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NewstalkZB - 28 Aug (NewstalkZB)

Ryan Woodford was shot in an execution-style gang retaliation killing in the doorway of his emergency housing motel in Taupo in front of his partner and children. The Crown says it was Taupo Mongrel Mob president Teina Williams who pulled the trigger at point-blank range after Woodford, a patched Black Power member, answered a knock at the door. Williams is accused of escaping the Grace Foundation, a residential drug rehabilitation facility in Auckland, by wrapping tin foil around his electronically monitored ankle bracelet and driving to Taupo in the early hours of March 6, 2022. The 34-year-old is on trial in the High Court at Rotorua before Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith after pleading not guilty to Woodford’s murder. It is Williams’ defence that someone else did it because he wasn’t there. A co-accused who was also to stand trial for murder, Marty Graeme Durham, 43, pleaded guilty on Monday to a lesser charge of manslaughter. Marty Durham appears in the High Court at Rotorua and pleads guilty to the manslaughter of Ryan Woodford. Photo / Kelly Makiha He has admitted his role in the killing as a passenger in a car that was driven by the shooter. Durham is a sergeant-at-arms, or second in charge, of the Taupo Mongrel Mob. CCTV footage showing the shooting and Woodford screaming in pain was played to the jury during Crown prosecutor Anna McConachy’s opening address today. The footage showed a blue Holden Commodore arriving at unit two of the Adelphi Motel at 6.25am. A man dressed in white with a face mask on gets out of the driver’s side of the car, calls out several times and knocks on a sliding door. He holds up a Black Power-affiliated Mangu Kaha gang patch, used to conceal a firearm. Woodford opens the sliding door and is immediately shot. The shooter quickly gets back into the driver’s seat and speeds off. McConachy said Woodford collapsed in the doorway in front of his partner and three children, aged 2, 6 and 7. McConachy said Williams was not necessarily known to Woodford. It is the Crown case Williams went to seek retribution against members of the Black Power gang following recent gang tensions. Police outside Adelphi Motel in Taupo in 2022. Photo / File McConachy said Williams and Durham had driven to the Red Rose Motel and then Adelphi Motel – both known to house Black Power members. She said the Mangu Kaha chapter was an affiliation of Black Power and the patch was either used by Williams to trick Woodford into feeling safe opening the door or to throw off any police suspicion that Mongrel Mob members were involved. McConachy told the jury Williams had foiled his electronically monitored bracelet previously. She explained foiling involved putting about five layers of tinfoil around the bracelet to stop the GPS working, which concealed the wearer’s whereabouts. McConachy said Williams was offline for about 12 hours around the time of the shooting. Williams told others at the Grace Foundation he had been in his room all night because he was experiencing Covid symptoms. McConachy played the jury a video presentation she said detailed Williams’ whereabouts on the morning of the shooting. Williams was last registered at the Grace Foundation at 10.51pm on March 5. It is the Crown case he was driving a red Holden Commodore that was seen on CCTV at various locations, including at service stations. McConachy said Williams was careful to send in other passengers to pay for petrol at service stations so as not be seen on camera footage. En route to Taupo, he swapped vehicles with associates and was eventually driving a blue Commodore. Following the shooting, he switched to a silver Lancer at the Aratiatia Dam before switching back to the red Commodore. Along the way, McConachy said Williams had associates travelling in a convoy to tamper with a roadside CCTV camera. They did this by going on each other’s shoulders and using a pole to push the camera upwards, she said. CCTV footage showed the footage being tampered... Read...

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