{"id":380531,"date":"2026-04-15T10:54:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T10:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/380531\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T10:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T10:54:13","slug":"shannon-brady-trial-crown-says-ute-hit-was-murder-defence-says-accident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/380531\/","title":{"rendered":"Shannon Brady trial: Crown says ute hit was murder, defence says accident"},"content":{"rendered":"

They stopped and saw tyre tracks leading into and out of the verge where Baldwin lay dying from severe head injuries.<\/p>\n

Emergency services were called and Baldwin was pronounced dead at the roadside at 10.08am.<\/p>\n

What followed was a police investigation that worked its way backwards.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Crown prosecutor<\/a> Richard Annandale opened the case to the jury, outlining the issues between the two men in the days before the death.<\/p>\n

Baldwin, 51, and Brady, 53, were both from Waimamaku<\/a>, a small township 15km south of \u014cpononi in the Hokianga.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey knew of each other. The extent of that knowledge is not so clear. What is clear, in the lead-up to Mr Baldwin\u2019s death, there were issues between them,\u201d Annandale said.<\/p>\n

The issues were such that the Crown says Brady intended to hit Baldwin with his vehicle and had murderous intent on August 1.<\/p>\n

The Crown<\/a> said Baldwin believed Brady was a cannabis grower and was demanding a \u201ccut\u201d of that activity.<\/p>\n

On or around July 29, Baldwin wrote a message on Brady\u2019s letterbox in Waimamaku.<\/p>\n

\u201cBaldhead. Shanonuts. Dope grower, pay your dues or the mighty notorious will take it all,\u201d the message said in a photo Brady took.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrady not only took exception to the message, but wanted retribution,\u201d Annandale said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI say it was all-consuming for Mr Brady this message that was left.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the next three days \u201ca flurry of text messages\u201d was sent between several locals as Brady allegedly searched for Baldwin.<\/p>\n

\u201cF*** I\u2019m slutted, c***s over when I find him,\u201d Brady sent to one associate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s blackmail or warning,\u201d he texted another.<\/p>\n

From July 29 to 31, Brady was communicating with an associate known only as JB as they allegedly searched the Hokianga for Baldwin.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeen Opo,\u201d JB sent to Brady.<\/p>\n

\u201cLock u self in I get text to you where abouts. I go see wharf til he shows, stay home, patience, wait,\u201d JB also sent.<\/p>\n

JB also messaged that Baldwin was allegedly seen walking in Waimamaku.<\/p>\n

Baldwin, meanwhile, continued making demands and sent a message to Brady through an associate as they did not have each other\u2019s phone numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou better tell Shanonuts the louder he cries the better,\u201d Baldwin said in his text.<\/p>\n

\u201cCos I\u2019ll be sending the dogs in tomorrow… Our army done Juggo and our army done Andy Dunn SFH I will be passing Shanonuts address to take everything, even if they have to, no … joke. PS delete this text or join us conspirers in jail.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last text Brady sent was to JB at 7.53am on August 1.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe two men were residents of the small town of Waimamaku in the Far North. Photo \/ Google.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust walked past down to shop.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Crown allege Baldwin was hit between 7.57am and 8.07am.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter hitting Mr Baldwin, Mr Brady did not remain stopped. He carried on towards Waimamaku. Nor did he phone emergency services,\u201d Annandale said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrady left Baldwin lying in that road verge for dead because that is what he wanted in the moment. He struck Baldwin with the ute.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Crown will call more than 30 witnesses, including people who stopped at the scene to help and will say Baldwin made final statements before dying.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said he had been hit and repeated over and over again, Shannon did it,\u201d Annandale said.<\/p>\n

Brady\u2019s lawyer Jasper Rhodes gave a brief opening response to the jury, saying the collision was an accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrady\u2019s car was steered hard to the left, and the brakes were slammed on, as described by Annandale in his opening \u2013 those were actions to try to avoid Baldwin, rather than to intentionally hit him,\u201d Rhodes said.<\/p>\n

Rhodes said it was known in the community Baldwin would frequently walk down the middle of the road and actively jump in front of cars.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was regular behaviour of his, witnessed by a large number of people,\u201d Rhodes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo considering this evidence of what Mr Baldwin often did in relation to vehicles on the road, as you might imagine, might be very important to your decision as to what he might have done in relation to Mr Brady\u2019s car when it came around the corner, and therefore whether this was an intentional act by Mr Brady, or an accident significantly, if not completely, caused by Mr Baldwin\u2019s own actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rhodes told the jury the cannabis details were irrelevant as the case was deciding the murder charge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you decide that is reasonably possible, that this was an accident, then the Crown case is not proved at the very first question \u2013 if this was an accident, it was not an unlawful act, and therefore can\u2019t be either a murder or a manslaughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trial is set for four weeks before Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith.<\/p>\n

Shannon Pitman is a Whang\u0101rei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ng\u0101puhi\/ Ng\u0101ti P\u016bkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They stopped and saw tyre tracks leading into and out of the verge where Baldwin lay dying from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1081,83851,10808,1403,42,3594,702,4275,43,312,162419,40,38,41,39,54,35538,6736],"class_list":{"0":"post-380531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-accident","9":"tag-brady","10":"tag-crown","11":"tag-defence","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-hit","14":"tag-it","15":"tag-murder","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-says","18":"tag-shannon","19":"tag-top-news","20":"tag-top-stories","21":"tag-topnews","22":"tag-topstories","23":"tag-trial","24":"tag-ute","25":"tag-was"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}