Crown witness stole officer’s cellphone at court
A Crown witness at a Christchurch murder trial began her court visit by stealing the cellphone of the officer-in-charge – and was caught when the phone went off while she was giving her evidence.
The cellphone went off when Stella Norman was giving her evidence on Friday afternoon at the trial of two men charged with the murder of Tony John Lochhead during what the Crown says was a drugs robbery gone wrong at Rangiora.
Detective Terry Falloon was sitting in court as the officer-in-charge and recognised his ringtone.
Norman was questioned about the cellphone during cross examination in the High Court at Christchurch today by defence counsel Gerald Nation, and she admitted she had stolen it off Detective Falloon.
Friday’s court sitting was delayed to the afternoon because the witness was being sentenced in another court on charges of taking and cashing five cheques from a 72-year-old man she befriended.
She admitted to Mr Nation that in September 2013 when the cheque offences happened she had been on drugs and had been “capable of being dishonest and doing some awful things”. This was also the month when the killing happened at Rangiora.
She had used the cheques to get about $1000 to pay for her drugs habit.
On trial before Justice Rachel Dunningham and a jury are Jason William Baker, 40, of Linwood, and Shaun Robert Murray Innes, 37, of Rakaia, who deny joint charges of murdering Tony Lochhead, and wounding his brother Peter Graham Lochhead with intent to commit aggravated robbery. The trial has begun its second week.
The Crown says Baker stabbed both men, but Innes was also taking part in what they claim was meant to be a drugs robbery, and he has been charged as a party to both offences.
Norman told the court that she spoke to Innes when he returned home, and he said the men had gone out because Baker wanted “to rob some empty places”. Innes said that he saw that Baker had a hunting knife in the car on the way to Rangiora.
When they came to the house in White Street and found the Lochhead brothers were home, Innes had run away because he did not want a part of it. He had tried to talk Baker out of it. At one stage he feared that he would be stabbed himself.
She said Innes had not wanted to go out but Baker was a very forceful person. He had been “smacked up” previously by Baker when he tried to intervene in a violent domestic incident.
Questioned by counsel for Innes, Michael Knowles, she agreed that Innes had his faults and had been in trouble with the police sometimes but he did not do aggravated robberies. “Shaun is not violent.”
Innes had been very upset when they later learned on the news that someone had been killed at Rangiora. It was the first time he heard that someone had died.
Norman gave evidence at the trial from behind a screen. She admitted that being on drugs had left her “addled” and had affected her short term memory.
She told the court that Innes had run away when they found people were at home because “he didn’t want anything to do with it”.
“I still think he’s a good man,” she said.
The Crown finished presentation of its evidence at 3.15pm on the sixth day of the trial, and the jury was then sent away until 10am on Tuesday while the court heard legal argument.
Category: News
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