Third man due in court after teens kidnapped

A third man will appear in court this morning in relation to a North Taranaki kidnapping on Wednesday - a day after his two alleged accomplices were in court.

Jerome Teumuera Edwards, 18, unemployed of Inglewood, and Matthew Kane Tett, 18, a gib stopper of no fixed abode, appeared in New Plymouth District Court yesterday charged with kidnapping, aggravated robbery and the theft of petrol from a Waitara service station.

They entered no pleas and were remanded in custody until April 9.

It was earlier alleged two kidnappers had bundled three teens into their own car and driven towards Waitara around 7.45pm but two of them, a man and a woman, were released a short time later and the man called police.

The third teen was found about midnight just outside Waitara, and police say they established through their inquiries that he had been involved in the kidnapping.

Detective Senior Sergeant Keith Borrell of New Plymouth Police confirmed that he was one of the two men who appeared in court yesterday.

He was unable to say whether that man was Edwards or Tett as the case was before the court.

The offenders stopped at a petrol station in Waitara and filled the stolen car with $80 of fuel before driving away without paying.

Mr Borrell said the third man - one of the original kidnappers - was arrested last night and would appear in New Plymouth District Court this morning, also facing kidnapping and aggravated robbery charges.

The stolen car, a black Nissan Skyline, had been recovered and examined by police.

Police were still seeking the firearm used in the kidnapping, which the victims believed was a genuine pistol.

The motive for the alleged kidnap was unknown.

- NZPA