Kawhia shooting: ‘Lie with him, he’s going to die’, woman who hatched a robbery plan takes the stand

A man who was shot twice after breaking into the home of a Kawhia man was last seen exiting the riddled vehicle and collapsing to the ground.

Emma Salvation told Hamilton Superior Court today that it was around 5 a.m. on June 6 last year and after arriving at Hauturu School she ran to see how she was as she lay on the ground before yelling at her friends wounded to come and be with him. she was about to die.

Earlier that morning, around 3:30 a.m., Shaun Te Kanawa, Grayson Toilolo, Joe Tumaialu, and Faalili Moleli Fauatea broke into the home of Orren Scott Williams, who is currently on trial in Hamilton Superior Court defending a murder charge and three counts of injuries. with the intention of causing serious bodily harm.

Williams, 37 years old, fired eight shots at the men as they fled their home on Harbor Rd that he shared with his wife, Taryn, and her two young children that morning, after a failed attempt to steal her two large black bags of cannabis.

The crown told jury yesterday that the four “ran for their lives” toward their vehicle while Williams fired his military-style semi-automatic rifle. Their bullets hit the victims or the blue Toyota Harrier they were traveling in.

The bullets struck the car, about 45 meters away, with such impact that they blew out the rear windows and traveled not only through the metal of the car but also through the seats in which the victims were sitting, leaving them covered in blood.

However, defense attorney Philip Morgan QC said his client was not guilty of all charges as he had acted in self defense and denied that they were on the run for their lives but agreed to let them leave the property.

“They certainly left and after they were shot, but this case … of the defendant taking revenge on these men … is nothing more than the Crown’s lawyer theory.”

He told the jury that they would have to decide whether Williams was justified in his use of force under the circumstances and whether it was reasonable.

The first witness to the crown’s trial was 23-year-old Emma Salvation, a close friend of the couple’s family who had known Taryn Williams for about 13 years.

She gave evidence of how she purchased a Williams “tinnie” on the afternoon of June 5 and noticed two large black bags filled with cannabis.

He then offered her a “puff” of methamphetamine which she accepted, but Williams asked her not to tell his wife they were smoking.

Salvation said the couple later got into an argument when she asked him why he had to be so secretive “about everything he did.”

He replied that his relationship with his wife “goes both ways” and that they were both good for each other.

However, Salvation said his wife was too good for him and left.

After getting back in the car with Te Kanawa and her then-14-year-old cousin, she told him that she had seen the two big bags of cannabis and that “it would be a good profit.”

They drove to the Te Waitere yacht club, where they drank Cody’s and smoked some cannabis. She told him the bags of weed “would be easy to come by” by jumping in and out of an open window that she had noticed.

However, he warned Te Kanawa that if Williams listened to them, he would shoot them.

“[That] if they heard him and caught him, they would shoot him, “he told crown prosecutor Jacinda Hamilton during questioning.

Salvation then produced two sketches; one of the garage and the adjoining room where the cannabis was, and another sketch including the house, showing where the cannabis and the gun safe were kept, as well as the safe and which rooms the children were in.

He eventually decided to go home after receiving multiple calls from his mother and dropped off Te Kanawa at the SH31 intersection with Harbor Rd, where he was picked up by a friend.

Around 4:20 am he received a message from Te Kanawa saying “hospital”.

She replied “you’re fine” and he replied, “They shot me baby” before she called him. She drove to Hauturu school and arrived around 5 in the morning to find the local school principal and her husband helping the group.

Three of the men, including Te Kanawa, ran to their vehicle and jumped into the back seat.

He said Fauatea went to get out of the car and then collapsed on the ground. She walked over and sat with him before noticing Te Kanawa fall from the back seat of his ute to the ground.

Then he yelled at the men to sleep with Fauatea “because she is going to die.”

“So they got out of the truck and sat next to their friend and they were talking to him.”

She asked them who shot them and Te Kanawa replied “the guy you took the tinnie from.”

Defense attorney Philip Morgan QC told Salvation that he had “made up a little story” about his fight with Williams that night.

She flatly denied it, saying that she had had many arguments with her wife, who was concerned about his “sneaky” behavior.

“My friend had been telling me about all these things … I’ve seen her upset that he was lying to her and being sneaky. She had just been through a relationship where my partner was sneaky.”

Morgan also asked him about marking where the drugs, guns, and safe were kept in the house. After asking how close she was to Taryn Williams, he asked her why she confirmed that the safe was in her room.

He said it was simply to show Te Kanawa where the safe was.

Salvation accepted that he knew there was money in the safe, but denied the suggestions that Te Kanawa wanted to steal the weapons, as they were worth a lot of money on the black market.

The trial lasts for two weeks.