Father, son cleared over fight with burglar
HAMILTON: A jury has found a Piopio father and son not guilty of all charges over an incident during which the tip of a teen burglar’s little finger was chopped off in a bungled home invasion.
William Burr and son Shaun were found not guilty on all charges by a jury in the High Court at Hamilton yesterday.
The pair were found not guilty on charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, or wounding with intent to injure in the alternative in relation to attacking the boy with a stick as he lay on the floor.
They also faced a charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm or maiming with intent to injure after chopping off the tip of the boy’s little finger.
William Burr faced extra charges of assaulting a woman, for kicking the teen girl in the head on the floor, and injuring with intent to injure for allegedly stomping on the back of the boy as he lay on the floor.
The jury of three women and nine men spent 45 minutes deliberating on Tuesday before retiring and resuming at 10.40am yesterday.
They returned with their unanimous verdicts at 3.45pm in front of a packed public gallery of the Burr family and supporters.
The teen boy had the tip of his little finger chopped off by the pair after he and his girlfriend broke into William Burr’s home about 1.45am on October 1, 2020.
The Crown said it was aggressive violence with the pair acting out of revenge for what the teen had put William Burr through that night and in previous burglaries.
The defence contended the situation was far from being under control and the teen constantly posed a threat as he lay with a knife on the floor.
Before the verdicts were read, the Burrs’ family waited anxiously.
The father and son returned to the packed public gallery after being discharged, to hugs and handshakes.
‘‘Oh my God, not guilty,’’ one family member uttered.
For the past six days, the jury had heard detailed accounts about what is alleged to have happened inside the Napinapi Rd home in Piopio, near Te Kuiti.
King Country farmer William Burr, known as Bill, had three times been the victim of burglary by the teen boy — each time he broke into the home to get the key’s for Burr’s car.
This time, fuelled with bourbon and cannabis, the 17yearold took his thengirlfriend — both of whom have name suppression due to their age at the time — to William Burr’s house early in the morning.
The teen had been bailed to an Auckland property on charges from a burglary of William Burr’s home the week before and was driven down by his girlfriend’s cousins.
The pair went into William Burr’s bedroom after being unable to find the keys for his car elsewhere in the house.
There, the teen girl hit him over the head — she would say once, he says twice — and a fight erupted, lasting about eight minutes.
William Burr then managed to turn the light on and said he would give up and hand over the keys, which he told the boy were on top of the microwave.
He sat exhausted on the end of the bed, naked, next to the teen girl. He told her he was going to put on some clothes and she left.
He testified that it was then that he grabbed his shotgun, marched down the hallway and pointed it at the pair as they stood in the kitchen.
They both immediately dropped to the floor.
William Burr then set about calling various people, including 111, his son, his neighbour and Constable Tony Schrafft.
Shaun Burr arrived and it was then he set about striking the boy, on instruction from his father, as he believed he was trying to get up off the ground.
He struck him with one ‘‘beautiful’’ punch, which sent him to the floor, Shaun Burr said.
William Burr said there were then multiple occasions of the boy lashing out and trying to stand up, holding a knife Burr feared was going to be used on them.
He warned the boy that if he did not show his left hand that he would cut it off, he said.
The boy still refused to put both hands out in front of him, and William Burr asked his son to cut him — he made a small cut to the boy’s finger.
The boy still refused to show his hands, and it was then that William Burr instructed his son to chop the tip of the finger off — which he did.
The girl was uninjured in the ruckus, while the boy was airlifted to Waikato Hospital.
After being treated for injuries he was discharged two days later.
The pair were also charged by police; the boy was arrested and convicted of aggravated burglary. His girlfriend was dealt with by Youth Aid and went through a family group conference.