Politician with ties to murder-charge Kiwi says case ‘sad’
A Cabinet Minister with a family link to a former Auckland Grammar student charged with first-degree murder in the United States is describing the situation as “sad and difficult”.
New Zealander Clinton Thinn, 29, is being held at the George Bailey Detention Facility in San Diego, California.
He is charged with attempted robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, carrying a loaded firearm and firstdegree murder.
If convicted, Thinn faces a minimum of 25 years in prison or the death penalty.
Associate Education Minister Nikki Kaye, who returned to Parliament last month after a cancer scare, said family members were distressed by the bleak developments.
Kaye’s mother has been in a longterm relationship with Thinn’s father.
“This is a difficult and sad time for all those affected by what has happened.
“As this is before the courts I will not be commenting further,” Kaye said.
Thinn, a lover of hip-hop and rap, often posted videos of himself rapping to lyrics he had written under the rap artist name BigMac and Richochet Rocket.
A friend of the Aucklander said he felt guilty about his mate’s current situation. “These videos that he’s doing . . . he was led on by a lot of his friends that he was a good rapper.
“When really, people were just leading him on, it was just funny for us to watch.
“That was his motive to go to the US.
“He wasn’t a proud friend to have around, but he was a dear friend,” he said.
The murder charge was laid after an incident at the maximum security facility housing nearly 1800 prisoners.
The Aucklander was arrested in San Diego, last June after a man entered a Chula Vista bank brandishing a hammer and a flare gun.
The man reportedly fired two shots with the flare gun and used the hammer to try to smash a bullet-proof partition.