The owner of a red ute – which carried the fatally injured Doreion Hard from the scene of a daylight shooting in a Wairarapa supermarket car park – says she tried to staunch the man’s bleeding as the vehicle’s occupants dumped drugs and guns.
Hard died after he was shot in the back following what prosecutor Tim Bain described as a “drug deal gone sideways” in a car park in Featherston in March 2025.
Tuesday is the second day of the murder trial of Pelikai Taukei’aho and Tauave Sue at the High Court in Wellington.
On Monday lawyers for the Crown told the jury that four men – including Hard – had conspired to rob the defendants after arraigning a meeting to purchase several ounces of cocaine on 22 March, 2025.
On Tuesday the woman slumped in her chair as she told the court she had remained with her truck rather than give the vehicle up to the men – acquaintances of hers – who demanded she take them to Featherston.
After meeting up with another vehicle carrying Hard in the supermarket car park, three of the men readied firearms – putting them in their waistbands.
Hard and one other walked towards the defendants who were waiting in a grey Holden Cruze.
Prosecutor Tim Bain described the incident where Hard was shot in a Featherston supermarket car park as a “drug deal gone sideways”.
Supplied
The two men opened the car doors and lent into the vehicle. The woman said she heard them yelling aggressively and suspected one man had hit the occupant on the driver’s side.
The woman would later tell police the two men had guns pointed at the defendants.
As the altercation was taking place a third man stepped behind the Holden scattering Z-nails behind the vehicle’s tyres while the remaining man stayed in the driver’s seat – with her in the back.
The witness said the rear left hand side window of the vehicle shattered suddenly, seconds after the three men returned to the vehicle.
“I think Doreion shot the gun,” she said.
“We were just moving and then the window, bang, and then a quick glance and I see [the defendants] jump out of the car. That’s when I heard another bang and Doreion grabbed my arm and said he’d been shot.
“I pulled him forward to try and find where he’d been shot to stop the bleeding.
“They were too busy worried about hiding everything. I was just trying to keep him awake,” she said.
Tauave Sue has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Doreion Hard.
Mark Mitchell
The woman said the ute headed south stopping on the way to dump the firearms and a bag taken from the grey Holden.
Nearer to Greytown the ute made other stops as two of the male passengers made their own way to avoid arrest.
“I’m still trying to keep Doreion awake. **** gets out. He says he can’t get caught by police et cetera. Then we get to Carterton and that’s where we stop,” the woman said.
Police and ambulance arrived soon after but Hard would die from his injuries.
Panic as shots ring out
A witness to the fatal shooting spoke of panic in the Featherston car park as shots rang out on the sunny afternoon.
He said at least one of two men appeared to brandish a firearm as they robbed the occupants of the grey Holden.
Another removed packages from the back of the car as the occupants held their hands in the air.
The witness said he stopped in his tracks when he saw a man walk away from the car as he appeared to tuck a firearm into his waistband.
Pelikai Taukei’aho has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Doreion Hard in Carterton on 22 March 2025.
Mark Mitchell
Moments later Taukei’aho sprang from the Holden and opened fire on the red ute carrying the men as it left the scene – fatally wounding Hard.
The witness said the shots “sounded like firecrackers” as Taukei’aho and Sue climbed out of their car and walked – away from him – towards the ute as it made its escape from the car park.
Another witness said he saw a man holding “a small dark, probably black, object,” as up to four shots rang out.
“It was quite clearly a gunshot, I’d been in the military for 22 years. I know what a gun sounds like.
“Three or four [shots] from memory. It was all over very quickly,” the witness said.
Defence lawyer Louise Szrayni pressed the witness about the order and timing of the events he saw.
“You can imagine what it’s like. There’s people panicking left right and centre. It was all over in the space of 30 secs,” the witness said.
He said he was focussed on the man who appeared to have a gun, “it was almost like tunnel vision” he told the court.
But he countered defence lawyer Karun Lakshman’s assertion that his military experience meant he was “unfazed” by firearms.
“I think anyone who isn’t phased by guns and gunshots is a scary person,” the witness said.
Five weeks had been set aside for the trial which would continue on Wednesday.