Body-in-garage murder to go to trial

File photo / NZ Herald

The three men accused of New Plymouth's body-in-the-garage murder will stand trial next year.

After an eight-day committal hearing in New Plymouth District Court, JPs John More and Alex Matheson yesterday decided there was sufficient evidence to answer, the Taranaki Daily News reported.

Mikhail Rafael Pandey-Johnson, 23, Rhys John Fournier, 22, and Karl Teangiotau Nuku, 19, have pleaded not guilty to murdering Dean Stuart Browne, 30, of Auckland in Wellington on January 21.

The Crown alleged Mr Browne was bashed to death with a hammer in the bedroom of an Oriental Bay flat and the next day his gagged, trussed and wrapped body dumped in a garage in Drake St, New Plymouth.

There will be a callover on December 22 and the trial was expected to be heard in the High Court at New Plymouth in May.

- NZPA