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JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / Stuff
Justin Richard Burke during his jury trial in Christchurch Superior Court.
A Christchurch man was hoping to become a patched member of the Nomads gang when he was involved in a fatal stabbing, a jury heard.
Justin Richard Burke, 32, is on trial in Christchurch Superior Court for the murder of Shayne George Heappey at a home in Russley, Christchurch, on December 8, 2018.
The Crown alleged that Burke and Matthew Winara Webber killed Heappey for alleged debt and for failing to “collect their penalty” by ignoring repeated requests to settle the debt. Webber was previously convicted of murder.
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Nomads gang president Randall Clinton Waho believed that Heappey owed his daughter-in-law money and had not returned a car he had borrowed.
The Crown alleged that two days before Heappey’s death, Waho gave other gang members Heappey’s cell phone number and an incentive to find him in respect of the debt.
Supplied
Nomadic gang associate Shayne Heappey was stabbed 14 times in December 2018 and died at Christchurch Hospital.
Heappey was taken to Russley’s home where the stabbing occurred.
He was then placed in the back seat of a car and taken to Christchurch Hospital, where he was treated by medical personnel, but died shortly after.
In his opening statement Tuesday, Crown Prosecutor Aaron Harvey said Burke was dating Waho’s stepdaughter at the time of the murder and that he hoped to become a patched member of the gang.
Harvey said one of the people in the house where Heappey was assaulted would tell the jury that he heard arguments and sounds of pain that gradually grew louder. The witness said that she could hear that “something bad” was happening.
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / Stuff
Justin Richard Burke denies being involved in the murder of Shane Heappey.
Burke has pleaded not guilty to the murder that he denied being outside the house with Webber when Heappey was stabbed.
Defense attorney Stephanie Grieve told the jury that Burke had no idea that Webber had brought a knife with him and was planning to stab Heappey.
He said Burke was aware of the gang president’s orders, which were that Heappey should be “scolded and possibly hidden” for his infractions against the gang.
“The question to be determined is really what Mr. Burke knew. Mr. Burke never anticipated that Mr. Heappey would be murdered. I was as surprised as everyone else that Mr. Webber stabbed Mr. Heappey. “
Joe Johnson / Stuff
Matthew Winara Webber was previously convicted of the murder of Shayne Heappey.
She said that even within gang culture, people don’t die from minor infractions like $ 300 debt or not returning a car. No one expected someone to be killed that night, he said.
She said there was no point in suggesting that Burke would go against President Nomad’s orders by assassinating a gang associate in hopes of becoming a patched member.
The Crown intends to call about 30 witnesses during the trial, which will last up to two weeks.
The trial continues.
