No plea yet from Jack Nicholas murder accused

A man charged with the murder of Hawke's Bay farmer Jack Nicholas in 2004 has yet to enter a plea.

Murray Foreman was arrested in April and charged with perverting the course of justice in relation to the homicide inquiry.

Earlier this month police added the murder charge.

The 49-year-old appeared briefly in Napier District Court this morning and did not enter a plea on either charge.

Foreman was remanded in custody until July 14 for a pre-depositions hearing.

Mr Nicholas was shot dead at the gate of his remote farm at Puketitiri, northwest of Napier, on August 27, 2004.

The defendant was arrested last month amid a flurry of activity during which police searched several properties in the seaside settlement of Haumoana, near Napier.

They seized several vehicles and conducted a search of the nearby Tukituki riverbank for evidence.

- NZPA