Police: Mob stonewalling on death
Three young Mongrel Mob members may hold the clue to solving the violent killing of Hastings man Eddie Peters four years ago, yet gang leaders appear to be doing nothing to help police.
Peters, 45, was found badly beaten in the driveway of a property on Diaz Drive in Flaxmere just after midnight on November 16, 2018.
A neighbour heard Peters’ moans and phoned emergency services after finding him in a ‘‘pool of blood’’.
In a bid to seek new information, police last night revisited details of the homicide on the Cold Case TV show.
Detective Sergeant Craig Vining said officers investigating the case had for the past four years been hampered by stonewalling from potential witnesses and others who might be able to assist.
Vining, who is second-incharge of the investigation, said it hadn’t been immediately apparent, but ‘‘the death of another man turned out to have quite a significant bearing on what we now know happened to Eddie on that night’’.
On the afternoon of November 15 a senior member of the Hastings chapter of the Mongrel Mob died of natural causes at a property in Diaz Drive.
About 30-50 patched gang members attended an ‘‘impromptu tangi’’ there.
Peters was not a member of any gang, but was a close friend of the dead man. He went to the tangi and may have had some sort of altercation with gang members.
Between 9pm and 9.30pm he went to a friend’s house nearby. His friend wasn’t home, but another occupant was. Peters said told the woman he was going to get a hiding and might end up in hospital, but she couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. Peters then returned to the tangi.
Shortly before midnight two residents of Diaz Drive noticed people running across the front of their property. Then they heard people whispering on a driveway next door. They also heard the sound of a male groaning and of a dog growling. That prompted them to call police.
Peters was found in a pool of blood in the driveway of a family member, just 200m from the tangi.
Vining said it looked like Peters was looking for refuge, ‘‘literally running for his life’’.
Peters died in hospital eight days after the assault.
Witnesses said they saw someone fitting his description standing in the street outside the tangi with 2-3 others standing around him. There was a verbal altercation and Peters backed away.
He was then chased down the road.
Two of the three men were believed to be in their early 20s. The third was likely to be a teenager. All were wearing Mongrel Mob patches.
It was revealed on the TV show that police had obtained CCTV showing gang members arriving at the tangi.
Later footage, shot in darkness, shows what is thought to be Peters walking along the road with others following him.
Vining said senior members of the Hastings chapter of the Mongrel Mob must know their members were responsible.
Peters’ son, Tawhirimatea Prisk, said he struggled to understand the behaviour of this father’s killers.
‘‘You targeted the most vulnerable at the party. It’s just a cowardice move really. There are people out there who got away with it, and you don’t want them to do it again.’’