One of the men charged with desecrating graves at a Jewish cemetery last October has given evidence against his co-accused.
Christian Landmark, 20, denied defacing 20 historic Jewish graves with swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans at the Symonds Street Cemetery, following the incident on October 19.
His friend and flatmate at the time, Robert Moulden, plead guilty to the same charge in February and was sentenced to 320 hours community work.
Moulden appeared today at Landmark's defended hearing as the Crown's first witness at the Auckland District Court.
The 19-year-old told Judge Russell Collins he and Landmark were "pretty good friends" and had been living together at Auckland's Newton Lodge.
He said the pair had been drinking and the decision to tag the graves wasn't "premeditated".
Landmark suggested they go tagging with a can of black spray paint and they jumped a wall at the nearby cemetery, he told the court.
"We didn't have a specific target […] one thing sprung to mind as to what could be tagged there."
Moulden admitted he did not actually see Landmark do any of the tagging but said he was separated from him for periods of time.
Landmark took photos on his phone of Moulden desecrating the graves and later sent them to TV3 in an attempt to make money. This angered Moulden who said he felt betrayed when he refused to communicate with him after the incident.
"He didn't even talk to me about it […] We'd been through a lot together."
Landmark's lawyer, Tudor Clee, pointed to a text message exchange between the two accused, proposing Moulden had taken ownership for his actions and was now shifting the blame after hearing about the attempt to sell the damning photograph.
Mr Clee read a text from Moulden where he said Landmark had called his actions "fascist fantasy bullshit".
Moulden said although Landmark may not subscribe to fascist ideals, this wouldn't "necessarily stop him from doing something offensive […] for the shock value".
The hearing continues this afternoon.
3 News
source: newshub archive
