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'I'm dead, I'm dead': Father terrified after merging into gang convoy, sparking rage

'I'm dead, I'm dead': Father terrified after merging into gang convoy, sparking rage

A father driving home to his two young children after a Saturday morning work shift described a terrifying situation after inadvertently finding himself surrounded by a convoy of gang members on Auckland’s Great South Rd. Manuele Vii briefly struggled with his emotions, his voice quavering, as he recalled for jurors this week the road rage incident that followed – including a masked man who approached his window at a red traffic light as others kicked and damaged the car. “He told me if I’m not going out of the car he’ll shoot me,” the witness said through a Samoan translator and his own broken English, explaining that images of his 3-month-old son and 3-year-old daughter at home flashed before him. “I was thinking, ‘I’m dead. I’m dead’. “That’s why it’s really hard for me to [be] thinking about it.” Vii left the Ōtāhuhu intersection unscathed, except for his damaged vehicle, after the light changed and the men got back into their vehicles. But later in the afternoon, another person would die after the gang convoy arrived at its intended destination – an East Auckland park where there was to be a planned confrontation with the Head Hunters. Police investigate the scene of a disorder event resulting in the death of Charles Pongi at Taurima Reserve, Pt England, in August 2023. Photo / Hayden Woodward Fitus gang members Devonte Iakopo, George Mahoni, Vili Laungaue and Lika Feterika, as well as gang associate Vini Mahoni, are all jointly accused of murdering Head Hunters member Charles Pongi at Pt England’s Taurima Reserve on August 5, 2023. Their trial began this week and all have pleaded not guilty. Each defendant has acknowledged being at the park that day but they say the shooting was legally justified after an unidentified Head Hunters associate was beckoned to the park and opened fire on the crowd. CCTV and witness footage of the melee show Pongi had been standing not far behind the mystery shooter when a bullet entered his collarbone and lodged in his spine. There was no intention when they arrived at the park of getting into a gunfight, each defendant’s lawyer has said. Prosecutors, in their opening address for the murder trial, disagreed. In addition to that deadly confrontation, jurors in the High Court at Auckland have been tasked with deciding whether defendants Laungaue and George Mahoni were also involved with threatening and assaulting Vii during the road rage incident. Two other Fitus members not currently on trial have already pleaded guilty to participating in the car attack, but it is alleged Laungaue flashed a gun and George Mahoni smashed a car window. They deny those charges as well. Jurors watched CCTV from a nearby car yard showing the confrontation before Vii was called to the witness box yesterday and today to give his own account of what happened. He had been driving home around 1pm when he said he noticed another motorist driving oddly – speeding up, pulling in front of him and braking repeatedly. Co-defendants George Mahoni (left), Vili Laungaue, Devonte Iakopo, Lika Feterika and Vini Mahoni are on trial in the High Court at Auckland accused of murdering Head Hunters member Charles Pongi in August 2023. Photos / Michael Craig Three men ran from the car in front of him and started hitting his car, he said, explaining a window was “smashed” by one of them with something hard, possibly knuckle-dusters. Prosecutors say that was George Mahoni. Then a fourth man, alleged by prosecutors to be Laungaue, emerged from a white van beside the car and pulled out a handgun, the witness recalled. Vii said he had his window cracked open to communicate with the group but did not want to open his door or get out. The men ran back to their cars as the light turned green, he said. He followed the group for a short time in an attempt to get their rego plates to give police, but then he noticed another car pull up beside him and abandoned the effort. Sitting in the front passenger seat of the light-coloured Audi w...