Man charged with murder of Dean Kahukiwa appears in court

A 30-year-old man has made his first appearance in court charged with the murder of a Mongrel Mob member.

The man, who has interim name suppression like his co-accused, appeared via AVL from prison.

He is accused of murdering Dean Kahukiwa and is also facing charges of being part of an organised criminal group.

Defence lawyer Paul Murray said the charges needed to go to the High Court and asked for a new hearing date.

The man was remanded in custody to reappear in January.

Charging documents seen by Stuff allege Kahukiwa was killed, with a firearm, on September 18. His body was found some days later at a burning home on Reeve St in Foxton.

Police made an appeal for information regarding vehicles seen in the area and on November 30 police executed search warrants in Shannon and Palmerston North.

This resulted in the arrest of five people in relation to Kahukiwa’s death, four of whom made an appearance in the Levin District Court on December 1.

All were granted interim-name suppression, and one of the accused received “blanket” suppression on all details when they later appeared in the Palmerston North District Court.

Murray said interim name suppression was sought on the basis of fair trial rights as well as protecting the identity of others allegedly involved.

One of the five accused was a direct relative of his client’s and shared the same surname, adding his client was also facing a second set of charges regarding a separate incident including kidnapping, threatening to kill and possessing firearms.

Murray said they had yet to receive all disclosure on the case and asked for his client to be remanded without plea so they could go through this.

The man was remanded to reappear on these charges in January.