The friend also gave evidence about Shrimpton\u2019s methamphetamine use at the time the pair were closely associated and what he observed of Shrimpton\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
The trial is being heard in the High Court at Rotorua. Photo \/ Andrew Warner<\/p>\n
He said about the time Shrimpton went missing, he \u201cwas starting to get a strong sense that he had a number of debts out there\u201d.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d advised Shrimpton to leave town but said Shrimpton \u201cwasn\u2019t interested in that idea\u201d.<\/p>\n
The friend got the impression Shrimpton wasn\u2019t ready to \u201cgive up the drugs\u201d.<\/p>\n
Shrimpton \u2018usually sorted\u2019 his drug debts<\/p>\n
A woman known to Shrimpton, who also has interim name suppression, told the court that before Shrimpton\u2019s disappearance neither of them had been working.<\/p>\n
She said they spent their days taking drugs and Shrimpton would also sell drugs to pay for their habit.<\/p>\n
They\u2019d been homeless for a time and living out of her car.<\/p>\n
She said Shrimpton often owed others money for drugs but he \u201cusually sorted it\u201d or would \u201cmanage to get out of it\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, in October 2023, he was avoiding debts with people who were ready to collect.<\/p>\n
That month, Shrimpton was assaulted by a man known as \u201cMoon\u201d over a $400 debt and the woman had her dog taken. <\/p>\n
Harley Shrimpton was killed on a rural property in the Western Bay of Plenty in 2023. Photo \/ NZ Police<\/p>\n
She told the court it got to a point where she\u2019d \u201chad enough of it all\u201d.<\/p>\n
Her messages with Shrimpton during that period fluctuated from expressions of frustration: \u201cHonestly Harley just go and do you… and f*** you for telling people know where we live\u201d \u2013 to affection: \u201cI don\u2019t know what to say or do but yea I love you…\u201d and \u201cstay safe\u201d.<\/p>\n
Over that time, she had also been messaging Tukaokao, who is accused of murdering Shrimpton.<\/p>\n
She said she met Tukaokao, known as \u201cPidz\u201d, once, when he came to her flat to discuss Shrimpton\u2019s debt. Tukaokao had been told Shrimpton, who remained hidden inside the flat, was in Rotorua. <\/p>\n
After a conversation about the debt in the flat\u2019s carport, Tukaokao left, and the woman later messaged him apologising that she\u2019d had nothing to give him.<\/p>\n
The court also heard her car had ended up in Tukaokao\u2019s possession.<\/p>\n
She\u2019d been told by Shrimpton that Tukaokao had taken it to fix it, but she now believed Shrimpton took her keys, without her permission, and gave the car to Tukaokao because of the drug debt.<\/p>\n
The friend seemed to confirm that in his evidence, telling the court Shrimpton had told him \u201che gave it to a mate, cause he owed\u201d.<\/p>\n
On October 15, the woman said she was collected from Tauranga by her father, who wanted her away from the drug scene. She said she\u2019s no longer a user of methamphetamine or cannabis.<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t see Shrimpton in the weeks before his death, but her messages with him continued up until he went missing. She told the court she got her car back after Shrimpton\u2019s funeral.<\/p>\n
Tukaokao to Shrimpton: \u2018G u could get shot for this s*** butha\u2019<\/p>\n
The Crown has produced a 42-page booklet that includes telecommunications data from Shrimpton\u2019s phone, showing calls and messages from him and others in the final weeks of his life.<\/p>\n
What is clear from the communications is that in October 2023, Shrimpton knew he was in trouble.<\/p>\n
On October 2, Shrimpton sent a message to the woman, telling her he \u201cf*kd up the other night\u201d and that he was \u201cprobably gna gt shot lol\u201d.<\/p>\n
Soon after, he told her: \u201cI\u2019m stressed out gta make 1200 in nxt hour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later, he wrote that he was not sure if she was going to hear from him again.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly hope I dnt kum bk hope they dispose of me itl do me a favour,\u201d he texted.<\/p>\n
He later told another friend there are \u201ck***s tryna shoot me honestly\u201d, telling her he owed money and \u201canything helps\u201d.<\/p>\n
From October 4, Shrimpton received texts from Tukaokao, who was trying to meet with him to collect money he was owed.<\/p>\n
From October 10, Tukaokao kept asking Shrimpton to \u201cclock in\u201d, that he needed his \u201ccoin\u201d ages ago, and telling him he could \u201cget shot for this s***\u201d.<\/p>\n
Tukaokao continued to message, telling Shrimpton he was coming to see him, with Shrimpton replying that he was heading back to Tauranga from Rotorua, and then asking him to \u201chold up please g\u201d.<\/p>\n
But Tukaokao told him it\u2019s \u201cbeen long enough\u201d, and later that, \u201cYou\u2019ve been saying the same s*** and still nothing\u201d, also telling him he\u2019s \u201clucky to still be walking\u201d.<\/p>\n
A few minutes later, he told Shrimpton his bill had doubled \u201cand more\u201d because of the \u201cwhole f*** around\u201d… \u201cif you don\u2019t got nothing to give tomorrow watch out\u201d.<\/p>\n
The messages between the pair continued through the rest of October, with Shrimpton occasionally messaging Tukaokao that he was trying to get his \u201ccoin\u201d, and Tukaokao telling him to \u201cclock in\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Crown alleges Tukaokao became so frustrated that he and Heke went to see Shrimpton\u2019s friend and took his phone.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s alleged Tukaokao then used it to arrange a meeting with Shrimpton.<\/p>\n
When Shrimpton saw Tukaokao, he took off with his friends, but Tukaokao caught up with them at Mount Maunganui McDonald\u2019s.<\/p>\n
CCTV showed Shrimpton getting into Tukaokao\u2019s car.<\/p>\n
The Crown alleges Shrimpton was kidnapped, but Tukaokao denies he went with him under duress.<\/p>\n
Later that afternoon, at a remote property on Poripori Rd outside of Tauranga, Shrimpton was shot in the chest, died and was buried in a hole in the ground.<\/p>\n
Tukaokao denied it was murder. He claimed it was an accident and he didn\u2019t intend to kill Shrimpton.<\/p>\n
The trial continues.<\/p>\n
Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at Newstalk ZB.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He said that despite having earlier been told he\u2019d be \u201cput in a box\u201d if he reported the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[95,6726,9218,868,634,181,8912,1958,232196,293,8916,78,60677,4275,111,43,139,69,479,1327,236983,427,7364,1961,54,1337,20424,1455,102],"class_list":["post-468402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-and","tag-become","tag-before","tag-deals","tag-death","tag-details","tag-distressing","tag-focus","tag-harley","tag-his","tag-homicide","tag-in","tag-messages","tag-murder","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-relationships","tag-rotorua","tag-shrimptons","tag-story","tag-text","tag-this","tag-trial","tag-victim","tag-violent","tag-warning","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468402","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=468402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}