Gangsters’ shooting spree
Details have emerged on three Taranaki shootings connected to Uru Taha gang members.
Three months before he was found dead in a creek, a gang member ordered a shooting at a Taranaki property, court documents reveal.
Thomas Holland had told Anthony Heke and Tyson Hutchinson to carry out the March 2019 attack on his former girlfriend’s home.
Holland’s body was found by a member of the public in the Mangaotuku Stream, at the rear of Devon Intermediate School in New Plymouth, on July 7.
The 25-year-old fugitive had last been seen alive on the night of June 24, when he was involved in two police chases.
It has been confirmed he drowned but his death remains before the coroner.
Holland, Heke and Hutchinson were all members of Uru Taha, or West Side, a gang which has been in Taranaki for nearly two decades.
Heke, 22, and Hutchinson, 19, were also involved in another New Plymouth shooting, on Plympton St, and Hutchinson has been solely linked to a later shooting at a Mongrel Mob pad in Lawry St, New Plymouth.
The two, who are in custody, appeared via audio visual link in New Plymouth District Court this week.
A Crown summary of facts said that on March 29, 2019, Holland instructed Heke to ‘‘send a clear message’’ to Holland’s former partner in relation to a ‘‘perceived wrongdoing’’.
Holland said this was to be done by shooting at an Omata Rd property where the woman had previously lived, the facts stated.
Heke agreed to the job and enlisted the help of Hutchinson.
Around 10pm, Heke and Hutchinson drove to Omata Rd and Heke fired a shotgun at the house and a car.
They returned to a Plympton St address where Heke phoned Holland to tell him the ‘‘job had been done’’.
Heke and Hutchinson then burned the clothing they had been wearing and dug a hole at the property and buried the shotgun.
The following morning, another member of Uru Taha arrived at the Plympton St address, where Heke and Hutchinson remained.
He had with him a man who was looking to buy $170 worth of methamphetamine.
Heke said he could source the class A drug and they all went to a number of addresses looking to buy it.
But the hunt was unsuccessful and when they all returned to Plympton St the man realised his cellphone was missing.
He hit up Heke, Hutchinson and the other gang member about its whereabouts.
Heke grew agitated and began punching the man to the head, knocking him unconscious.
When the man woke during the continued assault, Heke ordered Hutchinson to fetch a shotgun from the washhouse.
The victim had earlier spotted the gun and Heke had told him it was loaded ‘‘in case some crack head fiend or another gang or police come around’’, the documents said.
Heke took hold of the gun and shot the man in his arm.
Hutchinson then grabbed the firearm and ran out the back of the address to dispose of it, the summary stated.
The gun has never been located.
Using the victim’s vehicle, Heke took the heavily bleeding man to Taranaki Base Hospital and dropped him at the front of the Emergency Department.
The victim’s car was found days later in the Marfell area.
When the man made his way into the hospital reception, he collapsed. Extensive medical work was required to save his arm.
Police were called and a hunt for Heke begun.
The following day, Heke and Hutchinson went to an Inglewood address to confront a man they believed had told the police about the Plympton Rd shooting.
Heke put a gun to the man’s head while Hutchinson punched the man to his head.
The man managed to escape by climbing out of a toilet window and running to the neighbour’s.
Police were called and Heke and Hutchinson fled.
Heke was tracked to a Westown address three days later.
While he has since remained in custody, Hutchinson went on to perform another shooting.
On October 24, Hutchinson used a rifle to fire shots at a Motouroa-based Mongrel Mob pad in Lawry St, taking off in a car he had stolen two days prior.
A police pursuit came to end when Hutchison smashed into a concrete wall outside a house in Tukapa St, Westown.
He was arrested at the scene while St John Paramedics treated him for back injuries.
In court on Tuesday, they both entered guilty pleas to a raft of charges related to the two earlier shootings.
Hutchinson has previously pleaded guilty to charges relating to the Lawry St shooting.
Judge Tony Greig entered the pleas, remanded the men back into custody and ordered they return to court on June 19.