A jury took three hours to find a high-ranking Mongrel Mob member guilty of destroying a van used to kill a rival gang member.

Henare Raukokore Swinton, captain of the Aotearoa Mongrel Mob chapter in Rotorua, was charged with being an accessory after the fact to manslaughter.

He helped his fellow gang members burn a Honda Odyssey van used to kill Tribesman gang member Don Henry Turei Jr.

The jury of eight women and four men delivered their verdict just after 3pm on Wednesday at the High Court at Hamilton.

Turei was killed on November 26, 2016, after being run off the road as he attempted to reach a family wedding reception at the Waihau Fishing Club on the East Coast.

The driver of the van, Porirua Mongrel Mob member Andre Robert Taiapa, is serving six years and four months in prison after admitting a charge of manslaughter.

A second man, Jared Renata Te Moana, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for setting the van on fire.

In her summing up at the High Court at Hamilton on Wednesday, Crown prosecutor Anna Pollett told the jury to consider the evidence presented over the past three days.

Among the witnesses was Ian Jamieson, who on Tuesday told the jury he saw Swinton driving a truck, possibly a Toyota Hilux, as he arrived at his home along Cemetery Road in Waihau Bay.

"Henare was driving the vehicle ... I didn't notice anybody else, I didn't see anybody else.

"[Swinton] stayed for a little while but carried on towards the river mouth. Jared [Te Moana] was on foot and went in the same direction."

Shortly after Swinton left, Jamieson said a "little van turned up shortly after".

"I got into my car at the bottom of my driveway. I could see the headlights but couldn't see the vehicle."

Later that night, Jamieson said he could smell rubber burning.

"I knew it was up the bank from the river because that's the way the wind was coming."

The court also heard from Swinton's partner, Amanda Slater.

In her statement to police in August 2017, she claimed Swinton told her he helped a fellow mobster get rid of the Honda Odyssey.

On Monday, however, she said she didn't remember much of what she told police.

She said at the time she was "out the gate" on drugs and "high as a kite".

In his summing up, defence lawyer Jonathan Temm told the jury to be objective and impartial.

"In our community, there are people who are very quick to judge.

"[But you need to be] clinical and assess the evidence. That's the role of the judge.

"What's the evidence? You're not here as some form of avenging angels ..."

On the day Turei died, there were three significant events happening in the area, Pollet said earlier in the week.

About 250 people attended a wedding ceremony at Raukokore Church, among them several Tribesmen gang members.

There was also a tangi in the area for a young woman, which several Porirua Mongrel Mob members attended, and an unveiling for a former captain of a local Mongrel Mob chapter.

Tensions came to a head on the day and a truce was called where the Tribesman agreed to remove their patches when travelling in the area.

Turei was unaware of this and about 2.30pm, he and his brother rode past a Mongrel Mob pad wearing their colours.

Taiapa started chasing after Turei in a white Honda Odyssey filled with gang members. Taiapa caught up with Turei and rammed the back of his motorcycle, causing the rear wheel to become jammed under the front wheel of the Odyssey.

Turei ended up in a ditch outside the entrance to Pararaki Marae. He died a short time later, despite the efforts of a passing doctor.

The trial was presided over by Justice Pheroze Jagose.

-Stuff/Donna-Lee Biddle.