Gang planned ‘scare’ tactics

Press, 24 June 1983, Page 7

Gang planned ‘scare’ tactics

One of six men charged with murder and attempted murder, arising from a shooting incident outside the Highway 61 gang headquarters, allegedly said in a statement to the police that there had been talk at the Devil’s Henchmen gang headquarters of going to the Highway 61 headquarters to give them a scare. He and some others later drove past the headquarters in Worcester Street with two sawn-off shotguns in the vehicle, and these were fired outside the house. He did not see anybody outside. Written statements from three of the six defendants, and a verbal statement made by one defendant to a detective, were heard in evidence yesterday. It was the fourth day of the hearing of depositions of evidence against the defendants, on charges of murder, attempted murder, and unlawful possession of firearms. The Crown alleges that the six defendants were parties to the murder of Quentin Rumatiki Martin, and the attempted murder of John Raymond Roderick, in the early morning of April 23. Kt, Lundy, in a

ment to Detective P. M. Deazley, said he was at the Devil’s Henchmen headquarters on the evening of Friday, April 22. During the evening there was talk of going to the Highway 61 headquarters “to give them a scare.” “By this I men driving past and firing a couple of shots. I know a shotgun was available.” One of the club members arranged to get a van and Lundy agreed to drive it. The plan was for a of

them to drive past and fire off a couple .of shots. Then he was to drive to Kaiapoi and dump the van. Watson was to pick them up in his girlfriend’s van and bring them back to Christchurch.

About 12.30 a.m., they left to go to Worcester Street. Lundy drove the red van, which he knew had been stolen. There were three people with him, whom he did not wish to name. There were two sawn-off shotguns in the van. -

Lundy’s statement said he drove along Worcester Street and as they got to the Highway 61 house the guns were fired. He thought two shots were fired.

He did not see anybody on the footpath outside the house. .

The statement said that Lundy then drove along several city streets and then to Kaiapoi. He left the van in Ohoka Road and they got into Watson’s van. Watson had.. followed them from Marshland Road, where he

had been waiting for them. Watson had a passenger with him, whom Lundy did not name. His statement said they all drove back to town, and were stopped by the police in New Brighton Road. He said the two shotguns in the van were the ones used in the shooting. Watson, in a statement to the police, allegedly said that on the early evening of April 22 he was at his girlfriend’s place and then borrowed her Ford Anglia van, coloured white and orange, and drove to his gang’s (Devil’s Henchmen) headquarters in Ferry Road. About midnight his girlfriend arrived. He wandered into the main house a short time later and heard a few members talking about an event that was going to take place. He had an idea that some of the boys were going around to the Highway 61 headquarters to stir them up. He had heard whispers during the evening, but did not take any notice. If they had wanted him to know they would have told him, he said.

Somebody asked him if he would go to Kaiapoi to pick up Lundy and Knight. He asked where abouts in Kaiapoi and Keetley said he would accompany him. The statement said Watson did not know Kaiapoi very well. He returned to the bar and asked his girlfriend for the loan of the van for half an hour.

He and Keetley set off for Kaiapoi after midnight, and turned off past the bridge; They saw four gang members standing at a kerb, and

stopped. Knight got into the van next to Watson, and Lundy, Geeson, Sutherland, and Keetley got into the back. The statement said Watson drove towards the motorway. He heard background chatter and overheard somebody say something about a shot being fired into the fence. He gathered they meant Worcester Street. He did not know who said this. Nothing was said about anybody being shot He did not see any firearms in the van. Somebody suggested he turn left off Marshland Road at the roundabout They were stopped by the police in New Brighton Road. “A cop found a machete in the van, and when the cops shone torches under the van he saw a gun,” said the statement. This was the first time he had seen the gun. He did not know who put it there. He said he did not own or tjse a firearm. j

At no stage did he go to Worcester Street that night; he was not involved in the shooting, Watson’s statement continued. It said there had been some trouble with the Highway 61 gang about a month before at the Imperial Hotel. There had been a bit of a scrap after Highway 61 gang members attacked them.

Keetley, in a statement to Detective L. E. Barkle, said that he was at the Devil’s Henchmen gang headquarters on the Friday evening. He had heard a discussion about a scare at the 61. He volunteered to be navigator for Watson, who was not sure where to go to Kaiapoi. He did not know that any Kn would be shot at, *d, or killed. He and Watson left, and stopped in Marshland Road. Some time later a red van, driven by Lundy, slowed, and they followed to Kaiapoi. After a vehicle breakdown, the people in the red van moved into the van used by Watson and Keetley and they drove back to Christchurch, being stopped in New Brighton Road. Keetley’s statement said he would not have gone if he had known the circumstances. He only volunteered to be a navigator for Watson as there was nobody else available to know the way to Kaiapoi. He did not wish to put in jeopardy his job and home, and wished to marry and become a useful member of the community. Detective M. C. Mcßae gave evidence of interviewing Knight, who said ha had

been a passenger in a van that night. He said he had no comment about shotguns allegedly found in the van, or whether they had been fired that night. The driver of the van, Watson, had been looking for a party. He did not know who owned the van.

He only knew of the shotgun in the van after the police had stopped them. He said he had not travelled past the Highway 61 headquarters that night. There had been no gun fired from the van.

He admitted having placed the shotgun under the van when the police stopped them, but would not comment on when he became aware there was a shotgun in the van. Detective Mcßae said Knight stated he did not know about firearms having been used, or of four men being picked up by two others.

He denied knowledge of an incident between the Devil’s Henchmen and Highway 61 gangs a month before in the Imperial Hotel. He denied being in another vehicle, or travelling to Kaiapoi, and denied any responsibility for the shoot-

ing. Constable M. C. Luxon gave evidence of being in a police patrol which stopped a red and white van in New Brighton Road. The six defendants were in the vehicle and Watson was the driver. After the occupants alighted, the police found a shotgun under the van, and another shotgun, three pieces of wood) a piece of pipe, and a machete, inside the van.

Six men are appearing in the District Court in Christchurch for the preliminary hearing of charges of murder, and attempted murder, and unlawful possession of weapons, arising from a shooting incident outside the Highway 61 gang headquarters, at 588 Worcester Street, Linwood, soon after midnight on April 23.

The defendants are Larry Thomas Geeson, aged 25, a self-employed leather worker (Mr K. N. Hampton), Russell John Keetley, aged 23, a meat grader (Mr D. C. Fitzgibbon), Keith John Knight, aged 21, a process

worker (Mr P. H. B. Hall), Brian Selby Lundy, aged 23, a freezing worker (Mr M. A. Bungay, of Wellington, and Ms P. D. Gibson), Mark Andrew Sutherland, aged 26, a mechanic (Mr M. J. Glue), Vaughan Martin Watson, aged 21, a coach builder (Mr D. I. Jones and Mr R. S. Simes).

Each is charged with murdering Quentin Rumatiki Martin, aged 24, and charged with attempting to murder John Raymond Roderick, aged 29. The six are also jointly charged with unlawfully possessing a pistol — a

sawn-off double barrel shotgun — and possessing a single barrel shotgun without lawful, 'proper, and sufficient purpose. Depositions of evidence of 67 prosecution witnesses are to be heard.

The hearing, before Messrs R. M. Naysmith and J. B. Andersen, Justices of the Peace, began on Monday. Mr B. McClelland, Q.C., appears with Mr B. M. Stanaway for the Crown. The 57 exhibits to be presented in the case include firearms and a variety of other alleged weapons.