Winders ‘in a panicked state’

A university flatmate and employer of stop-go killing suspect Quinton Winders says he couldn’t sleep after learning Winders was a suspect in the case.

Giving evidence on day 17 of the trial, Kieron O’Dwyer, who employed Winders to do fencing work, said he struggled to sleep after police interviewed him.

‘‘Because he wasn’t at my place in Benneydale, I thought, ‘It’s impossible, he wasn’t in the area at the time’,’’ he told the High Court at Rotorua.

However, a subsequent conversation with Winders caused O’Dwyer concern.

‘‘He said to me, ‘They’ve got me on a camera in Taumarunui’. He said, ‘I heard about the murder on the radio, panicked, heard they were after a blue Jeep Cherokee and a .22’. I stood there and thought, ‘This is not looking good’.’’

Earlier, O’Dwyer said he’d told Winders about the murder, as he was aware police were looking for a blue Jeep Cherokee – a vehicle he knew Winders owned.

‘‘I said to him, ‘Quin, there’s been this murder, you need to go to the police, they’re looking for a blue Jeep Cherokee like yours’.’’

He said Winders told him he wasn’t driving the Jeep at that time due to a flat battery.

‘‘I wont be driving it for a couple of weeks,’’ he said Winders claimed.

‘‘I thought that was a reasonable excuse,’’ he said, ‘‘[but] he was a bit funny after that.’’

O’Dwyer also explained that on the day of the murder Winders was scheduled to do fencing work on O’Dwyer’s Benneydale farm but never arrived.

He also told the court about a conversation he had with Winders at his parents’ property, when O’Dwyer almost ran him over on the driveway.

He said Winders appeared to be in a panicked state and told him, ‘‘I’m under surveillance’’.

The two also spoke about Winders’ .22 rifle, which O’Dwyer said he knew police were looking for due to a search warrant that was executed at his property.

He said Winders claimed it had been stolen.

‘‘Bigfoot took it – [Winders] was referring to the neighbour over the hill. That’s what I’m saying anyway,’’ he said Winders claimed.

The Crown case alleges a minor traffic accident, which Winders blamed Taiaroa for, was the catalyst for the killing.

‘‘No-one heard the shot, but the coverage that followed resonated around New Zealand,’’ said Crown prosecutor Amanda Gordon in the trial’s opening.

She said a truck driver saw Taiaroa beckoned over to the window of a blue Jeep Cherokee.

‘‘He was then seen to immediately fall to the ground. The blue Jeep Cherokee then sped off.’’

Gordon conceded it might seem ‘‘inexplicable’’ that a minor traffic accident could escalate into murder, but she told the jury the accident ‘‘concerned the Winders [family] more than you might think’’.

Gordon also claimed Winders’ blue Jeep Cherokee was later found at his parents’ property, and efforts had been made to alter its appearance.

‘‘The defendant and the murderer drove a blue Jeep Cherokee,’’ she said. ‘‘Evidence, when put together, will establish Quinton Winders was the driver of that Jeep Cherokee.’’

Defence lawyer Jonathan Temm, however, claimed no motive existed for Winders to want to kill Taiaroa.

Pointing to Winders on the opening day of the trial, Temm addressed the jury directly.

‘‘Is this man here the man who shot the deceased? He doesn’t know Mr Taiaroa, never met him, no dealings with him, no motive to kill him.’’

Temm also took issue with the differing descriptions given by witnesses of the vehicle seen at the scene, and the police investigation into his client.

‘‘[Winders] was the only focus . . . police haven’t followed the evidence. They’ve made him their target. The defence is going to show you there is other evidence they’ve simply ignored.’’

Temm also argued that it was hard to believe that Winders made a 500-kilometre round trip ‘‘in order to kill a man he’s never met, never spoken to and had no reason to kill’’.