Mon 4 Apr 2016 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Ihaia Gillman-Harris Although the defence asserts that the teenaged killers of gay man Ihaia Gillman-Harris acted in self-defence after Gillman-Harris, described today in the high court as a "predator" sexually assaulted one of them, the crown says a text message between the pair prior to the killing showed one of the youths wanted to "fuck a gay c*** up." The assertions were made in the opening day of the trial of Leonard Nattrass-Bergquist and Beauen Wallace-Loretz for the murder of Gillman-Harris in an Epsom, Auckland, motel in late December 2014. The crown alleges the pair planned in advance to rob and attack Gillman-Harris, to the extent of quietly texting their plans to each other in the back of a car that Gillman-Harris was driving. Nattrass-Bergquist: "Should we roll him?" Wallace-Loretz: "How bad do you want?" Nattrass-Bergquist: "Hard out." Wallace-Loretz: "Hospital?" Nattrass-Bergquist: "Yeah G, all day... I'm [going to] f*** a gay c*** up." The crown says Gillman-Harris, 54, suffered severe injuries including skull fractures from a bat or similar object "which these two young men brought with them to the motel specifically with the intention to assault Mr Gillman-Harris" who died later that day in hospital. The defence claims the pair had been driven around for over five hours by Gillman-Harris who had provided them with eighteen cans of bourbon and cola. It was suggested things turned violent when Gillman-Harris played a pornographic video on his laptop. It was claimed Natrass-Bergquist reacted by slamming the laptop closed after which Gillman-Harris threw the youth onto a bed and sexually assaulted him. Both the defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder, the jury trial is expected to last in excess of three weeks.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 4th April 2016 - 3:31pm