Wheel mistakenly identified by witness in trial

A witness giving evidence in the trial of two brothers accused of stealing vehicles had to concede yesterday he had mistakenly identified a wheel as belonging to his ute.

Matthew David Coxhead and Regan Donald Coxhead are appearing before Judge Gregory Hikaka in the New Plymouth District Court on a raft of theft and cannabis charges.

The judge-alone trial began on Monday and has been a stop-start affair with a number of adjournments to hear legal arguments in chambers with the public excluded.

The court had previously heard from a number of witnesses who had their vehicles, mainly utes and four-wheeldrives, stolen from around Taranaki and as far afield as Taupo¯ .

Yesterday, Inglewood’s Kevin Laurence told crown prosecutor Jacob Bourke his 1996 Mazda Bounty ute had been stolen from his driveway overnight on May 24, 2017.

Laurence had provided police with two photographs of his ute and was asked by Bourke to compare the mag wheels with a photograph taken of one at a shed used by the Coxheads.

‘‘It’s very similar to the ones that were on it,’’ he said.

‘‘That’s definitely the style of rim that was on my ute.’’

However, under crossexamination by defence lawyer Julian Hannam, appearing for Regan, Laurence had to concede the wheel was different to the ones on his vehicle.

‘‘You might have me there,’’ he said before accepting the wheels were different.

Sergeant Peter Lawn later gave evidence of three search warrants police executed at two different addresses used by the brothers.

Lawn said at the time he was a senior constable with the Tactical Crime Unit focusing on vehicle thefts.

On June 20, 2017, Lawn said the brothers were arrested for the theft of a motor vehicle while a search warrant was carried out at a Waitara address.

He said the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) plate on the car appeared to have been damaged and potentially had been punched out and reinstalled.

A tag on the vehicle’s firewall had been attached using Phillips screws, which was not normal, Lawn said.

‘‘I’ve not seen it previously in vehicles that have not been tampered with.’’

Lawn said other identifying plates on the vehicle also appeared to have been tampered with.

He said another search warrant at a different address the following day also located a number of partially dismantled vehicles fitting the description of those reported stolen.

The trial will continue today.