The complainant, who cannot yet be identified due to a pending request for permanent name suppression, has said he was turning away following a brief argument when Montgomerie lashed out without warning.
A police photograph of a cocktail party at a Westmere property where a man was injured with a wine glass. Andrew Montgomerie is on trial, accused of wounding the man. Photo / NZ Police
He spent three days in hospital and underwent surgery to remove the glass shards but his artery had not been cut as initially feared.
Sergeant Dylan Hannah-Jones, who also arrived at the scene on a motorbike around 8 that Friday night, recalled a “highly charged scene” in which he had to assure the complainant’s wife that they were doing everything they could to help as he applied pressure to the man’s neck.
He described the overall intoxication level of the roughly 50 or so guests as “extremely high”.
“It was quite difficult to manage the people there,” he said, echoing other first responders.
By the time police arrived, Montgomerie and his wife had already left the scene. One witness described walking after the couple, yelling at them to stop as they got into an Uber down the street from the residence.
Other witnesses described what had been an otherwise uneventful 40th birthday party for host Mark Ensom, another property developer. None of the witnesses called by prosecutors today saw the actual blow.
“At first I thought he was just being a clown,” admitted party guest Garth Broadhead, explaining that he initially noticed the complainant yelling “help” in an unintelligible, high-pitched voice. “The person was running from the deck to the kitchen area, clutching his neck.”
The scene at the cocktail party at the Westmere property. Photo / NZ Police
When he saw the blood, he realised it wasn’t a joke, he explained.
Like other guests who gave evidence today, Broadhead scoffed when asked by the defence if he had seen a tray containing cocaine lines and a straw being passed around at the party.
“I think I would have remembered that,” he said.
Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield, KC, emphasised yesterday the complainant’s admitted cocaine use that night. But he repeatedly insinuated through his questioning of witnesses today that the complainant had been untruthful about the drug being out in the open and freely offered to guests, just like the glasses of champagne.
The complainant said he had used a “very small amount” of cocaine when the platter was offered to him and had imbibed two glasses of champagne at the party but was not intoxicated and had not acted aggressively towards Montgomerie prior to the blow.
The Westmere property. Photo / NZ Police
Today’s hearing, which marked the second day of evidence, got off to a slow start after Judge Paul Murray interviewed and then dismissed a juror who had disobeyed directions not to do independent research. Other jurors alerted the judge after the man went online to look up the value of the mansion where the incident occurred.
“That’s obviously a breach of the rules, which I’ve reiterated to you several times,” the judge told the reduced panel. “Those rules are vitally important. If there is another breach, then the trial is in real jeopardy of having to stop and start all over again.”
Crown prosecutors Ruby van Boheemen and Isabella Joe are expected to call their final evidence on Monday morning, including pre-recorded testimony from the only independent witness believed to have seen the blow.
Montgomerie’s lawyers have indicated he also will give evidence after the Crown’s final witness.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
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