Natalie Bracken.
Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro
Natalie Bracken is on trial alongside Eli Epiha at the High Court at Auckland, where she denies a charge of accessory after the fact of murder.
Epiha admits one charge of reckless driving causing injury and one charge of murder, but denies the attempted murder of Hunt s colleague David Goldfinch.
In a police interview played to the jury this morning from the day after the shooting last June, Bracken told Detective Sergeant Ashley Matthews she did not know Epiha although his face looked familiar.
She said she was having a cigarette at a house next door to her ex-boyfriend s on Reynella Drive when she heard a crash and ran across the road to help an injured bystander.
The pair are on trial at the High Court at Auckland. On the day of the shooting, a dark purple Toyota, driven by Epiha, caught the two constables’ attention and was flagged in the police national intelligence system.
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Constable David Goldfinch describes how the shooter came after him with a gun and how he believed he would die. Constable Goldfinch previously told the court the pair had been on road policing duties with their car stationed on Triangle Rd, in Massey, when Epiha’s “erratic” driving caught his attention, before they caught up with him on Reynella Dr having crashed into a vehicle injuring a man.
Eli Epiha on trial at the Auckland High Court.
Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro
A jury has heard evidence from Eli Epiha, who admits murdering Hunt and reckless driving after fleeing a routine traffic stop last June - but denies the attempted murder of officer David Goldfinch.
Epiha said he was on a mission to scare gang members away from the house of his distressed brother-in-law on 19 June, and had two guns including a Narinko semi-automatic in his Toyota Verossa.
He said he saw a police car following him on Reynella Drive in Massey and put his foot down because he didn t want to stop.
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Both Bracken and Epiha are on trial at the High Court at Auckland. Goldfinch previously told the court Epiha was driving in an “erratic” manner before crashing into a vehicle, injuring a man.
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The scene of the fatal shooting of Constable Matthew Hunt in June 2020. Inset, left to right: Eli Bob Sauni Epiha, Natalie Bracken, Constable Matthew Hunt. As an unarmed Goldfinch exited the police car to approach the crash scene, Epiha opened fire, shooting at him 10 times. On Wednesday afternoon, Epiha told the court he had received a phone call on June 19 from an associate in distress. “I was supposed to be heading up north, but I went to pick up some guns to arm up to scare these people away from one of my family houses.”