In today's headlines with Susie Nordqvist, Kamala Harris has selected her running mate, and pathologist says it's likely Lachie Jones drowned. Video / NZ Herald / Getty
The man accused of murdering young Rebels MC member Texas Jack Doctor in Mt Wellington last month can now be identified as 23-year-old Sione Tupou.
Name suppression lapsed today for Tupou and co-defendant Malio Soakimi, who is charged with being an accessory to murder after the fact, as they appeared together for the first time in the High Court at Auckland.
Defence lawyer Annabel Ives, representing both men, entered not guilty pleas on their behalf.
Doctor, 22, was fatally shot while sitting in a car on Penrose Rd on the night of Saturday, July 13.
Police cordon outside the Puffing Kiwi vape shop on Penrose Road, Mt Wellington at the scene of a fatal shooting incident. Texas Jack Doctor (inset). Photo / Isaac Davison
Police have identified Tupou as a member of rival gang the Head Hunters but emphasised that the shooting was not being treated as gang-related.
“While both the offender and the victim are members of separate gangs, we want to assure the public that what has transpired related to an ongoing dispute between individual members of two families,” Acting Detective Inspector Chris Allan said in a statement last month calling for calm.
“Our inquiries have established this was not a gang-motivated incident.”
Sione Tupou appears in the Auckland District Court on July 18 charged with the murder of Texas Jack Doctor in Mt Wellington. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Tupou was arrested just under a week after the shooting, charged with murder and unlawful possession of a pistol. Soakimi, accused of having given Tupou a ride on the night of the shooting, had been arrested a day earlier.
During today’s brief court appearance, Justice Timothy Brewer set a trial date for October next year.
Malio Soakimi appears in Auckland District Court in July 2018 charged with being an accessory after the fact to the murder of Texas Jack Doctor by giving a ride to co-defendant Sione Tupou. Photo / Dean Purcell
Both defendants wore white as they stood side by side in the dock - Tupou in a T-shirt and Soakimi in a long-sleeve button-down shirt. Tupou, who has been remanded in jail while awaiting trial, glanced back at supporters in the gallery as his case was discussed.
Next year’s trial is slated to take three weeks.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
