A gun was fired, there was a "whoosh" and something hit her trousers at the height of a brawl between Mongrel Mob and Black Power members, a Rotorua constable has testified.
Kimberly Welsh was giving evidence in the High Court at Rotorua today where six Whakatane Black Power members are on trial in the wake of an armed confrontation between the rival gangs during a Mongrel Mob funeral procession on January 17 last year.
On trial are Benjamin Biddle, Stallone Harawira, Whitu Taipeti, Codie Taitapanui, Te Reneti Tarau and Taumata Tawhai.
Welsh told the jury she was one of a party of seven Rotorua police who raced to Whakatane when news of the confrontation came through.
They arrived to find a "huge disturbance" and formed a line in an attempt to hold outraged Mongrel Mob members back.
"We were completely outnumbered, we tried to push them back towards their cars, it started to get really loud with gang slurs, someone yelled 'the Black Power's turned up and has a fireman'," Welsh said.
She described hearing a bang and whooshing sound.
"I felt what I thought were stones or pellets coming up from the road brushing my pants, I ran for cover."
She told of seeing a vehicle with its boot up and swapping the rifle she was armed with for a Glock pistol.
Describing the melee as chilling, Welsh said she'd never heard anything like it. "It was chaos."
Constable Sharleen West-Baron, also of Rotorua, said she arrived at the bottom of Valley Rd to discover a very tense, aggressive situation with Mongrel Mob members barking taunts at Black Power opponents.
When she heard a gunshot she sprinted to the nearest house for cover. "I was absolutely frightened, I didn't want to get shot."
Another Rotorua officer, Simon Robinson, told of seeing a "short, fat fella waving a baseball bat like a taiaha" as the gang surged down Arawa Rd.
"He was obviously winding everyone up.
"A detective yelled out 'he's got a rifle,' I heard a boom and I was off the road, it was an unfolding scene."
A second shot rang out.
Conscious that members of the public were coming out to watch, he called for armed back up. "We needed to stop the incident there."
To Harawira's lawyer, David Niven, Robinson agreed hearing laughter after the second shot and someone saying, "don't worry, it's only bird shot".
Jade Hesketh, a senior Rotorua constable, told of seeing and hearing a group wearing blue and black yelling "gang stuff" at the Mongrel Mob.
"They had weapons, someone had something long barrelled, I thought was a shotgun, pointing it towards us."
Two shots were fired. Hesketh and the detective she was with ducked into a driveway. She pushed a bystander who refused to move into a nearby property. "I didn't want him to get shot."
With the exception of Taipete, the defendants are charged with rioting, participating in an organised criminal group, unlawful possession of a firearm, using a firearm against a law enforcement officer, and discharging a firearm with reckless disregard for the safety of others.
They denied all counts when the trial opened on Monday afternoon.
Taipete has pleaded not guilty to the firearms-related charges, having earlier pleaded guilty to the rioting and criminal group charges.
The trial is proceeding.
