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MARK TAYLOR / Stuff
Orren Scott Williams shot four intruders at his home near Kāwhia in June 2019. All four were injured and one did not survive.
Armed and masked men who broke into the home of a man accused of shooting them, one of them fatally, were on the run when he repeatedly fired his semiautomatic, says a prosecutor.
Orren Scott Williams, 38, is on trial for murder and three counts of wounding with intent to cause serious bodily harm in the 2019 incident.
He says he was protecting himself, his wife and children after four men broke into his home on the west coast of Waikato, near Kāwhia.
The men had a machete and a shotgun, and they raided the house in the early hours of June 6, hoping to steal cannabis.
Williams fired at least eight times, crown prosecutor Jacinda Hamilton said Thursday afternoon.
“It is absolutely impossible in the world that repeatedly firing is a reasonable force [for self-defence],” she said.
“He doesn’t shoot once. Shoot over and over and over again. And that … could never be reasonable. “
Dominico Zapata / Things
The shooting occurred on a cold winter night in the small settlement of Hauturu. This photo was taken looking towards Taharoa, near Kāwhia, on the west coast of Waikato.
Williams said an unexpected silhouette near his home’s yard prompted him to shoot, but he didn’t stop to check after he was shot, he said.
Examinations of the scene point to the men being about 40 meters down the driveway.
“He was acting out of aggression, anger,” Hamilton said.
“The position of the shots, on the back of those men, and the barrage of shots aimed at the rear of the car, in my submission to you, paints a very clear picture.”
The men had wounded Williams and his wife Taryn inside the home, and were pointing a gun at them when Williams escaped into his weapons cabinet, the jury heard.
Those injured in the shooting were Faalili Moleli Fauatea, who died from his injuries, Shaun Te Kanawa, Joe Tumaialu and Grayson Toilolo.
Jurors may be disgusted by his “inexcusable” actions in the robbery, Hamilton said, but “it served them well” is not a legal defense, nor an example of self-defense.
Williams’ defense attorney, Philip Morgan QC, will close the defense case Friday morning.
