Man accused of stop-go murder revealed
A MAN accused of the 2013 shooting of George Taiaroa can now be named. He is Quinton Winders, 45, of Stratford, in Taranaki.
Temporary name suppression lapsed for Winders at 4pm yesterday after no appeal for continued name suppression was filed. He is in custody and will appear in the High Court at Rotorua next month.
Winders was arrested at his Stratford home last week and charged with murder over two years after Taiaroa, 67, was gunned down while he worked on a one-lane bridge in Atiamuri, 30km south of Tokoroa.
Winders was taken in for questioning by police early in their murder inquiry but was released due to lack of evidence.
In a 2014 interview, he denied shooting Taiaroa, saying it was fabricated by police, whom he accused of harassment. Winders used to live on a Whangamomona farm, but is understood to have moved to Stratford late last year.
The Whangamomona property was previously searched by police investigating Taiaroa’s murder.
His Stratford neighbours said since moving in he had ‘‘kept himself very much to himself’’.
Mystery has always the case.
At the time Taiaroa’s family said they were at a loss to explain the murder, as George was a kind, gentle man who hated conflict.
His widow, Helen, said she believed
surrounded her husband was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
‘‘He didn’t have an enemy. He happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and that area that it happened in was known for drugs.’’
Losing her husband had the family apart.
‘‘If they want to destroy a family, they’ve successfully done whatever was in their mind to do that. We’re stronger than that,’’ she said.
torn