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The intruders who broke into Orren Scott Williams’ family home and were shot on the property weren’t the type to run away from a firearm, his attorney says.
Williams, 38, is on trial for murder and three counts of wounding with intent to cause serious bodily harm in the 2019 incident.
The men were masked and armed with a shotgun and machete in the early hours of June 6 when they broke into Williams’ home on the west coast of Waikato, near Kāwhia.
Williams and his wife were injured and threatened with a weapon, and the Crown says it fired in anger when the men and their vehicle fled down the winding driveway of the Hauturu farm.
Dominico Zapata / Things
After leaving the Hauturu property that they entered, the men headed to Hauturu’s school for help.
But that’s “an old assumption,” defense attorney Philip Morgan QC told jury in Hamilton Superior Court on Friday morning.
An intruder, Shaun Te Kanawa, had recruited friends, a vehicle and weapons for the robbery after gaining information from a friend of the Williams family, including that he would be shot if caught, Morgan QC said.
The Crown says the men left the house when Williams made a getaway to his gun safe, marked on a map drawn by the family friend.
“Do you really accept that this group of arrogant, well-armed men who were prepared to break into someone’s home like this, knowing they had guns, were actually like, oh, let’s go home?” Morgan asked the jury.
“Of course, that’s why Mr. Te Kanawa recruited those other guys, because there were weapons. And, before, they were quite prepared to do it.
“Or, actually, did they decide to regroup, is that exactly what Mr. Williams was afraid of?”
When Williams saw a man pass his garage window, then the vehicle pulled into the driveway, he crawled into the yard with his rifle, Morgan said.
He started firing after seeing a silhouette a few meters away, above the cattle stall, thinking that the figure was holding a pistol.
That’s “as scary an event as you can imagine,” Morgan said.
The jury has had eight days of evidence on the shooting, but things happened in a split second, he said.
“Everybody [Williams] You know if these men have broken into your house, done all these things to you, and now they’ve moved their car, and they’re sitting outside the front door … They’re outside the car, moving, door open, light flickering when the people move around the back of the car.
“When you considered the danger he was in, in view of what had already happened, the opinion was formed, rightly or wrongly, that these men were going to turn against him. What else could he have done?”
He fired in the direction of the man and the car, went back inside to reload, and then when he saw the car had turned, he fired over and around, Morgan said.
After a second recharge, he went outside to see the lights go off in the driveway.
“If it really was this angry man, prepared to get into his vehicle and leave, why didn’t he chase after them?” Morgan asked. “He could have followed them down the road, he could have shot them all the way. Couldn’t he have gotten in his car and chased them down the road?”
The Crown had questioned his client’s credibility on some matters, Morgan said, but there was no strong enough reason for the jury to reject his evidence.
In fact, much of Crown’s case was based on how he explained the events, as none of the surviving intruders chose to testify.
The key difference was what his motivation was when he fired: self defense or anger.
Those injured in the shooting were Faalili Moleli Fauatea, who died from his injuries, Shaun Te Kanawa, Joe Tumaialu and Grayson Toilolo.
Judge Mary Peters will summarize Monday morning.
