She then voiced similar sentiments to the person she had been chatting with. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think Mont just hit [the complainant] with a champagne glass,\u201d she said, referring to the defendant by his nickname. <\/p>\n
A cocktail party at a Westmere property turned into a crime scene in April 2021 after Auckland property developer Andrew Montgomerie allegedly smashed a broken wine glass against another man’s neck during a heated exchange. Montgomerie is on trial, accused of wounding the other man. Photo \/ NZ Police<\/p>\n
Neither the witness nor the complainant can currently be named. <\/p>\n
Both have sought permanent name suppression, which will be decided by Judge Paul Murray after the Auckland District Court trial<\/a> concludes. <\/p>\n Crown wraps up third day of evidence<\/p>\n Jurors watched pre-recorded testimony from the witness this morning as Crown prosecutors Ruby van Boheemen and Isabella Joe wrapped up their third and final day of evidence. <\/p>\n Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield KC is expected to present his case tomorrow, including calling Montgomerie, 58, to the witness box to give his own account of that evening. <\/p>\n So far, jurors\u2019 only chances to hear Montgomerie in his own words have been a brief text exchange and a seven-sentence written statement that he handed to police in lieu of an interview, on the day he was charged. <\/p>\n Both were read aloud in court today.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile I was at the party a person whom I know approached me and began insulting me,\u201d the statement read. <\/p>\n \u201cI went to walk away, [and] as I was walking away he threw a punch towards my head – my instinctive reaction was to raise my right arm and fend him away.<\/p>\n \u201cHe walked back towards a group of people.<\/p>\n \u201cI then realised my right hand was bleeding badly and realised I had a spirits glass in my hand which had smashed.\u201d<\/p>\n Text mentioned \u2018interesting rumours\u2019<\/p>\n In the text exchange, extracted from Montgomerie\u2019s phone after police seized the device, a friend from Barfoot & Thompson told him the afternoon after the incident that there were \u201csome interesting rumours floating around\u201d about the defendant. <\/p>\n \u201cYep. Just gossip by nobody that saw what really happened,\u201d Montgomerie replied. <\/p>\n \u201cThe guy punched me and came off second best and is now crying about it.\u201d<\/p>\n The friend replied: \u201cthats a bit disappointing as the story i heard was far more exotic.\u201d He elaborated: \u201cchampagne glass to the neck artery\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cNah,\u201d Montgomerie responded. \u201cIt was a vodka glass and unfortunately I was holding it when I hit him. Done plenty of damage to me too.\u201d <\/p>\n But the mutual acquaintance witness \u2013 the only person aside from the complainant and the defendant known to have seen the interaction \u2013 said she did not see either man cocking his arm as if to inflict a blow. <\/p>\n She described their body language just before the incident as \u201cnothing remarkable\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cThey weren\u2019t pushing each other or anything,\u201d she explained. <\/p>\n \u201cIt just looked like they were having a conversation \u2013 maybe about something serious… They weren\u2019t having a jovial catch-up.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s what made what happened next all the more startling, she said, pantomiming Montgomerie\u2019s hand. <\/p>\n \u2018It was like a flick\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like a flick,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cLike someone would slap you across the face but there wasn\u2019t really a wind-up.\u201d<\/p>\n Prosecutors suggested at the outset of the trial last week that Montgomerie \u201csaw red\u201d and lashed out without warning after the other man humiliated him by suggesting he had a reputation for not paying bills. <\/p>\n The complainant said he was looking away when he was hit by Montgomerie, and it felt like the defendant was intentionally pushing the jagged glass into his neck to apply maximum pressure. <\/p>\n The defence, meanwhile, suggested he was embellishing out of spite for Montgomerie. <\/p>\n Mansfield has characterised the cut as an accident and has suggested the complainant was the initial aggressor. <\/p>\n The defence lawyer has also focused heavily on the complainant\u2019s admitted cocaine use, which the complainant said he had fleetingly indulged in earlier when someone at the party was passing around a plate of small, pre-arranged lines. <\/p>\n Jurors also heard today, via a statement of agreed facts, from a surgeon at Auckland Hospital<\/a> on the night of the incident. <\/p>\n He described a 2.5cm deep laceration that damaged the muscle in the patient\u2019s neck. It was deep enough, he noted, that exploratory surgery was needed to see if there was \u201cpotential injury to structures deep in the neck\u201d. <\/p>\n Ultimately, he determined, the cut did not pose the risk of being fatal, and there were no glass fragments in the external jugular vein. <\/p>\n There had been fear among some first responders and partygoers, including the complainant, that it could have been much worse. <\/p>\n The mutual acquaintance witness recalled following the complainant inside immediately after the incident to see if he was okay. <\/p>\n \u201cHe looked scared, sort of a bit pale,\u201d she recalled. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd then [his wife] let out this shrieking wail, and the whole party was just like, \u2018What?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Police and an ambulance crew showed up a short time later. <\/p>\nAndrew Montgomerie consults with lawyer Ron Mansfield KC at the start of his wounding trial in Auckland District Court. Photo \/ Alyse Wright <\/p>\n
An external scene photograph from the Westmere property. Photo \/ NZ Police<\/p>\n
Glasses and bottles after the party. Photo \/ NZ Police<\/p>\n