December 10, 2008

Bray trial: Another view of youth culture

Wayne Bray murder trial, wrap-up. By David Clarkson

The six accused all played different roles, but in the end the verdicts of the jury were the same: not guilty of murder, but guilty of the manslaughter of Wayne Kerry Bray.

The jury took just seven hours to reach its verdicts in the High Court at Christchurch after a trial of more than five weeks in which it had heard from 92 crown witnesses.

In a trial where there was talk of gang connections, the six Wayne Bray murder accused did not behave like a gang.

They did what gangs don?t do: they pretty much did their best to get themselves off and blame the others.

In legal terms, it was an unusual cut-throat defence. Spread the blame and confusion and in the process hope that the jury ? unable to be sure of its decision ? will see no other option but not guilty verdicts.

It feels like a long time since the trial began.

It would have been a lot longer if the six accused had exercised their right to give or call evidence in their own defence but they stayed silent and their lawyers said the crown had not proved its case for murder.

And in the end the jury accepted that. The six are now in custody for sentence in Timaru on February 11. Manslaughter still carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The 24 days of the trial have opened up a window into the youth culture of Timaru ? one side of it anyway.

It can?t be said the co-accused were aimless youth. They had the aim of having a good time with plenty of booze and partying.

The party at Bouverie Street on February 2 was meant to be a quiet affair. There were invited guests, including some of the accused, and it was being overseen by parents.

But it was gatecrashed and the police were called. There was a decision to close it early, and as people left, the mayhem broke out on the road that led to Wayne Kerry Bray?s death.

Simon Antony Anglem was out on the road when he saw Mr Bray. They had history over a girlfriend, and a raid by Mr Bray and a second man on Anglem?s grandmother?s house where windows were smashed. That was in reprisal for an incident in the street where Anglem threw a spanner and smashed a car windscreen.

And there was the question of paternity. A young woman witness said Anglem had told her that if she did not name him in a paternity suit, he would not have to beat up Wayne ? or possibly he would not have to get others to beat up Wayne.

On February 2, it was Anglem who signalled the start of it, having a one-on-one fight with Mr Bray. He says that was the end of it, as far as he was concerned.

But according to the crown, he effectively set the group attack in motion.

The crown then said a pack mentality set in and the whole group took part in the punching, kicking, and stomping of Mr Bray.

It contended there were no innocent bystanders at the corner of Bouverie Street and Luxmoore Road.

The defence said there were, but the eyewitnesses had not noticed them because they were so focussed on the attack.

One crown witness referred to ?two kickers and one stomper?.

This was the job that the jury was given to sort out. Could it identify who delivered the fatal blows? If not, were they acting together, encouraging each other, and did they have murderous intent?

And the gangs. In meticulously building its case, the crown was able to point to a series of gang connections.

Wayne Bray was associated with the Crips, an off-shoot of Black Power.

Accused John Jamieson had Mongrel Mob connections.

Black Power associates went looking for two of the accused in a reprisal raid the same night as the attack.

Ashley Moffat had injured his hand during the evening ? possibly in a drunken fall from a fence ? but when he was boasting to friends later he talked about having ?the blood of a Crip? on his hands.

It was clear from the trial that there was a violent edge to Timaru?s youth culture. One lawyer described the events that night as ?testosterone-fuelled argy-bargy?. The young men were part of it, the young women were there but professed to be less impressed.

One witness recounted a compelling scene that sticks in the mind.

As the group of young men ran back up Bouverie Street ? while Wayne Bray lay dying down the hill ? they were heard making monkey noises, and chanting something about Black Power.