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One of seven men charged in relation to the brutal robbery and slaying of Manurewa liquor store owner Navtej Singh was at a 5-year-old girl's birthday party before the group went to get more alcohol, his mother says.
Neither the woman nor her son can be identified because of suppression orders made in the Manukau District Court yesterday.
But speaking to the Weekend Herald from her Mangere home, the mother of one of two arrested 17-year-olds said she had loaned her son her white Mitsubishi Challenger on Saturday morning so he could attend the child's birthday party.
She said her son knew the girl's father through church and, as it was early in the morning, she never suspected alcohol would be involved at the party and loaned him the car.
But when police called her about 5pm on Thursday saying they wanted to speak to her son, she realised her vehicle was the one police had been seeking.
The car allegedly sped away after the robbery.
The woman immediately took her son to the police station.
He was taken into custody and charged with one firearms offence relating to the robbery of Mr Singh, during which cash, alcohol and prepaid phonecards worth about $4000 were allegedly stolen.
Five others also face charges.
The woman said her son told her that he had been at the birthday party, which had ended, when a group including the boy's cousin decided to leave to get more alcohol.
She said her son told her he was drunk and had given the car keys to his cousin to drive.
The woman was unsure what her son knew about the events surrounding the robbery. She believed he had become tied up with the wrong people.
The woman and her husband were "devastated" and she extended her sympathy to Mr Singh's family.
Her husband said: "We gave it [the car] to him for good, not for bad."
Detective Inspector Jim Gallagher said yesterday he was satisfied police had caught the "primary offenders" but was not ruling out further arrests.
He said police divers yesterday conducted a difficult search in the boggy mangroves of the Tamaki Estuary, where parts of the suspected murder weapon were found on Thursday.
