Murder trial postponed as accused dying

Setting a trial date for a man charged with murdering Grant "Granite" Adams has been postponed for two months as he is dying.

The case for Tauranga man Brett Michael Ashby, 50, was called in the High Court at Rotorua before Justice Judith Potter yesterday when his lawyer explained he was terminally ill.

Lawyer Elizabeth Hall said her client was under hospice care at home and it was likely he would not survive to stand trial and asked for a two-month stand down.

"He is terminally ill ... it is a critical situation with his declining health getting worse ... If he is alive [in two months] it would be something of a surprise," she said.

Police allege Ashby, a company director, shot Mr Adams in the upper back and head with a semi-automatic pistol before dumping his body at Wairakei, near Taupo, in December 2005.

It is believed Mr Adams was a methamphetamine user with gang connections

Mr Adams' remains were found in June 2007 in a grave dug with a digger.

Justice Potter adjourned the case to be recalled in the High Court at Rotorua on June 4, for a trial date to be set if Ashby was still alive.

Another Tauranga man, Craig Cullen, 44, was sentenced to 12 months' home detention on April 23, last year, on a charge of being an accessory after the fact of murder.

- NZPA