Third person in court over alleged Paihia kidnapping

A third person has appeared in court over an incident in which a man was allegedly kidnapped and forced to withdraw money at the ASB bank in Paihia. Photo / Peter de Graaf

A third person charged with kidnapping a Paihia man and allegedly forcing him to withdraw money from an ATM is also accused of shooting at police when they turned up at his home.

The Mid North 31-year-old, who has interim name suppression, appeared in the Kaikohe District Court last week facing a raft of charges stemming from events at Paihia's ASB Bank on November 30 last year.

He was also charged in relation to an incident the following month in which he allegedly shot at police when they visited his home to investigate the kidnapping complaint. The officers were not injured.

Together with Paihia couple Cayne Brown-Martin, 22, and Billy-Joe Witehira, 35, the man is jointly charged with kidnapping, unlawful possession of a pistol and unlawful possession of a shotgun.

He faces one extra charge of kidnapping as well as two charges of wounding with intent to cause bodily harm, another charge of unlawful possession of a firearm, and one charge of using a firearm against police.

Witehira faces an extra charge of discharging a pistol and Brown-Martin a charge of dangerous driving.

Co-accused Cayne Brown-Martin was critically injured when his Holden Commodore hit a fence at Affco freezing works in Moerewa shortly after the Paihia incident. Photo / Peter de Graaf

The accused appeared by audio-visual link from prison on Wednesday, when he had expected to apply for bail.

His application was, however, rescheduled for Whangārei District Court on April 12.

He is due back in the Kaikohe District Court on a raft of other, unrelated charges on April 20 and May 7.

Those charges include driving with sustained loss of traction, driving while disqualified for a third or subsequent time, drink-driving, and possession of a firearm without a licence.

The trio's alleged attempt to make the victim withdraw money from an ATM unravelled rapidly when alert bank staff noticed something was wrong.

Police arrived within minutes and managed to box in an Audi driven by Witehira on Williams Rd.

Brown-Martin left in another vehicle which crashed into a fence at Affco freezing works in Moerewa. He was not being chased at the time.

He suffered critical injuries and was airlifted to Whangārei Hospital.

The other man was arrested later at his home.

Both Brown-Martin and Witehira have had bail applications refused and remain in custody.

All three accused are understood to be gang members.