Reluctant witness in murder case gives expletive-filled testimony

A murder trial witness who was sought by police over the weekend after she failed to appear in court on Friday reluctantly took the witness stand yesterday, combatively flinging profanity-laden insults at lawyers, one of the defendants and her own brother as she was repeatedly prompted to describe the morning of Clifford Umuhuri’s death.

“It was s***,” Beatrice Gage said of the June 1, 2020, attempt to purchase methamphetamine, which she described as the “dodgiest deal ever”.

“It turned into s*** and we’re here. F*** the deal. It didn’t really f***ing go down, did it?”

Michael Filoa and Aaron Davis, whose jury trial started last week in the High Court at Auckland, have both pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated robbery and murder.

Prosecutors said the pair intended to rip off Umuhuri during the pre-dawn methamphetamine deal, during which Filoa shot him twice — once as he was stuck in the back of Davis’ car and again in the buttocks as Umuhuri ran away.

Lawyers for Davis have acknowledged that he set up the drug deal that morning and was driving the car, while Filoa’s lawyers acknowledged he was a passenger and the one who pulled the trigger.

But there was no planned robbery and self-defence may be an issue, jurors were told last week.

Justice Layne Harvey ordered several breaks throughout the morning as Gage’s testimony hit a crescendo of shouts and profanities.

At one point, the witness responded repeatedly with, “F*** you,” cutting off Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey each time he tried to begin a question.

“You’ve got your answers. When can I go? I’m f***ing done,” she shouted.

“You’re not going to get anything else out of me. You’ve really sunk my f***ing boat.”

After a short break, she resumed answering questions.

Gage said she was the unpaid middleman who set up the drug deal that morning, recruited to call her Auckland drug contacts after Umuhuri and her brother arrived from out of town looking to buy roughly $7000 worth of drugs.

It was several months into the Covid pandemic and meth was scarce, she said, adding that what could be found was expensive.

She set up a meeting time with Davis, who she referred to mostly by the nickname “Ahrony” but also as the “f***wit” who “set us up”.

With him in Davis’ car that morning was someone she didn’t recognise sitting in the back seat, she said.

She, meanwhile, was in another car driven by a friend.

Umuhuri and her brother Hadyn Gage, who she referred to as “H-Dog”, were also passengers, she recalled.

The group had just taken LSD when they waited for Davis to arrive with the drugs, she said.

Davis and his passenger arrived late, and when they did she knew something didn’t seem right, she said. Davis’ car doors were locked and they wanted the money first, at which point they would hand out the drugs, she said..

“Something was wrong,” she recalled on the witness stand.

“Cliff f***ing knew and he didn’t pull back . . . He should have backed up. He didn’t.”

Gage said she was starting to fall asleep in the car when she heard the door slam and she saw her brother running towards the other car where the deal was supposed to be going down.

Umuhuri was then able to get out of the other car and they both ran back to their vehicle, with Umuhuri holding his side, she said, explaining that she heard a shot that sounded like a .22 calibre weapon.

Her brother meanwhile, had run away and was nowhere to be seen, she said.

Throughout the testimony, she steadfastly refused to acknowledge they were related, calling him an “idiot”.

Gage’s testimony was set to continue into the afternoon.