Alleged killer of Northland gang member Kimble Moore revealed as fellow gangster Rawden Yates

Tribesmen gang members Rawden Yates, left, and Kimble Moore were once close. It can now be revealed that Yates is standing trial in the High Court at Whangārei charged with murdering Moore.

The man accused of killing Northland gang member Kimble Moore can now be revealed as fellow Tribesman gang member Rawden Yates.

Yates is standing trial in the High Court at Whangārei accused on Moore's murder. Moore was shot in the back three times before his body was buried in a shallow grave, a High Court jury has heard.

Yates had interim name suppression leading up to the trial, but Justice Mathew Downs turned down a request to continue name suppression from his lawyer Nick Leader.

However, Justice Downs gave Leader leave to apply to the Court of Appeal for continued name suppression, but when that had not been done by 5pm yesterday, name suppression lapsed.

Moore, a 48-year-old patched member of the Tribesmen gang from Waipapakauri in the Far North, was reported missing from Taipa by his partner in March 2016. His body was found six months later in the Fairburn area.

Moore's partner was to give evidence in the trial today.

Crown prosecutor Mike Smith told a jury of eight women and three men a woman who helped Yates push his vehicle when it developed mechanical problems observed a body lying on a reclined seat in the front passenger's seat. She didn't recognise who the dead person was.

On another occasion, Smith said two people who gave the accused help to start his car noticed he appeared anxious and in a hurry. The helpers also observed the accused appear to either punch or manhandle a person in the front passenger's seat.

Smith said Yates also told a person he knew that "Kimble tried to kill him, I killed the little c***" or words to that effect. Yates told Kimble's partner that he dropped Kimble off at a particular point near an address.

Smith said two bullet fragments from an AK-47 machine gun or a similar firearm with a peculiar magazine corresponded with Kimble's wound.

Defence lawyer Nick Leader did not make an opening statement. The trial is expected to last four to five weeks.