Trial told of car sightings after Rangiora killing
Evidence suggested a murder accused drove around the streets apparently looking for someone and then driving erratically in a car that was eventually abandoned along Christchurch’s Northern Motorway.
The evidence was called on the second day of the trial in the High Court at Christchurch of two men who face charges of murdering one man and wounding another with intent to commit robbery in an incident at White Street Rangiora on September 13, 2013.
The Crown called a series of witnesses who had sighted a silver Subaru Legacy that Jason William Baker, 40, of Linwood, had been using that night, and what happened to it in the hour after a killing in what the police say was a drug robbery gone wrong.
Baker and Shaun Robert Murray Innes, 37, of Rakaia, deny joint charges of murdering Tony John Lochhead, and wounding Peter Graham Lochhead with intent to commit aggravated robbery. The Crown alleges that Baker wielded the knife that struck the fatal wound to Tony Lochhead’s neck, and Innes has been charged as a party to the murder.
The trial before Justice Rachel Dunningham is expected to last two weeks.
Defence counsel told the jury yesterday that Baker had been consuming drugs and alcohol and had no memory of the night when he is accused of attacking the Lochhead brothers in what the Crown says was a robbery for drugs, guns, and cash.
Counsel for Innes say he ran off and left the scene before anything happened.
Witnesses said that soon after the killing, the silver Subaru was seen driving around the area with the driver yelling out as though looking for someone, or for a pet. They said he sounded upset.
A police communications officer who was driving in from Rangiora saw the vehicle driving erratically on Lineside Road. It was driving slowly, and then accelerating. She saw it swerve, go on to the shoulder and almost cross the centre line.
On the Northern Motorway she saw it pull off to the left. She slowed, but decided it was not safe to stop.
Another police unit found the car abandoned there later. It contained a form with details of Jason Baker.
The same police unit also found Shaun Innes walking on Lineside Road. He identified himself and said his friends had played a party trick and ditched him in Rangiora. He had no marks or blood on his clothing, or face and hands.
Neighbour Jennifer Bowman said she had known the Lochhead brothers for about 11 years. On the evening of September 13, 2013, she was outside watching hedgehogs after feeding them cat biscuits and water, when she heard yelling.
She heard a man yell, “What do you want? What are you doing?”
Someone replied: “I just want to f–g score.”
Tony Lochhead asked: “Why were you hiding in the bushes with a gun under your coat?”
She became frightened then, and stepped back. She went back to her unit.
She heard a scream by Peter Lochhead, and then footsteps running down the driveway before a car drove off.
Peter Lochhead came to her unit, “absolutely white” and covered in blood. “Help me. Call the police,” he said. “Tony’s been stabbed. Tony’s had his throat cut.”
Afterwards, she had seen a knife on the ground and told the police about it.
Cross-examined, she said the third man had called out, “Do you want to have a go, mate?” She said: “He wasn’t speaking coherently. He didn’t seem like he was in his right mind, when he was speaking.”
She said Tony Lochhead sounded frightened during the incident.
Category: Focus
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