12.30pm
A judge has discharged a man appearing in connection with New Zealand's biggest aggravated robbery.
In December, 2000, $940,404 was taken from two security guards in central Wellington as they went to load an ATM. About $250,000 is still missing.
Some money was burned, along with the security van, in a fire deliberately lit at an historic building in Ngaio Gorge.
Joe Vise Sua, 32, an engineer of Taita, had entered a not guilty plea to conspiring between September 1, 2000, and December 22, 2000, with others, to commit aggravated robbery.
Today's Evening Post newspaper reports that in the High Court at Wellington yesterday, the key witness -- a woman prison inmate whose name was suppressed -- said she would not answer questions for her "own personal protection".
After the refusal, Justice Ellis discharged Sua.
Seven people are serving prison sentences in relation to the robbery.
The ringleader, Peter Richard Tyson, an unemployed security guard from Upper Hutt, is serving an 11-year prison term for the robbery, the arson of the Kaiwarra Magazine, and an unrelated theft.
Tyson, John Rauhina Moeke, and Craig Anthony Ferris, were armed with an air rifle, a crowbar and a club when they jumped the guards in a yard behind Willis Street.
Three other men, Jonathan Robert McDonald, Quintin William O'Brien and Wayne Turner, played lesser parts, acting as lookouts, conducting surveillance before the robbery and escorting the van to its hideout, after the heist.
Tyson's former partner, Samantha Gay Roser, was jailed for four years for her role in the robbery, which was to drive slowly down the gorge road, holding up traffic, so no-one would see the van drive into the building.
She was also detailed to spot the security van driving towards Wellington, and warned of a police cordon on the motorway after the robbery.
Judge discharges man accused in Chubb robbery
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.