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Home / New Zealand / Crime

Police officer shooting: Woman accused of being accessory after the fact granted electronically monitored bail

By Chelsea Boyle
Chelsea Boyle is a reporter for the New Zealand Herald·NZ Herald·
7 Dec, 2020 10:52 PM2 mins to read

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A police officer shot in West Auckland has died, NZME understands. Two officers were shot in Massey today and member of the public was hit and injured by a vehicle after police performed a routine traffic stop on Reynella Drive in Massey.

A woman charged in connection to the alleged murder of a young police officer in the Auckland suburb of Massey has been granted bail.

Constable Matthew Hunt was killed during a routine traffic stop on Reynella Drive on June 19.

Natalie Jane Bracken was charged with being an accessory after the fact of the alleged murder.

Eli Bob Sauni Epiha was charged with murder over the death of the 28-year-old Hunt.

Epiha also faces charges of attempting to murder another police officer and wounding a member of the public when he allegedly crashed his vehicle trying to evade the patrol car.

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Both Epiha and Bracken have pleaded not guilty to their respective charges.

Today, Bracken's lawyer Adam Couchman applied in the High Court at Auckland for his client to be granted electronically monitored bail.

This was opposed by Crown prosecutor Kirsten Lummis.

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Constable Matthew Hunt. Photo / supplied
Constable Matthew Hunt. Photo / supplied

Justice Matthew Palmer granted the application and said Bracken was to go directly to the approved address in the company of a specified person without unnecessary stops.

Bracken will be subject to strict bail conditions, including that she can not leave the address without approval from the electronic monitoring bail team.

At Bracken's first appearance in the Waitakere District Court, Judge Brandt Shortland refused to grant her name suppression - despite claims she received a "barrage of threats" and was in danger.

Judge Shortland noted that her identity was "all over social media" after police released her name and photograph in a bid to find her.

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"Your name's been out there ... The reality is it's all over social media," he said. "Like feathers in the wind, it's very difficult to put all those back."

That decision was appealed to the High Court but Justice Geoffrey Venning also declined to grant name suppression.

Additional reporting Anna Leask

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