Kawhia shooting: defendant sold ‘pounds’ of family-owned cannabis, but denies selling it from ‘home’

A man defending serious charges after the violent break-in of his home admitted to selling “pounds” of cannabis from his family property, but not from his home.

In the afternoon session in Hamilton Superior Court today, Crown Prosecutor Jacinda Hamilton began questioning Orren Scott Williams about how much cannabis he had sold and from where, while he was sitting in the dock. accused.

When asked if he was selling drugs from home, he replied “I don’t know.”

Hamilton told him that he had been selling cannabis in large quantities, which he agreed.

Those large amounts were “pounds,” or what he called “cubits,” which he also accepted, but added that they were not for him.

Instead, he was negotiating it on behalf, he said.

In its opening to the jury last week, the crown alleged that Williams knew that the four robbers, two of whom were armed, were there to steal two large bags of cannabis garbage.

After a fight inside the house, the men ended up leaving and Williams shot them, one fatally.

Today in court, having initially disputed that he sold “pounds” of cannabis in “multiple quantities”, he agreed that he would sell “two or three” pounds at a time.

Text messages with a friend showed that he would sell him three pounds “at a stretch” for $ 9,600.

Hamilton told him again that the sales were made in the family home; “I try not to,” he replied.

Williams went on to deny that, before agreeing that the sales would take place on the family’s “property,” on the driveway or on the street.

“I’ll admit it to the driveway in a shove,” he told Hamilton and later denied that he was trying to mislead the jury with his answers.

Hamilton told Williams that selling cannabis, including large amounts, from family ownership carried risks for him and his family. He replied, “I guess so.”

“And as someone who deals with that drug, you take some steps to protect yourself,” he asked. “I guess so,” he replied.

While he accepted that two large bags of cannabis garbage would indicate cannabis sales by the pound, he denied having them in his back room, as family friend Emma Salvation testified last week.

“There were two big bags [of cannabis]”Hamilton told him.

“No, there wasn’t,” he replied repeatedly.

“Because the two big bags of cannabis weren’t there when they checked in the next day.”

“Did not say.

Hamilton asked Williams that while he told police he thought the men were there to steal him, “the last thing” on his mind was that they were there to steal his cannabis.

“Not for 10 ounces anyway,” he said.

Hamilton reminded him that he distributed pounds and they probably expected him to be there.

“From what they were told there was cannabis in there, they told me it was two black bags,” Williams said.

During the morning debriefing session with his attorney Philip Morgan, QC, Williams said he fired his first shot after seeing the silhouette of a man who appeared to be holding something a few feet from him when he was outside.

Thinking he had compromised himself, he stepped back toward the man and fired a shot.

“It was now or never. [thought] I got engaged and they knew I was there … I took a step to the right, raised my firearm, and pulled the trigger. “

Feeling like he was “engaged”, “I kept pulling the trigger.”

In the distance, he could see legs in front of the car’s headlights.

“I just pointed my gun and shot him.”

He ran out of bullets and, still unsure of what was going on, he ran back to the garage to take more bullets, worried he had “pissed these guys off and they’ll come back to fix me.”

Williams will continue to testify Wednesday.

The trial will end this week.