Mob member tells of taking his baton ‘everywhere’
A patched member of the Mongrel Mob has told a gang attack trial that his baton is always with him – even when he is in the toilet and the shower.
Kyle Peter Livesey, 29, was being cross-examined on the sixth day of the trial of three Mob members on violence and damage charges in the Christchurch District Court.
The Crown says the attack was retaliation for an ex-president leaving the gang and handing back his patch.
It says Mongrel Mob members from Timaru arrived at a New Brighton house to “deal to” the ex-member and his property, badly injuring him with an axe, assaulting his two teenage sons who tried to intervene, and smashing up the man’s car and Harley Davidson motorcycle.
Livesey and Tamati Jon Hetariki, 35, and Clinton Benjamin Simon, 31, all deny charges of wounding the ex-gang member with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and assaulting his two sons using a fence paling, baton, or bar, as weapons.
Livesey and Simon deny damaging the man’s car, but Hetariki admits the intentional damage charge.
Hetariki and Simon deny damaging the man’s motorcycle, but Livesey pleaded guilty to that charge as the trial began.
Livesey told the trial he got his baton out of the car and pushed it down his pants, after unexpectedly getting an unfriendly response when they visited the house of their “bro”. He saw the man emerge from his doorway holding what appeared to be sharp objects in each hand.
Livesey said he walked up the driveway of the house after hearing the householder shout, “Ring the cops and get my gun.” He saw someone go into the garage and wanted to get a better view of them.
He said: “I heard [the ex-president] nutting out and threatening my bros, so I hit the light on his bike.”
He struck the bike parked in the driveway with the baton he was carrying. The trial has heard evidence of a lot of damage being done to the motorcycle.
Crown prosecutor Anselm Williams questioned Livesey about why he had taken a baton, and other weapons in the car, on a friendly visit to a “bro”.
Livesey said he wasn’t too sure about the hammer and knife, because it wasn’t his car.
“I take my baton with me everywhere,” he said. “Even to the toilet or the shower. It is always with me.”
He said he used the baton for defence and not to intimidate or inflict violence on people. He denied that they had made the visit to the ex-member to assault him and damage his property because they were unhappy about him leaving the gang.
Hetariki, the president of the Notorious gang in Timaru and a Mob member for nine years, told the trial he had not assaulted the ex-member or his sons, and had not damaged the motorcycle. He had come to Christchurch that day – December 4, 2014 – to sign a loan agreement with a person he met at Northlands shopping centre, before visiting the “bro” at New Brighton.
He acknowledged being the Mob’s “captain” in Timaru. His role meant “looking after my members and putting them on the right path”. He wanted to change the perception of the Mongrel Mob.
“I have a vision of them going down a new path, to work, sort yourself out, and help you so we can fit into society,” he told the trial.
The trial is expected to hear closing addresses on Friday and Judge Alistair Garland will sum up for the jury on Monday.
Category: Focus
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Connect
Connect with us via: