Homicide victim’s text messages and relationships become focus in Rotorua murder trial

Warning: This story deals with details of a violent death and may be distressing.

“I told the cops they needed to go find Harley before these guys did.”

Those were the words, said through tears, of Harley Shrimpton’s friend who, after being allegedly robbed of his phone by two masked men, knew Shrimpton was in trouble.

On Tuesday, the friend, who has interim name suppression, became emotional while giving evidence in the High Court trial over Shrimpton’s death.

He said that despite having earlier been told he had be “put in a box” if he reported the alleged robbery to the police, he went to the Tauranga Police Station and told them what had happened.

Two masked men had turned up at his Pāpāmoa doorstep in the early hours of 3 November, 2023, looking for Shrimpton. He said when he heard tapping on the door, he thought it must be his mates.

“It wasn’t,” he told the High Court at Rotorua.

He’d been “crashed out” on the couch with his dog and when he went to the door, he saw two men he “didn’t want to see”.

He said they were there looking for Shrimpton.

“Big guys, one was a bit taller than the other, both were a lot bigger than me anyway,” the friend said.

Crown solicitor Anna Pollett asked him how he was feeling at that point.

“I was feeling f***ed,” he said, explaining that if he had “politely” told them they weren’t coming in, he didn’t think “that would have gone too well for me”.

The men came in, looked for Shrimpton and then stood on “either side” of the friend, asking him to call Shrimpton, which he did.

Shrimpton did not answer and the two men took his phone, as well as his old broken phone, having asked him for the access code.

He said one was wearing a knit balaclava and the other a Halloween-type mask with a white face.

The friend said they were only there for about five minutes, and “they weren’t there to f*** around”.

He said the men threatened that if he told the police or anyone else they would come back and “put me in a box”.

The Crown alleges those men were defendants Piripi Tukaokao and Tuara Heke. Both deny a charge of aggravated robbery related to that incident - Heke says he was not there, while Tukaokao denies there was violence or threats of violence.

They are also charged in relation to Shrimpton’s death.

Shrimpton was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by Tukaokao on 3 November, 2023. Heke is accused of helping him move the body.

The friend also gave evidence about Shrimpton’s methamphetamine use at the time the pair were closely associated and what he observed of Shrimpton’s life.

He said about the time Shrimpton went missing, he “was starting to get a strong sense that he had a number of debts out there”.

He’d advised Shrimpton to leave town but said Shrimpton “wasn’t interested in that idea”.

The friend got the impression Shrimpton was not ready to “give up the drugs”.

Shrimpton ‘usually sorted’ his drug debts

A woman known to Shrimpton, who also has interim name suppression, told the court that before Shrimpton’s disappearance neither of them had been working.

She said they spent their days taking drugs and Shrimpton would also sell drugs to pay for their habit.

They had been homeless for a time and living out of her car.

She said Shrimpton often owed others money for drugs but he “usually sorted it” or would “manage to get out of it”.

However, in October 2023, he was avoiding debts with people who were ready to collect.

That month, Shrimpton was assaulted by a man known as “Moon” over a $400 debt and the woman had her dog taken.

She told the court it got to a point where she had “had enough of it all”.

Her messages with Shrimpton during that period fluctuated from expressions of frustration: “Honestly Harley just go and do you … and f*** you for telling people know where we live” - to affection: “I don’t know what to say or do but yea I love you …” and “stay safe”.

Over that time, she had also been messaging Tukaokao, who is accused of murdering Shrimpton.

She said she met Tukaokao, known as “Pidz”, once, when he came to her flat to discuss Shrimpton’s debt. Tukaokao had been told Shrimpton, who remained hidden inside the flat, was in Rotorua.

After a conversation about the debt in the flat’s carport, Tukaokao left, and the woman later messaged him apologising that she had had nothing to give him.

The court also heard her car had ended up in Tukaokao’s possession.

She had been told by Shrimpton that Tukaokao had taken it to fix it, but she now believed Shrimpton took her keys, without her permission, and gave the car to Tukaokao because of the drug debt.

The friend seemed to confirm that in his evidence, telling the court Shrimpton had told him “he gave it to a mate, cause he owed”.

On 15 October, the woman said she was collected from Tauranga by her father, who wanted her away from the drug scene. She said she was no longer a user of methamphetamine or cannabis.

She did not see Shrimpton in the weeks before his death, but her messages with him continued up until he went missing. She told the court she got her car back after Shrimpton’s funeral.

Tukaokao to Shrimpton: ‘G u could get shot for this s*** butha’

The Crown has produced a 42-page booklet that includes telecommunications data from Shrimpton’s phone, showing calls and messages from him and others in the final weeks of his life.

What is clear from the communications is that in October 2023, Shrimpton knew he was in trouble.

On 2 October, Shrimpton sent a message to the woman, telling her he “f*kd up the other night” and that he was “probably gna gt shot lol”.

Soon after, he told her: “I’m stressed out gta make 1200 in nxt hour.”

Later, he wrote that he was not sure if she was going to hear from him again.

“Honestly hope I dnt kum bk hope they dispose of me itl do me a favour,” he texted.

He later told another friend there are “k***s tryna shoot me honestly”, telling her he owed money and “anything helps”.

From 4 October, Shrimpton received texts from Tukaokao, who was trying to meet with him to collect money he was owed.

From 10 October, Tukaokao kept asking Shrimpton to “clock in”, that he needed his “coin” ages ago, and telling him he could “get shot for this s***”.

Tukaokao continued to message, telling Shrimpton he was coming to see him, with Shrimpton replying that he was heading back to Tauranga from Rotorua, and then asking him to “hold up please g”.

But Tukaokao told him it’s “been long enough”, and later that, “You’ve been saying the same s*** and still nothing”, also telling him he’s “lucky to still be walking”.

A few minutes later, he told Shrimpton his bill had doubled “and more” because of the “whole f*** around”… “if you don’t got nothing to give tomorrow watch out”.

The messages between the pair continued through the rest of October, with Shrimpton occasionally messaging Tukaokao that he was trying to get his “coin”, and Tukaokao telling him to “clock in”.

The Crown alleges Tukaokao became so frustrated that he and Heke went to see Shrimpton’s friend and took his phone.

It was alleged Tukaokao then used it to arrange a meeting with Shrimpton.

When Shrimpton saw Tukaokao, he took off with his friends, but Tukaokao caught up with them at Mount Maunganui McDonald’s.

CCTV showed Shrimpton getting into Tukaokao’s car.

The Crown alleges Shrimpton was kidnapped, but Tukaokao denies he went with him under duress.

Later that afternoon, at a remote property on Poripori Road outside of Tauranga, Shrimpton was shot in the chest, died and was buried in a hole in the ground.

Tukaokao denied it was murder. He claimed it was an accident and he did not intend to kill Shrimpton.

The trial continues.

-This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.