Dozens of police and paramedics rush to the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Manukau where Daniel Eliu was shot dead. Video / NZ Herald
Police have charged a man with murder for the shooting death of Mongrel Mob member Daniel Eliu in front of Manukau’s Seventh Day Adventist Church earlier this month.
Authorities announced the arrest of the 41-year-old this afternoon.
His first court appearance on the charge is set for tomorrow in Manukau District Court.
Police earlier said that Eliu, a notorious member of the Mongrel Mob who also had links to the Head Hunters, appeared to have been “deliberately targeted” as he was fatally gunned down in front of the Puhinui Rd church on December 17.
The 46-year-old had been attending a graduation for the Grace Foundation, a Christian-based intensive rehabilitation programme catering to those “truly on the margins of New Zealand society” who are seeking to put their criminal pasts behind them.
Mongrel Mob member Daniel Eliu was shot dead in Manukau earlier this month. Photo / File
Although Eliu wasn’t graduating himself that day, he had been in the programme for about six months.
The group, which holds such events each Saturday, was waiting outside the church about 10am for a Christmas meal when the shooting occurred.
The arrest comes one day after Eliu’s funeral and burial - which included motorcycle revving, haka, barking and chants of “Seig f***ing heil” as his casket was hoisted by patched Mongrel Mob members - had police on high alert.
There were no significant issues as a result of the South Auckland tangi, police said later in the day.
“Police continue to make inquiries to identify others involved in the fatal shooting,” Detective Inspector Tofilau Fa’amanuia Va’aelua said today in a statement announcing the arrest.
Police are continuing to ask anyone with information on the shooting to provide a tip by calling 105 or going online at www.police.govt.nz/use-105, clicking on the “Update My Report” tab and citing file number 221217/6485. Anonymous tips can be provided by calling Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
Fellow Mongrel Mob members hoist the casket of Daniel Eliu at Manukau Memorial Gardens. Photo / NZME
Eliu has been the subject of media attention on multiple occasions prior to his death, but past coverage noted him as the accused rather than a victim. His most notorious crime, for which he was sentenced to 11 years in prison, involved a 2006 knife attack and revenge kidnapping of a man whom Eliu suspected had “narked” on a Head Hunters-affiliated friend of his - allegedly telling police about the friend’s possession of a loaded pistol.
Using a boxcutter, Eliu slashed the victim’s face from his jaw to his hairline, which the Court of Appeal would later describe as “a particularly bad crime of its kind”.
He was convicted of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
