After 19 days and evidence from 92 witnesses the crown has closed its case against six young Timaru men accused of murdering Wayne Kerry Bray in a street bashing.
Two of the accused - John Oliver Jamieson and Morgan Christopher James Parker - said they would neither give evidence nor call evidence in their defence at the High Court at Christchurch.
The six on trial are Jamieson, 20, a fisherman, Parker, 17, a freezing worker, Simon Antony Anglem, 17, a labourer, Ashley Jordan Moffat, 17, a butcher, Nicholas John Peters, 17, a freezing worker, and Kreegher, 19, a boner. They deny the joint charge of murdering 26-year-old Mr Bray.
Mr Bray was attacked in the street late on February 2 and died of his head injuries four days later in hospital. The crown case has been that he was punched, kicked, and stomped in an attack by a group of young men.
The court has been told of the accused making statements that they were present but took no part, or hardly any part, in the attack. They have blamed others for the attack.
Last week, forensic pathologist Dr Martin Sage told the court that Mr Bray's death could have been caused by brain injuries from any of five or six impacts to his head.
The court has heard of on-going tensions and gang connections among the accused, Mr Bray, and witnesses at the trial.
Police studied between 15,000 and 18,000 text messages as part of their investigation , Detective Mark Sewell told the trial today.
The text messages examined, covered about a week from February 1 or 2.
Mr Sewell said he took a statement from Moffat in which he said he was leaving a party after it closed about 10.30pm on February 2.
Moffat stated: "Simon Anglem yelled, `This is the guy who broke my Nana's windows. Let's get him.' The next thing I knew, four or five were chasing him down the hill. I don't know who, I just know Simon."
He said he did not know Mr Bray but later saw him on the ground "when we were taking off".
He was at the bottom of the hill, in the gutter and he wasn't moving. "I thought he was dead," Moffat said in his statement. He said he had seen the "mauling" of Mr Bray but he had "sat back".
Moffat denied boasting to others later that he had just "smashed a guy over". He said blood on his hands - he had held them up that night to show others - had come from his own hands when he fell off a fence and grazed his knuckles.
Mr Sewell read out the list of text messages between the accused. Among those pages of listed texts, Anglem and Moffat said they would say nothing, and Parker and Peters said they had done nothing.
Kreegher accused Anglem of starting the fight. Anglem replied: "I just had a one-on-one and the next minute everyone jumped in. I backed off."
Justice Mark Cooper has repeatedly told the jury that "text messages can be used as evidence against the author in each case, but not the co-accused".
The trial had been told of a reprisal raid later on the night of the attack, by two men from the Crips gang, the gang with which Mr Bray was said to be associated.
Mr Sewell told the court two men had been charged and dealt with by the courts for the attack in which Kreegher had been struck with a hammer.
