Heke faces 8 charges over police shootout
Rollie James Heke has been remanded without plea in Rotorua District Court after facing three charges of attempting to murder police officers.
Four accomplices, who can now be named, also appeared in court yesterday, on charges of accessory to attempted murder after the fact.
Natasha Dawn Telford, 43, Joseph Manunui Long, 42, Monique Jane Eggleton, 31, and Rangimaria Haami, 62, all face the accessory charges, with Eggleton also charged with possession of methamphetamine.
Each was remanded in custody ahead of an appearance in the High Court at Rotorua on September 13.
Heke, 36, spent 12 days on the run after allegedly firing at three police officers with a semi-automatic, militarystyle weapon on the outskirts of Morrinsville, in Waikato, in the early hours of August 13.
Court documents show Heke faces eight charges in total – three of attempting to murder a police officer, possession of a semi-automatic firearm, possession of ammunition, failure to stop and two charges of possession of equipment to manufacture methamphetamine.
Heke’s former partner, Irene Scanlon, 43, who was also wanted by police, was taken into custody on her pre-existing warrant when police executed a search warrant in Te Awamutu yesterday.
Police described the trail that finally led to them cornering Heke in darkness at a property in a Bay of Plenty forestry village early yesterday as a ‘‘moving feast’’.
About 1.30am, armed offenders squad (AOS) members, surrounded a house in the semi-rural Kaingaroa Forest township, near Murupara.
Using a loud-hailer, they called for Heke – who was inside with four or five others – to give himself up.
‘‘[It] was a moving feast as we hunted Heke. Our team had been doing a whole lot of good work and, as a result of a lot of analysis and information, we got led to this address in Kaingaroa Forest township,’’ Waikato District Commander Superintendent Bruce Bird said. ‘‘Once we cordoned and contained him, he came out pretty quickly without incident.’’
Upon his arrest, Bird said Heke seemed resigned to the fact that he had now been found.
‘‘We were rapt that he exercised some good judgment and decided to give himself up without incident.’’
Bird said officers were speaking with the others at the property, and working to figure out how they were connected to the bigger picture.
It was clear Heke had received help to evade police for the days he spent on the run. ‘‘Ideally, we want to understand where he has been for the last 12 to 13 days and that will be part of the ongoing investigation.’’
Over the past two weeks, police had received a considerable amount of information from the public and Bird wanted to thank all of those people who provided information.
The arrest was a result of ‘‘reputable and hard work’’ by a large team of police officers and AOS members across the North Island, whom Bird said had worked tirelessly to gain a peaceful outcome.
‘‘There was a lot of really stunning work done across the country.
‘‘AOS members did huge hours and work, and detectives have diligently sifted through all of this information. Staff from around the country who, any time there was information, said ‘yep, we’re doing it’.
‘‘It’s been a fantastic team effort, well supported by the public.’’