Central District on a roll

Sterling efforts by staff in Central District saw nine people arrested and charged for three separate murder inquiries over a five day period.

On Saturday 15 November, 56-year-old Simon Conrad was found dead in a flat following a party in Taumarunui.

Officers from New Plymouth and Palmerston North travelled across to the King Country to lend a hand to Ruapehu staff, but Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Coward soon had to hot foot it back to Taranaki when midnight brought about the violent death of 31-year-old Peri Niwa following a street confrontation.

By Monday, the Taumarunui team had arrested and charged an 18-year-old man for murder.

Despite stretched resources across the district, a pre-planned operation on the Tuesday to arrest five people for the September murder of Paul Kumeroa in Wanganui ploughed ahead, with all suspects charged and in court by the afternoon.

Another day dawned and search warrants early Wednesday morning resulted in three men charged with the New Plymouth murder.

Detective Inspector Sue Schwalger said: “This amount of serious crime is almost unheard of in the rural districts. With such geographical distances to overcome there is a need for a large number of people to really pull together as a team. The staff did exactly that and produced outstanding results.”