Three due in court over bashing death

Photo / Supplied

Three Dunedin men, two of whom are believed to be father and son, are to appear in Dunedin District Court today accused of the '"gruesome" murder of an unemployed man whose body was found on an Otago beach on Friday.

The men, aged 17, 25 and 47, were arrested on Saturday afternoon and jointly charged with the murder of 23-year-old James Mathew Ellis.

Police are expected to oppose bail for all but the 47-year-old because the man was believed to have "health issues", Detective Senior Sergeant Kallum Croudis told the Otago Daily Times.

Mr Ellis' body was found at Blueskin Bay Estuary, north of Dunedin by two people out walking on Friday morning.

Mr Croudis said a postmortem showed he had suffered "gruesome" blunt force trauma injuries to his head, hands and arms.

"Police have found a weapon which they believe was involved in the ...death but are unable to give details of it at this stage," he said.

They were keeping an open mind about the possible use of other weapons.

Police and Christchurch ESR were yesterday examining three properties - two in Dunedin and one in Oamaru - as well as two vehicles of interest, a green Mazda 626 and a white Mazda 626.

One of the vehicles, the white Mazda with registration PK4943, was stolen from Dunedin on Thursday.

The armed offenders squad (AOS) was used to secure a house in Gilmerton Street, Corstorphine, where the 47-year-old and 17-year-old were found and arrested.

Neighbours said the two arrested by the AOS were father and son.

Mr Croudis said police still had a number of people to speak to but the investigation was progressing quickly.

"We are still trying to locate witnesses who attended a gathering at an Oamaru address overnight on Thursday and early Friday morning. Both Mr Ellis and the three men facing charges appear to have been at the address," he said.

"The result in bringing charges is a testament to the excellent collaboration and cooperation between police staff in Gore, Oamaru, Dunedin and Christchurch, as well as urgency around speaking to potential witnesses."

- NZPA