Prosecutors said that the case against men accused of murdering Palmiro MacDonald was not insurance fraud, according to a Stuff.co.nz report.
The accused – Joseph William Johnson and Chea Paratene Charles Brattle-Hemara Haeana, who goes by the last name Hemara – allegedly kidnapped, tortured, and killed MacDonald at a Hokio Beach gang pad in March 2016.
MacDonald’s remains were found near Shannon in October 2016, with his skeleton showing that he was shot multiple times that would have left a lot of blood.
Crown prosecutor Ben Vanderkolk told Stuff that the blood loss may explain why the Hokio Beach pad and Johnson’s car were torched hours after police started looking into MacDonald’s whereabouts.
Vanderkolk said that the way Johnson’s car was torched from the boot toward the front showed that it was set on fire on purpose, but not for insurance fraud as Johnson was seen wiping the car with a rugby sock before it was burned.
“Furthermore, there was evidence someone tried to remove the licence plate. Instead, Johnson had failed to adequately clean the car he used to dump MacDonald and had to dispose of the evidence,” said Vanderkolk.
The court expects the defence lawyers to give their closing addresses this week.
