Man charged with 1979 killing named
Interim name suppression lapses
THE man arrested for the cold case murder of a Turangi petrol station attendant more than 30 years ago can now be identified as the same person who was arrested at the time.
The police case against Menzies Reginald John Hallett was thrown out in 1979 before it got to trial. However, a change in the Evidence Act in 2008 has enabled police to retry him.
In December, Hallett, 71, a Rotorua real estate agent, was arrested for a second time for the murder of Rodney Tahu in August 1979.
He said then that he had ‘‘no inkling’’ he was to be arrested when he went to get a corned beef sandwich for lunch and was surrounded by police and bundled into a car.
He is on bail waiting for a trial date.
His interim name suppression lapsed yesterday allowing his name to be reported after lawyer Jonathan Temm decided to not proceed with an appeal for continued suppression.
It is understood Mr Tahu was shot when he would not reopen the pumps at the Shell petrol station in Turangi at the end of his shift.
He was unable to do so because they were on a computer-operated timer.
The killer became impatient and shot Mr Tahu three times in the body and neck, police allege. Mr Tahu died in Taumarunui Hospital several hours later.
The shooting shocked and angered the community. According to police files, Hallett went to Wellington after the shooting. Twelve days later, he drove back to Taupo and was arrested at a police roadblock on State Highway 5, near Lochinver Station.
A depositions hearing in Taupo Magistrates Court later discharged him of murder on the basis of insufficient evidence.
Magistrate E S Tuckwell said: ‘‘I have listened for five days to a great body of evidence put forward very ably by . . . the Crown prosecutor and I can say very fairly that I can’t see that the evidence . . . could put the defendant on trial for the charge.’’
Hallett appeared upbeat and cheerful when The Dominion Post knocked on his door after his first court appearance in December.
‘‘I have no idea who and why Tahu was killed,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t know who shot him.’’
Spending the weekend in a cell had not been too traumatic, he joked. ‘‘I’ve been there before.’’