Manslaughter pleas over shooting
Three men whose murder trial was aborted just as it was finishing due to the coronavirus lockdown have pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Dwayne Anson Tewhenua Fore, Kemp Rangitahae Rippon and Daniel Shane Whareaorere pleaded guilty in the High Court at Whanganui yesterday to causing James Butler’s manslaughter by shooting him.
Butler died after an altercation at his home on April 22, 2018.
His brother Brent Butler was also involved in the incident and Rippon pleaded guilty to wounding him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Fore, Rippon, Whareaorere and three others – Mark Robert Audain, Wayne David Reardon and a man with name suppression – stood trial in March charged with James Butler’s murder.
Another man, Manuel Hohepa Wynyard, was also on trial, charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice. Audain has pleaded guilty to that charge.
But the trial for the seven was binned just as lawyers were due to give their closing addresses to the jury – one of the last steps before jury deliberations – because of the impending coronavirus lockdown.
The jury had just gone down to 10 of its original 12 members, after a juror woke with a sore throat and runny nose.
That person’s mother had been in contact with someone who had been in contact with someone who had coronavirus.
No court summary of the offending was read yesterday, but the March trial heard a group of people wearing Black Power colours went to James Butler’s house armed with guns.
An altercation ended with Brent Butler hit in the back of the head and James Butler bleeding out on his driveway, having been shot through both lungs and his aorta.
Fore, Rippon and Whareaorere indicated they wanted to take part in restorative justice with the Butler family before being sentenced in September.
Fore and Rippon were given a first strike, and Whareaorere a second strike, under the threestrikes law for violent offenders.
The remaining four defendants are heading to a retrial.