Accused Mob ‘guard’ denies involvement
A 35-year-old is claiming he has been caught up in the Operation Vale police swoop because he was “in the wrong place at the wrong time”.
Jason Phillip Reweti, a fibre optic technician, is on trial at the High Court in Christchurch with six Mongrel Mob members or associates, on charges of kidnapping and bashing a rival Mob member, Dawson Reihana.
Reweti made no statement and called no evidence at the trial, but his case was put to the jury in the closing address of his defence counsel, Craig Ruane, on the trial’s seventh day.
The Crown case arising from the police’s Operation Vale investigation has been that Reweti was left to guard Reihana, who had been tied up with tape and badly beaten at addresses in Shirley, and at a Mob address in Bowenvale Avenue.
Reihana gave evidence that when the man left guarding him fell asleep, he chewed his way through the tape wound around his hands and called the police on a cellphone nearby, which turned out to be Reweti’s work phone.
Mr Ruane said there was a lack of evidence about Reweti’s involvement.
He said the phone was not an indication that Reweti was the “guard”, and called into question Reihana’s identification. He said there was another similarly dressed man also at the house at the time.
There was no suggestion that Reweti had taken part in the assaults on Reihana. Mr Ruane suggested spots of Reihana’s blood on Reweti’s trousers could have been smeared or wiped onto the clothing when he went through a door where blood was smeared as Reihana left the property.
Reweti left moments after Reihana and was stopped by the police.
There was no indication of Reweti’s involvement with the Mongrel Mob. “He happened to be in a house in which some of the Mongrel Mob had set up camp,” said Mr Ruane. “He’s just a bloke who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Before the court, after pleading not guilty to all charges, are Matthew Joshua Mulvey, 35, Leon Delshannon Turner, 41, a builder, Peter Damian Gilbert, 46, a concrete worker, August Keefe, 57, Mathew James Rowe, 41, a bricklayer, Reweti, and Dylan Raymond Shannon Corbin, 27.
All are charged with kidnapping Reihana. Mulvey, Turner, and Gilbert are charged with wounding him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. All except Keefe are charged with injuring him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
All evidence in the trial was completed early on Friday, and then the jury heard closing addresses by the Crown and all defence counsel. Justice Cameron Mander will sum up on Monday before the jury retires to consider its verdicts.
Category: Focus
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