Pair face quiz on 26-year-old murder

Two charged with a brutal murder when they were teenagers 26 years ago are likely to face another round of questioning after police reopened the case.

Dutchman Simon Paulus Buis, 54, was found dead near the Eden Rugby Football Club at Gribblehurst Park in the Auckland suburb of Sandringham on April 4, 1980.

He had been beaten to death and people living near the park at the time told police they had heard a man screaming, the sounds of punches being thrown, and a car being driven off at speed.

The two, who were 15 at the time, were accused of murdering Mr Buis but the charges were withdrawn and the killing has remained an unsolved mystery for the last 26 years.

Last month police reactivated their file after new information was received and have appealed for anyone who may know anything to call them.

Today Detective Senior Sergeant Scott Beard said the two people originally charged with murder had yet to be interviewed again.

He said they were charged after they were found with a stolen car and "made some admissions about beating someone up".

Comments which led to the arrest were later retracted and the charges were withdrawn after "a few issues with some of the experts".

Mr Beard said there was nothing to stop police again charging the pair with murder. "That is a possibility."

He said the reactivated inquiry was still in its early stages but it was "solvable".

"All it takes is one person. It takes just one phone call. Maybe I have had it and maybe just working through these inquiries things might start to pan out," he said.

Police were keen to hear from anyone who may have seen something in Gribblehurst Park about 2.50am on Good Friday in 1980, or in the Symonds Street/Newton Road area about 2.30am.

Mr Buis spent the previous evening Leopard Tavern in Freeman's Bay before moving to the La Cava Coffee Lounge in Customs Street, where he stayed until about 2.30am when he caught a taxi to Symonds Street, near the intersection of Khyber Pass and Newton Rd.

His body was found about 3am.

Mr Beard said it was a mystery how he got from Symonds St to Gribblehurst Park and he may have gone there with someone he knew.

"It doesn't appear he would have got into any vehicle with someone he didn't know -- not willingly."

Police said a large, 1950s style vehicle with a loud exhaust, and a yellow car -- possibly a 1950s Holden -- were reported to have left the park about the time Mr Buis was killed.

- NZPA