Jury out in Te Puna attack trial

The jury in the trial of two men accused of unleashing a ‘campaign of terror' on a Te Puna family in 2012 has retired to consider its verdict.

Police outside the Duncan's Te Puna home the day after the alleged attack in 2012.

Jack Simon Ake, 52, and Derek Michael Drewery, 27, have been on trial since Monday, accused of being part of a group armed with weapons that attacked Andrew Duncan and his family at the Te Puna Station Road home on the night of November 23.

Andrew suffered facial injuries, bruising to his body and a concussion as a result of being knocked unconscious with a spade, while Matthew Cooper, a friend of the family, suffered injuries to his arm.

Jasmine Borrell, 25, and Rihari Borrell, 28, were also on trial but Rihari was yesterday discharged on all charges due to insufficient evidence.

Jasmine pleaded guilty to two charges of assault and was remanded on bail for sentencing on October 14. She had two other charges dismissed. Read more about here.

Ake is charged with wounding with intent to injure for allegedly wielding a spade and attacking Andrew Duncan with the spade during the brawl on the property.

He is also charged with assault with a weapon - allegedly using the spade to attack Matthew Cooper.

Drewery is facing one count of assault, after being accused of assaulting Steven by tackling him to the ground.

Drewery and Ake were identified by the Duncan family out of the set of photos of suspects police had shown them during the investigation.

In court this morning, Judge Christopher Harding reminded the jury of 12 that they have a responsibility to deliver a unanimous verdict based on the evidence heard in the courtroom this week.

'It's up to the Crown to prove the defendant's guilt and not the defence to prove innocence. Crown witnesses place Mr Ake as the man wind milling the spade around and hitting Mr Duncan with it.

'But the defence says the Crown witnesses are mistaken about the identity of the man with the spade.”

Judge Harding said it's possible for honest witnesses to make a mistake. 'Sometimes all of us make mistakes in identifying people we know.

'The Crown invites you to look at the case in context. There was a first visit to the property where there was an enquiry about a Daniel, things got heated and Jasmine and Mr Drewery got into an altercation.

'About 15 minutes later two cars arrived and a fight ensued. Ake is described as ‘wind milling' a spade and being hyped up, and not prepared to back down, even when confronted with a shotgun.”

The Crown said Jasmine Borrell was the leader and there was a close connection between her and Drewery as she is the mother of his children.

'We have been told Jasmine was at the front of the group and that Drewery steamed up the path and tackled Mr Peters.

'The defence says there is no doubt Mr Peters was tackled but say it wasn't Mr Drewery who did it.”

In his video statement with police, Drewery admitted to being there and said things got out of control. He admitted he shouldn't have been there but said he wasn't involved in the fight and was telling people to stop.”

The defence said the environment in which the fight took place was like a war zone.

'There was a large group of people, lighting was generally not great and the circumstances were so fact and confused it's possible to have mistaken identification,” said Judge Harding.

'The defence says all these aspects undermine the prospect of a positive identification.”

It's now up to the jury to decide if Ake and Drewery are guilty of the charges they face.

They are expected to return a verdict later this afternoon.

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