Top Mob dog in the box

Jeremiah Christopher Su’a calls himself many things: Mongrel Mob chapter president, grandfather, and a former methamphetamine user and dealer.

But the 50-year-old denies being involved in any way in the murder of Codi Wilkinson.

Su’a swore an oath on a Bible before spending all of yesterday in the witness box in the High Court at Palmerston North, giving evidence in his defence.

Su’a, younger brother Mariota, Dean Arthur Jennings, Quentin Joseph Moananui and Jason David Signal deny murdering Wilkinson in September 2019. They also deny kidnapping Wilkinson and his friend, Kyle Rowe, wounding Rowe with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and participating in an organised criminal group.

The Crown says Rowe and Wilkinson were patched Mongrel Mob members who were assaulted while having their gang patches taken off them after they robbed someone and failed to share the proceeds.

Witnesses have said Rowe and Wilkinson were patched members – Wilkinson had the gang name inked across his face – who wore their patches every day.

But Jeremiah Su’a said the first time he saw the pair wearing patches was in CCTV footage of the robbery. If he had seen them with patches, he would have taken them and found out who gave them the patches, he said.

He had de-patched members in the past during his time as sergeant-at-arms in the 1990s in Hawke’s Bay, without resorting to violence. Mobsters breaking rules were told their patches were being taken and given the reasons why if they could not explain themselves, Jeremiah Su’a said.

He spoke a lot about how the Mob operated, including different chapters amalgamating under the Aotearoa Mongrel Mob banner and how people could join.

People could not be patched in prison, something some witnesses said happened to Wilkinson, as they would get out and not know who the president was, Jeremiah Su’a said.

He got into the Mob by prospecting in Napier when he was 16, getting patched at 19 and moving to sergeant-at-arms at 21.

He became president of the Manawatu¯ Mongrel Mob chapter.

He used and sold methamphetamine before going to prison in 2014, getting out on parole in February 2019.

He realised after release how bad meth was and wanted to be an involved grandfather.

The trial had a moment of levity when he asked permission from Justice Christine Grice if he could swear when discussing the dangers of changing his granddaughter’s very full nappies.

‘‘Trying to not get s... on your hands ... it was new for me.’’

He also spent time discussing what he did the day the Crown says he was taking part in a plot to attack Wilkinson and Rowe.

He said he spent most of it helping someone get ready to leave a house they were being evicted from and finding a car battery.

He saw Rowe working on a car that evening, he said.

The trial continues, with other defendants getting the chance to give or call evidence once Jeremiah Su’a is finished.

Moananui, however, has already rejected the opportunity.