A Wairarapa supermarket worker was fatally bashed by a group in a "vigilante attack" in retaliation for an alleged rape, a court has been told.
Featherston man Glen Jones, 40, died in hospital from serious head injuries after an attack at his home in January last year.
Three men and two woman have gone on trial in the High Court at Wellington today over the attack.
Kristofer Jones, 23, Tariana Jones, 33, Matthew McKinney, 29, and Hayden Ranson, 28, have pleaded not guilty to murder.
Kristofer Jones and Tariana Jones also pleaded not guilty to aggravated burglary with a wooden bat and an axe handle.
McKinney and Ranson pleaded guilty to the same charge.
Toni Miller, 23, is standing trial on a charge of aggravated burglary, but not murder.
Crown prosecutor Grant Burston said Mr Jones was beaten with weapons and kicked in "a vigilante attack" in his Featherston flat.
He said the defendants had acted in retaliation for an alleged rape of a woman.
The woman, who was known to the group, complained to police about the alleged rape in December 2012. She said Mr Jones had raped her at his flat when she went to drop off some mail the previous month.
The Crown case is that Mr Jones was attacked by the four defendants charged with murder, while Miller waited on the street.
"The four defendants used their hands, feet and two weapons - a wooden bat and a wooden axe handle - and in that flat, those weapons were used to end Glen Jones' life.
"He sustained massive head injuries as a result of what happened to him in his flat. He died five hours later in Wellington Hospital form the blunt force injuries to his head."
