Two charged in Dunedin homicide
Homicide detectives have arrested a man and woman after a badly decomposed body was found in a rural area north of Dunedin.
It appears the victim was killed in a Lock St, Dunedin, house on February 5 – which neighbours said police told them was covered in blood and drag marks – then his body dumped in Waitati, about 30 kilometres north of Dunedin.
A vehicle was found in Picton, and the pair, both from Dunedin, were arrested in Rotorua late on Wednesday.
The 37-year-old man has been charged with murder while the 30-yearold woman has been charged with being an accessory to murder.
The pair appeared in the Rotorua District Court yesterday afternoon, and were remanded in custody to appear on March 12.
Detective Inspector Shona Low said the victim was known to the pair and police were not looking for anyone else in relation to the murder.
The body, which was found on Steep Hill Rd in Waitati about 8pm on Monday, was in an ‘‘advanced state of decomposition’’. It appears likely it was in the forestry and farming area for almost two weeks.
It comes after police appealed for sightings of a people mover van linked to the homicide. Earlier this week Low made an appeal to the public for sightings of a dark blue 1995 Toyota Emina driven from Dunedin to Picton in the early hours of February 5.
Police found the vehicle in Picton late on Wednesday, Low said.
Low would not say if police had found any weapon, nor would she ‘‘speculate’’ the killing was drugsrelated. However, she said police had
‘‘It used to be a nice street, but now it’s a halfway house for druggies.’’ Neighbour
‘‘no information’’ to suggest there was a gang element to the killing.
The dead man did not live at Lock St, nor previously lived there, she said.
She would not say if the arrested man and women were a couple, saying that kind of information would ‘‘come out’’.
Police have forensically examined the Lock St, St Clair, house.
It is understood a man and woman lived at the house, which was reportedly covered in blood and drag marks. An autopsy was scheduled for yesterday.
Earlier, a neighbour, who declined to be named, said police told him the semi-attached house was covered in blood and drag marks.
The neighbour said the young couple were known to associate with a gang associate living nearby. Police told him they were making inquiries into the man’s whereabouts.
‘‘It used to be a nice street, but now it’s a halfway house for druggies.’’
Lock St resident Marie-Therese Dobier lives in a block of Housing New Zealand homes next door to where police have erected a tent in the front yard.
Dobier said a young couple lived in the home. She last saw the woman who lived there at hospital last week. She believed the man was missing.
Dobier said she was ‘‘sound asleep’’ on that night and did not hear anything.
The curtains at the home had been pulled for several days, she said.
Anyone with information was urged to contact police on 03 471 4800.