Loaded gun and chainsaw found in blood stained car boot

A sawn-off shotgun found in an abandoned car in New Plymouth after the discovery of the body of Dean Browne in a garage was ready to fire, the High Court in New Plymouth was told.

Karl Nuku, 19, along with Mikhail Pandey-Johnson, 23, and Rhys Fournier, 22, have denied the murder of Mr Browne, 38, of Auckland, at an Oriental Bay, Wellington, flat on January 21 last year.

Detective Janine Lee said she was put in charge of the Toyota Corolla abandoned in a driveway in Robe St during the armed offenders squad manhunt for the murder accused two days after Mr Browne's body was found.

In a backpack next to the car was a sawn-off shotgun. In it was a live round of 12-gauge buckshot. It ejected as the gun was opened, Ms Lee said.

On later examination of the car, then at Western Autos, she noticed what appeared to be blood underneath the tow bar and other small bloodstain marks.

Scientists confirmed yesterday that the blood was from Mr Browne.

Among the large number of items in the boot, including clothing, was an orange chainsaw and two petrol containers, several pairs of rubber gloves, some of which were marked "super heavy duty".

There were digital scales, and small plastic bags containing white crystals and fine white powder.

A pair of Dr Martens boots were decorated with a Killer Clown Fiends patch, and green and purple material.

In the front footwell were traces of cannabis leaf, Zig-Zag cigarette papers and an iPod. A red text book was under one of the seats.

In the glove box was an expired passport for Karl Nuku and a cancelled passport in the name of Mikhail Pandey- Johnson, a Westpac bank card and a four-digit number on a piece of paper.

Detective Glen Bosson said he was put in charge of Mr Browne's body lying in the Drake St garage.

Mr Browne had clear plastic tape wrapped many times around his face and head. There was a lot of blood on his face, some coming from his nose and some from a small hole on the left side of his face.

Mr Bosson took several black cable- ties from Mr Browne's wrists and ankles and black tape from around his ankles. His body was taken to the Taranaki Base Hospital mortuary and then by hearse to Wellington for a post mortem examination.

Yesterday, forensic experts from Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland told of analysing samples from the Oriental Pde bedroom, Drake St garage and the Toyota Corolla.

Environmental Science and Research scientist Janina Savage, of Porirua, said she could not exclude Fournier's Jackie Chan shoes as having made an impression on the heavily blood-stained blue satin sheets wrapped around Mr Browne.