ground, accidentally pushing the weapon deep into his thigh.
Robertson's lawyer, Peter Neutze, said his client was trying to repel Mr
Weaver's attack.
