A witness, a threat, and a smile

A witness to a vicious beating carried out by men with links to the Black Power was told not to say anything or he would be hunted down and beaten.

The man, who cannot be named, told the New Plymouth District Court he had given the victim of the bashing Rory Ruddell, who he knew as KOS, a ride from Waitara to Inglewood and then New Plymouth so he could sell some dive gear on August 13, 2016.

However when the pair got to the house in Tahurangi Pl things took a sinister turn when another vehicle arrived and a group of men began bashing Ruddell.

Laurence Te Ruki, a patched member of the Taranaki Black Power, William Pouha, the president of the gang’s Christchurch chapter, and Zinzan Tamou are on trial before Judge Chris Sygrove and a jury of eight men and four women.

The trio all pleaded not guilty to charges of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm to Ruddell, and participating in an organised criminal group when the trial began on Monday.

The crown alleges Tamou lured Ruddell to his house, while Pouha, ordered the hit and Te Ruki arrived with three other men who carried out the assault.

The witness, who had only met Ruddell that day, said he became worried when a maroon car pulled up so close beside his ute he couldn’t get out of his door just after they arrived.

‘‘I’m actually feeling pretty nervous,’’ he told crown prosecutor Justin Marinovich.

He said he couldn’t actually see the men attacking Ruddell but there was a lot of yelling and swearing going on and he could hear loud thuds while the assault took place.

‘‘I don’t really know how to describe it. A couple of times my ute actually shook.

‘‘I wanted to drive away a couple of times during that.’’

He remained focused on a man wearing a leather Black Power vest who stood in front of his ute and threatened him.

‘‘He said ‘you never saw this, you say anything and we will hunt you down’.’’

He said the man had a smile on his face and while he wasn’t sure if he was joking or not, it concerned him.

Following the attack the men got back in the car and left while he helped Ruddell into his ute.

He said he wanted to take Ruddell to hospital because his face was swollen and bloody but he refused to go.

There was blood splatter left on the side of his vehicle, the court heard.

Under cross-examination by Te Ruki’s defence lawyer Paul Keegan he described the ordeal as nerve racking and scary.

‘‘I would never have gone if I had known that was going to happen.’’

He told Keegan he was ‘‘pretty certain’’ it was the man in the gang vest, who did not take part in the assault, who threatened him.

But he said there was a lot of shouting, swearing and abuse happening.