A mother hosting her teenage daughter’s birthday party said it turned aggressive when a group of uninvited guests, including gang members, showed up.
Connor Whitehead was shot dead at the gathering in Heaphy Place, in Christchurch, on November 5, 2021.
Daniel Sparks and Joshua Smith are charged with murdering the 16-year-old. The men have pleaded not guilty at the High Court, which is holding a three-week jury trial.
It’s alleged Sparks and Smith turned up armed with a Stevens shotgun and a Mossberg shotgun. Sparks’ son, who was at the party, had called him wanting help.
Korin Steedman told the court that she was there as her daughter’s friends started to arrive, but it got out of control and aggressive when others arrived.
She said there were six members of the Crips gang who were intimidating partygoers and throwing punches.
Steedman said she had to tend to people who were injured, including one with a bleeding nose.
Sparks and Smith arrived at 11pm and soon after she heard kids screaming "he’s got a gun".
What sounded like a gunshot prompted Steedman to run outside, where she saw Connor lying on the ground.
She said she thought three shots were fired but the third could have been a firework.
She cried as she said initially, she wasn’t aware he had been hit by a bullet, and she was telling him "it’s going to be OK".
Steedman said she hadn’t met the teenager before that night but spoke to him and said he was a "very polite young man".
She said she sent a text to Sparks’ phone telling him about Whitehead’s death, because "a boy got shot and he died and so I let them know what they'd done, they had killed him".
The hearing is continuing.
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