Eight people accused of murdering Mitchell Te Kani heading to trial

Mitchell Te Kani, 51, was allegedly killed on May 14, 2022, eight people charged with his murder have pleaded not guilty. Photo / Supplied

The eight people charged with murdering Tauranga man Mitchell Te Kani have all pleaded not guilty and will go to trial next year.

Seven men and one woman, aged between 24 and 34, are jointly charged with murdering the 51-year-old at a Maungatapu Rd property on May 14 last year.

Five of the accused appeared at the High Court at Tauranga yesterday and pleaded not guilty to the charge as well as to assault charges relating to alleged assaults on other people at the scene of the alleged murder.

The men who appeared were Kevin Allan Bailey, 29, and Shem Williams, 30, both from Gate Pa, and Mihaka Ratahi, 30, from Pāpāmoa along with two men with interim name suppression – a 25-year-old from Parkvale and a 27-year-old Waikato man.

Williams and Ratahi had also denied charges of wilfully attempting to obstruct the course of justice.

That included Williams allegedly cleaning out his vehicle in an attempt to remove forensic evidence, and Ratahi who has denied coaching one of his alleged co-offenders on what to tell the police when interviewed about the incident that led to Te Kani’s death.

Not guilty pleas to murder and three assault charges were entered on behalf of 34-year-old Himiora Bennett from Brookfield who was unable to appear due to technical problems with the audio-visual link from prison.

Two other people were charged with attempting to obstruct the course of justice. including a Pāpāmoa woman with name suppression, who entered not guilty pleas to five charges of the offence.

Justice Graham Lang remanded the defendants in custody or on continued bail to next appear in the High Court at Tauranga on April 5 for case review hearings.

Their jury trial will take place in the High Court at Hamilton in February next year and is expected to take six weeks.

Interim name suppression for three of the accused will be revisited in April.

Two other murder accused, Kiri Mererina Pini, 40, and Bodine Umuroa, 41, both from Parkvale, who were the first two defendants arrested shortly after Te Kani died, did not appear in court as they had earlier pleaded not guilty to a joint charge of murder and four assault charges.

Their next court appearance is on June 7.

Police were initially called to a disorder incident involving a group of people at a residential address on Maungatapu Rd on May 14 last year, and on arrival, officers found Te Kani dead.

The police investigation into Te Kani’s death continues.