Jury returns mixed verdicts in murder trial
A High Court jury has found one man guilty of murdering a drug dealer by shooting him dead – but two co-accused men were found not guilty of the same charge.
Whakapumautanga ‘‘Cookie’’ Clarke, 26, Cody Paul Griffin, 26, and Daniel George Chase, 22, have been standing trial in Hamilton for the past two weeks on charges of murder and aggravated robbery.
Scott John Henry, 48, was found dead at his Whangamata¯ Rd property near Kinloch, north of Lake Taupo¯ , on Thursday, July 20 last year.
The trio were each charged with murdering Henry and, being armed with a firearm, robbing him of a green Ridgeline Pikau bag and its contents.
The jury of four women and seven men retired at 4.17pm on Thursday to deliberate and they returned their verdicts just after 2pm yesterday.
Clarke – the gunman – was found guilty of murdering Henry, Griffin was found guilty of Henry’s manslaughter while Chase was found not guilty of either murder or manslaughter. All three were found guilty of the aggravated robbery charge.
The trio will be sentenced in the High Court in Rotorua on October 10.
The trio accepted their verdicts impassively. Members of Henry’s family declined to speak to media outside of court following the verdicts.
Justice Sarah Katz thanked the jurors for their duty and excused them from having to undertake any further jury duty for a period of five years.
The judge also issued Clarke and Chase with a ‘‘first strike’’ warning that is given to people convicted of serious violent offences, while Griffin was issued with a second strike warning. Clarke was represented in court by Max Simpkins, Chase’s counsel was Bill Lawson, and Griffin’s counsel was John Munro.
Speaking after the verdicts were delivered, Lawson said Chase was ‘‘a bit shellshocked, but obviously pleased with the not guilty verdicts’’. Munro said Griffin was ‘‘upset for his friend. That’s about it, really. We are really pleased with the result.’’
The Crown case against the three, led by prosecutor Amanda Gordon, contended the three hatched a plan to rob Henry, a known drug dealer who sold cannabis and methamphetamine from his house, a converted shed, near Kinloch, where he lived with his partner Kylie Hartley and his son Liam Henry.
About 8pm on July 20, the three accused arrived at Henry’s house in the midst of a storm.
Hartley, who had been in a relationship with Henry for about two years, was home at the time and had just finished a shower in an outside cubicle when she saw a vehicle parked outside, facing the driveway. She believed it was Henry’s son being dropped off by friends.
She encountered three men wearing bandanas over their faces soon after. One of the men – now confirmed as Clarke – was holding a long-barrelled shotgun.
‘‘Where is Scott? Where are the drugs? Where is the money?’’ the man with the gun asked her.
‘‘I don’t know,’’ she replied. At that point, Henry rounded the corner of the house with a torch in his hand.
One of the men grabbed Hartley while the other two men took Henry around the side of the house. Seconds later, Henry was felled by a blast from the shotgun.