Arrest in shooting of Wellington taxi driver Alem Tessema

Taxi driver Alem Tesema was shot in the shoulder in Miramar, Wellington. Photo / Melissa Nightingale

Police have arrested a 26-year-old man in relation to the weekend shooting of a Wellington taxi driver.

The man was found at a Strathmore address overnight and has been charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

He is due to appear in Wellington District Court this morning.

"This is a good result and should provide some reassurance both to the victim and the wider community," says Detective Senior Sergeant Warwick McKee.

"We'd like to thank the public for their assistance in this matter.

"The investigation into the shooting is ongoing, and we would still like to hear from anyone who has information which could assist our enquiries."

The driver, Alem Tessema, was shot in the shoulder on Saturday night.

He said a man and a woman in his taxi had been acting erratically when he was driving them from Courtenay Place to Miramar.

The man made Tessema drive in circles around Miramar before telling him where to drop them, he told the Herald.

"I [was] just thinking, what I'm going to do now? Wherever we go, then he's telling me right, left, right."

When they finally gave him an address to stop at, Tessema said the pair got out of the car without paying. He never chases people for their fare, for his own safety.

"I never chase no one about the money ... all my time in taxi. The money is come, is go, it doesn't bother me, money, at all. Someone run I don't follow them at all."

But then the male passenger came to the driver's side of the car and shot Tessema in the shoulder.