Finger found by road remains a mystery

A severed finger found outside a suburban West Auckland house continues to puzzle police.

The finger with a relatively clean cut was found at Avondale but police do not know if it was detached from its owner's hand by accident or deliberately.

"We have checked with the hospitals and they haven't given us a line of inquiry," Detective Inspector Bernie Hollewand said.

"The pathologist has been able to confirm obviously it was human but he was not able to assist further than that."

He said it was not apparent if it the finger was from a male or a female, or which finger it was, but forensic scientists were using the DNA from to see if it matched any records in the police criminal database.

Mr Hollewand said fingerprints could not be taken from the finger because they were not there but that was not unusual.

"The prints are gone, Maybe it was someone who was in manual work, drive layers...concrete workers. The acid in concrete often burns off fingerprints."

The cut was reasonably clean but it was not "sufficiently clear to preclude it being torn off by machinery or whatever", he said.

"I think it is more likely there is a non-criminal explanation."

It was not possible to determine how long it had been detached from the hand, Mr Hollewand said.

It was not the first time this year Auckland police have investigated such an incident.

A woman's finger investigated by Avondale police station was later found to have been torn off by accident.

Anyone with details of the latest finger find should call the Auckland Crime squad on 09 302 6789.

- NZPA