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Michael Filoa and Aaron Davis have denied the charges of murdering Clifford Umuhuri and theft by force.
A self-proclaimed drug dealer says he heard a loud clicking noise and thought he was going to be shot before pulling his gun from his pants and firing.
The crown says: Michael Filoa and Aaron Davis Used a Fake Meth Deal 47 year old lure Clifford School to a street in Meadowbank, east of Auckland, where they robbed him before firing on him twice.
The couple have denied the charges of murder and theft by force and are on trial in the Auckland High Court.
But when he testified in his own defense on Monday, Filoa told the court that it was he who was being ripped off.
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* Fake drug deal led to deadly Auckland street shooting
Filoa said on June 1, 2020 the country was in Covid lockdown and the street price of methamphetamine had doubled.
The deposits north and south of Auckland made it difficult to move the Class A drug across the country and none produced.
Sometime in the early hours, his friend Aaron Davis contacted him to say he had a buyer looking for 7g. Filoa said he packed the drugs before Davis got back to him and doubled the order.
David White/Things
Michael Filoa says he acted in self-defense when he shot a senior mobster during a drug deal.
“I said, ‘Okay, make sure they have the money. I don’t want to go to all that trouble packing everything if they don’t have the money.’”
Initially, they met the buyer in a supermarket parking lot, but the area was well lit and they decided to move. Filoa and Davis led the way with the buyer and his friends in a second car, closely followed.
He said they eventually pulled into a driveway on St Johns Rd.
Filoa said he was in the back seat when the buyer, Umuhuri, got in next door.
“I reached into the bag and showed him the 14g in two batches. I dropped it back in the bag… I asked if he had the money.”
Filoa said that Umuhuri handed him some loose cash, about $1000 but $3500 short. He said he had told Umuhuri so much and Umuhuri called out to someone in the other car to bring him a bag. When it arrived, he handed over another $500.
Filoa said he told Umuhuri again that he was small and Umuhuri started threatening him by telling him he was a gang member. “Then it came to my head, ‘Ah, I need to close this.'”
Filoa said he was about to return the money when he was struck between the eyes with something hard. “It left a ringing in my ears for a few seconds.” He said he put both arms around his head in an attempt to protect himself from the blows that followed.
He said Davis must have gotten out of the car and stopped by because he remembered getting out of the back seat and Davis taking off.
“I was pretty worried about going home tonight.”
Filoa said that Umuhuri was rummaging through the back seat of the car and pulling bags out. Other people approached him from the second car. They yelled “get him dog,” he said.
At that point, he heard what he described as “a loud click…like metal on glass or metal on metal…I had to protect myself from the person in the vehicle or the person approaching the vehicle. I really believe it was a firearm was… I could have been shot.’
Filoa said he hid a sawed-off .22 rifle in his trouser leg. He drew his pistol and fired two shots at the car.
“To be honest, I wanted to stop anyone who might be trying to harm me from doing what they were doing.”
Umuhuri and the others withdrew, and Filoa called for Davis to come back.
The trial, before Judge Layne Harvey, is now in its third week.