Murder accused appears in court

Michael Wallace on his way into court this morning. Picture / Mark Mitchell

A dishevelled Michael Scott Wallace made a brief appearance in New Plymouth District Court today, charged with murdering German backpacker Birgit Brauer.

Wallace was arrested on Saturday night at Glen Oroua, 16km west of Palmerston North, following a dramatic pursuit involving members of the elite police Special Tactics Group and the Armed Offenders Squad.

He was escorted into court this morning by two policemen.

He is to face six charges in addition to murder.

He was charged with kidnapping Ms Brauer, and two charges of stealing vehicles -- the Toyota HiLux that was centre of police investigations and a Nissan Safari.

He was also charged with breaking and entering houses in the Manawatu townships of Tangimoana and Himatangi.

The other charge related to his giving false information to police one day before the alleged murder, September 20. That related to a drink driving charge on which he failed to appear in May.

Wallace, 44, was in the court for two minutes, before Judge Louis Bidois.

He was wearing a police issue blue boiler suit and looked dishevelled with his long scraggy hair and beard. He was hunched over most of the time he was in court.

He displayed no emotion, apart from when his lawyer, Turitea Bolstad, asked for a remand for him to undergo a psychiatric examination. At that stage Wallace shook his head, as if he disagreed.

Judge Bidois agreed to remand Wallace in custody until October 25.

The stabbed and beaten body of Ms Brauer, 28, was found at Lucy's Gully near Oakura, in north Taranaki.

- NZPA