Police have arrested and charged a Waikato man with murder in relation to the death of Cedric Maniapoto in Te Uku near Raglan.
A 29-year-old is due to appear in the Hamilton District Court on Thursday while police would like to hear from anyone who saw a red coloured 1992 Toyota Camry station wagon in the Te Mata, Te Uku and Raglan areas on the morning of March 5.
Enquiries are ongoing and Police are not ruling out further arrests.
The recusal of Resources and Oceans Minister Shane Jones from being involved in the decision to fast track seabed mining is evidence of how corrupt the process is, say environment and community groups.
Shane Jones had been supportive of the seabed mining industry but according to Greenpeace changed his position when he realised that the fishing interests behind his campaign oppose it.
"That Jones finds himself caught between two industry lobby groups is highly disturbing and exposes the corruption behind the Government’s new fast-track consenting process." said Cindy Baxter, chairperson of Kiwis Against Seabed Mining.
Meantime the Environmental Protection Authority is holding hearings into Trans Tasman Resources’ latest application to mine the seabed off the Taranaki coast. Longtime Ocean Campaigner Phil McCabe had been at the hearings and says TTR hasn’t presented much in the way of new evidence compared to their 2017 application and are still asking for the highly irregular option of doing the research after they’ve been given approval to do the seabed mining.
This request has also been taken as an admission that TTR can’t prove the proposed mining activities are safe and is in stark contrast to their public utterances which have been claiming variously, that the seabed is a desert, or that while it does destroy the environment that it will be fully rehabilitated after 2 years.
Raglan Scientist Dougal Greer has also been at the hearings making a presentation that was highly critical of TTRs sediment plume research pointing out several holes in their work and informing that committee that the science has moved on a lot from 2015 which was the last time TTR last did any research.
Elsewhere the body of a fisherman lost off the rocks at Papanui Point has been found washed up at Te Akau, north of Raglan earlier this month. He was Yoajun Li, 44, of Hamilton.
Mr Li had gone fishing at Papanui Point on the morning of 29 January when he disappeared and is the latest in a long line of people lost to this dangerous fishing spot.
The annual 2024 Whaingaroa Hoe has been announced for Saturday, May 11, with racing starting at 9am.
Whaingaroa Whanau Hoe Waka Club is hosting the annual event, which will see approximately 800 paddlers – junior, novice, men, women and mixed crews - competing over 8km and 20km courses.
And sadly Earl the cat who became a community favourite during the closure of SH23 last year has passed away after being hit by a vehicle on the road earlier this week. Earl became well known after featuring in photo updates of the repair work that was needed after Cyclone Gabrielle caused a slip on the deviation. A book called Earl’s Corner was even written by a local author and Earl has in fact been buried at the top of the bank by the road so he survey his corner forever.