Man bit his way to freedom

Dawson Reihana chewed his way to freedom after being bashed, punched and stomped for hours in an alleged gang kidnapping.

The 35-year-old told his story through a DVD recorded at Christchurch Hospital as he lay heavily bandaged in bed hours after escaping a Mob house in Bowenvale Ave in the Christchurch suburb of Cashmere.

The DVD was played on the third day of the trial of seven men with links to the Aotearoa chapter of the Mongrel Mob in the High Court at Christchurch.

Reihana, who was giving evidence by closed-circuit television, has links with the gang’s Notorious chapter, the Crown says.

He said he felt hurt that the people contacted had not tried to get him out, during a kidnap and beating that lasted for about 16 hours.

Before the court, after pleading not guilty to all charges, are Matthew Joshua Mulvey, 35, Leon Delshannon Turner, 41, a builder, Peter Damian Gilbert, 46, a concrete worker, August Keefe, 57, Mathew James Rowe, 41, a bricklayer, Jason Phillip Reweti, 35, a labourer, and Dylan Raymond Shannon Corbin, 27. All are charged with kidnapping Reihana.

Mulvey, Turner, and Gilbert are charged with wounding him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. All except Keefe are charged with injuring him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

When a man left to guard him – the Crown says it was Reweti – fell asleep, Reihana said he chewed on tape wound around his wrists.

When he got free, he noticed a wire leading onto a bed next to him. He pulled it quietly and found there was a cellphone on the end of it and called 111.

Reihana told the trial: ‘‘They attacked me for hours. They threatened disgusting things to my girlfriend, or wanting money from my friends, and wanting anything I had.

‘‘There were so many of them, I was overwhelmed.’’

The continuing trial is expected to last more than two weeks.