Jury unable to reach a verdict in Crips prison hit trial
Catrin Owen and Caroline Williams
April 8, 2025 • 6:08pm
Ethan Jessop, Lasalosi Vaitohi and Daziea Huia were all charged with Peter Rasmussen's murder.
Despite more than three days of deliberations, a jury has been unable to decide whether an alleged Crips-ordered shooting was intended to scare or kill Ōtāhuhu man Peter Rasmussen.
Rasmussen, 75, died after he was shot in the leg at his home in Ōtahuhu in August 2021.
Three people were charged with his murder: Crips member Lasalosi Vaitohi, who the Crown said ordered the hit from prison; Ethan Jessop, who allegedly fired the fatal shot; and Daziea Leslie Huia, who allegedly arranged the getaway car.
The Crown said Rasmussen’s grandson Zahrn - a Killer Beez member at the time - had been the intended target of the hit.
Vaitohi, Jessop and Huia have been on trial at the Auckland High Court since March 14.
However, on Tuesday, the jury was discharged, having been unable to come to a decision on verdicts since they began deliberations on Thursday afternoon.
Peter Rasmussen, 75, was shot and killed at his home in Ōtāhuhu, where he was known as a local legend. Photo: Unknown
The trio will next appear in court on May 7. Prosecutor Gareth Kayes was unable to comment on whether the Crown would seek a retrial.
The Crown’s case was that Zahrn Rasmussen and Irene Ting allegedly stole bags of methamphetamine from Armit Singh, who was selling drugs on behalf of the Crips.
Kayes alleged Vaitohi wanted revenge and to send the message that “our gang ain’t to be f...ed with”.
In the days that followed, a number of phone calls were made between Vaitohi, Singh, Jessop and Huia. The day before Rasmussen died, Vaitohi spoke about a “tahine”, which the Crown said referred to a gun, during a recorded prison phone call.
Chauntel Laurent, Jessop’s then-girlfriend, told the court she drove him and another man to the Ōtāhuhu property. She recalled seeing an old man and heard a gun fire.
She alleged Jessop said: “I think I got him in the leg”.
Key to the trial, Kayes said, was whether Jessop intended to “injure the old man knowing the injury could well cause his death but shot him anyway... or did he intend to shoot at the house to frighten and intimidate and knew there was a real risk someone might be killed.”
Ethan Jessop has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but denies he intended to kill Rasmussen when he shot him in the leg.
Jessop has since pleaded guilty to manslaughter, having accepted causing Rasmussen’s death. His lawyer Emma Priest said that while his death was “senseless”, it was not murder.
Lawyer Ian Brookie, assisting Vaitohi, who represented himself during the trial, said he never planned to have Rasmussen killed. He argued the Crown had “reverse engineered” its theory based on “vague” prison phone call recordings.
For Huia, Julie-Anne Kincade KC said the evidence against her client was scant, and that he was unaware Rasmussen would be shot.