A police officer today described how he looked down the barrel of a rifle during a night-time surveillance operation in which a colleague was shot dead.
The officer, who has name suppression, was giving evidence in a depositions hearing in which two men are jointly charged with murdering Sergeant Don Wilkinson in south Auckland last September.
John Ward Skinner, 37, and Iain Lindsay Clegg, 33, are also jointly charged with attempting to murder another officer, whose name has been suppressed.
Skinner and Clegg did not enter pleas on the first day of the hearing in Manukau District Court.
Mr Wilkinson died at the scene, while his partner survived being shot three times and is due to give evidence at the hearing.
They were taking part in an operation to plant a tracking device on a car in the suburb of Mangere in the early hours of September 11.
The officer giving evidence said he and the two others travelled in the same car for an operation that had been considered low risk.
When they arrived at the target property in Hain Ave, they walked up the driveway and split up, with the two others going off to plant the device.
He said a security light outside the house came on and, when he noticed shadows behind the front door, he alerted the two others by radio communication.
He decided to break his cover, head to the other side of the road and pretend to be an "old bloke on a midnight walk".
The front door opened, a number of people came out and he heard a male voice shout out asking him what he was up to.
He saw a person on the footpath outside the house point a rifle at him and he was told to put his hands up and walk back across the road towards the house.
While he stayed put, a car came out of the driveway and, after a conversation with the driver, the gunman apologised to the witness and got into the car, which drove off.
The witness then heard through radio communication that Mr Wilkinson and his partner officer were "in some form of distress or trouble" and he was told to call for an ambulance.
Under cross-examination by Clegg's lawyer, Graeme Newell, the witness said Mr Wilkinson and the other officer were dressed in dark non-descript clothing and might have had beanies on.
He accepted Mr Newell's suggestion that the pair's appearance could make them be mistaken for burglars.
Earlier, Detective Sergeant Greg Holmes, who headed the operation, said he heard over the radio the witness tell Mr Wilkinson and his partner to "get out there".
There was then a message from the two shot officers saying "we need help, we need help".
Mr Holmes was the first to locate Mr Wilkinson in the driveway of a nearby street.
"His head was up against the fence," he said.
"I recall seeing blood. At that stage, I knew it was serious."
The other officer was about a metre away and conscious.
Prosecutor Aaron Perkins, opening the Crown's case, said the two defendants chased Mr Wilkinson and his partner by car.
He said the offences were committed when they caught up with the two officers, who were on foot.
The hearing continues on Wednesday.
