'Notorious crim' has case dropped

A Taranaki criminal who escaped a murder conviction in 1992 has had another case against him dropped after his two alleged victims refused to give evidence.

Black Power member Kevin Francis Henare Moore, 50, yesterday walked free from New Plymouth District Court after he and his co-accused, son Kevin Francis Moore, 24, and Steven Joseph Johnson, 30, had charges against them of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm dropped.

One of the victims said he had no recall of what happened and the other told authorities he would not give evidence, the Taranaki Daily News reported.

In 1992, Moore snr was acquitted of murdering Wanganui Mongrel Mob member Robert Jillings after a witness lied on the witness stand. He was later jailed for seven years for conspiring to defeat the course of justice.

Justice John Doogue commented at his sentencing in 1999 that he "literally got away with murder".

That case led to a change in the double jeopardy law in 2004, allowing retrials where perjury and intimidation of witnesses had been proven.

New Plymouth CIB chief Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Coward said yesterday's aborted trial was disappointing but understandable because of the stigma attached to gangs.

There was no doubt in police minds that the attack happened, Mr Coward said.

The three defendants in yesterday's trial had spent seven months in jail awaiting trial after Jeremiah Jackson Awa and Steven Bunyan were allegedly stabbed and hit with children's play equipment outside a house in Bell Block on May 13.

- NZPA