Mount Maunganui ‘gang-related’ brawl: Two more men in Tauranga court on rioting and wounding charges

The courthouse in Tauranga. Photo / NZME

Another two men have appeared in court on rioting and wounding with intent charges after a “gang-related” brawl in Mount Maunganui.

Police have said eight people were arrested after what they described as a “gang-related incident” incident involving two gangs on Maunganui Rd on Wednesday.

Five men appeared in the Tauranga District Court on Thursday, followed by the two on Friday. On both days there was a high police presence outside the Tauranga courthouse.

Today, Jay Tarahina Kiwi, 39, of Pāpāmoa Beach and Peter Brian Junior Phillips, 50, from Welcome Bay faced joint charges of rioting and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

They appeared in Tauranga District Court before Judge Melinda Mason and sought bail, which was opposed by police and argued for by the defendants’ lawyer Bill Nabney.

Judge Mason granted bail with conditions and ordered the pair to reappear in court on July 12.

The five other men were also granted bail when they appeared in the Tauranga District Court on Thursday.

Jesse Wiheti Fisher, 38, from Matapihi; Lake Kaimoana, 24, of Tauranga; Paul Frederick Carmichael, 44, of Brookfield; Te Koikoi Brown, 25, of Bethlehem and 35-year-old Mount Maunganui man Teina Eremiha Matiaha face joint charges of rioting and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Brown and Kaimoana were also jointly charged with aggravated robbery in relation to an allegation the pair robbed another man of his Nissan Navara at Mount Maunganui on Wednesday.

Brown is also charged with unlawful possession of an offensive weapon, namely knuckle dusters, in Maunganui Rd during the incident.

Police did not oppose bail for the five men but successfully sought a number of bail conditions.

Judge Christina Cook bailed the five defendants to next appear in the Tauranga District Court on July 13.

The maximum penalty for the wounding and robbery charges is 14 years’ imprisonment and two years in prison for the rioting charge.

Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.