One of the men charged with murdering Palmiro MacDonald in the Horowhenua has had the murder charge against him dismissed.
But Chea Paratene Charles Brattle-Hemara Haeana, who goes by the last name Hemara, still faces a charge of being an accessory after the fact of murder.
Hemara’s lawyer, Liz Hall, asked for the murder charge to be dismissed and Justice Rebecca Ellis made the order at the High Court in Wellington on Friday.
Hemara and Joseph William Johnson stood trial in the High Court at Palmerston North but after an eight-week trial the jury was unable to reach a decision in July 2019.
They were charged with murdering MacDonald, a Nomads club member, in March 2016.
The Crown said Johnson and Hemara were part of a plan to kill MacDonald, who had been “taxing” people’s property and using methamphetamine.
It was alleged MacDonald was taken to a Hokio Beach property where Hemara had been living and was the former home of infamous Nomads founder and longtime president, Dennis ‘Mossie’ Hines.
MacDonald was allegedly beaten and repeatedly shot, before his body was left in rural Shannon.
His remains were found about seven months later.
The case is due to be before the court again later this year.
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Source: Stuff