After parking his car along a quiet rural road, a man faced a nightmarish ordeal when he was kidnapped at gunpoint, securely bound, and placed in the trunk of his own vehicle. 

Hours later, he managed to escape, finding himself on a desolate, remote beach. 

Yesterday, a trial began in the High Court at Whangārei for his alleged kidnappers Alexander Robert Wharerau and Cliff Charles Coe who allegedly engaged in a two-day spree of offending. 

Wharerau and Coe are both charged with aggravated robbery, using a firearm against law enforcement, kidnapping, participating in organised crime, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, dangerous act with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and arson. 

In the days leading up to Labour Weekend 2020, Coe and Wharerau, who the Crown say have links to Northland and the Rebels MC Gang, are alleged to have been planning a robbery targeting a bank and an armour guard truck. 

It is the Crown case that together with an unnamed associate - whose name is suppressed throughout the trial - scoped out areas in Northland around October 22, arranging a decoy car travelling around Kaikohe, Waimā, Kerikeri and Hōreke trialling practice runs to execute their criminal plan. 

On the evening of October 26, the trio were allegedly travelling in a Honda Odyssey near Waipapa when it’s claimed they decided to rob a man parked in a Skyline vehicle. 

Disguising their appearance, the Crown said they forced the man out of his vehicle at gunpoint, blindfolded him and made him lie on the ground while they took his phone, keys and bank card. 

With the victim in the backseat of the car, Coe and Wharerau allegedly then drove the victim’s car to ATMs around Northland to get cash from his bank account. At some point, his wrists were bound and he was moved to the boot of the vehicle. 

Cliff Wharerau is on trial alongside Alexander Coe for a spree of violent offending across Northland in 2020. 

In the early hours of the next morning, the victim managed to escape the boot of the car in Matauri Bay and sought help from a local. 

After searching for the escaped victim, Coe and Wharerau allegedly headed back to the mid-north area. 

As they were driving along Puketona Road towards Kerikeri a police officer was driving behind them after finishing her night shift. 

The Crown says Coe and Wharerau stopped the car in front of her and exited brandishing firearms before firing a shot, hitting the windscreen of the marked police car. After fleeing the scene, it’s alleged they set fire to the Skyline and returned to Auckland leaving a trail of evidence in their wake. 

Police launched an extensive investigation with the help of the television show Police 10/7 eventually arresting Coe and Wharerau in December 2020. 

Crown lawyer, Richard Annandale said the case has 48 identified witnesses, multiple CCTV images, shotgun cartridges left on the road and searches on the men’s phone looking for articles on the Northland robbery. 

The Crown plans to call their star witness - the third associate - to give evidence against Coe and Wharerau. 

Coe’s lawyer Jasper Rhodes and Wharerau’s lawyer Chris Muston both told the jury, that their clients were never there. 

“Someone robbed him, someone fired the shots, someone set fire to the cars, someone put the victim through these terrible experiences, but that was not Mr Coe. 

“There is no direct evidence of Mr Coe in the offences, but there is direct evidence he was in Auckland at the time of the offending,” Rhodes said. 

Muston told the jury the Crown star witness can not be relied upon. 

“Mr Wharerau was not involved. He was not present, nor was he involved in the arson, he was not there,” Muston said. 

“You cannot rely on what (the associate) says, it’s self-serving and in his own interests.” 

The trial is expected to last three weeks. 

Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.