A third person has been charged with the murder of a Christchurch man who was once a key witness in a murder trial.
Kane Alan Wayman, 46, was dropped at Christchurch Hospital in a critical condition by a woman driving a white Mercedes early on New Year’s Day.
He’d suffered serious head injuries and died a short time later.
Do you know more? Contact sam.sherwood@stuff.co.nz
It’s believed Wayman was attacked at the South Island headquarters of international bikie gang the Mongols MC on the outskirts of Christchurch.
There was a party at the gang pad, which is near Burnham, on New Year’s Eve.
Police raided the property on Friday night and a scene examination was ongoing there on Saturday.
On Saturday night, police said they’d arrested a 41-year-old man in Southland and charged him with Wayman’s murder.
He would appear in Invercargill District Court on Monday, police said a statement.
The man’s arrest followed those of a man and a woman, both aged 24, who were also charged with Wayman’s murder.
SuppliedKane Wayman died after being dropped at Christchurch Hospital. (File photo)
The pair were granted interim name suppression when they appeared in Christchurch District Court on Saturday morning.
The man, according to court documents, is a farm hand. The woman is from Christchurch.
They were remanded in custody and will appear in the High Court at Christchurch on February 4.
On Friday morning, the white Mercedes that was used to drop Wayman at Christchurch Hospital was seen cordoned off and guarded by police outside the hospital’s new building, Waipapa, on Riccarton Ave.
It was later removed by a tow truck.
Stuff understands the Mercedes had earlier pulled up behind a fire truck parked outside Canterbury Museum on Rolleston Ave.
The driver told firefighters, who were responding to a callout, that an injured man was in the car.
She said she found Wayman, who was known to her, on the side of State Highway 1 near Burnham.
Firefighters then helped the woman take him to hospital.
State Highway 1 near Burnham was closed briefly on Friday evening as armed police raided the Mongols gang pad.
A shocked friend of Wayman, who declined to be named, said she was invited to a party at the Mongols pad on New Year’s Eve, but couldn’t go.
Something must have gone “terribly wrong”, she said.
“Kane didn’t deserve to be hurt the way he was.”
The woman, who had known Wayman for about 12 years, said he was the “kindest teddy bear”.
“He’s going to be dearly missed – mostly by his daughter, family and friends.”
In 2006, Wayman was a key witness when Jule Patrick Burns stood trial for the murder of Christchurch sex worker Suzie Sutherland.
Wayman and another sex worker, who was a friend of Sutherland, saw Sutherland get into a white Honda Prelude, the same type of car owned by Burns.
Wayman’s evidence was called into question during a preliminary hearing when Wayman, and the sex worker he was minding (referred to as Ms H) said Burns was not the man who hassled her on a number of occasions on the evening of the murder.
Wayman had earlier told police he chased the man off and saw Sutherland get into a white Honda Prelude just after 5am.
However at trial Wayman said the person who hassled Ms H was the same person who drove off with Sutherland, and that he believed Burns was that person.
Burns was found guilty of Sutherland’s murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years. He tried unsuccessfully to appeal.
The Mongols, led by national president Jim Thacker, a deportee from Australia, established a chapter in the Bay of Plenty in 2019.
The gang expanded into the South Island early last year, creating tension among rival groups, particularly the Tribesmen MC, which was considered the dominant player in the region’s underworld at the time.
In separate attacks in February, believed to be targeted at the Mongols, a tattoo parlour and a barbershop were rammed by vehicles in Christchurch. The barbershop, which has no apparent link to the gang other than through a man who used to associate with local president Jason Ross, was also firebombed.
The same month, the Mongols’ Burnham headquarters was shot at by someone wielding a high-calibre rifle.
Police raided the property several days later and found 10 guns – military-style semi-automatics, shotguns, and a pistol – some of which were hidden in the walls and ceiling, along with dozens of bullets, $50,000 cash and methamphetamine.
Since then police, including members of the National Organised Crime Group, have raided the pad on at least two other occasions.
Thacker, a former president of a Bandidos chapter in Queensland, is among hundreds of hardened criminals, known as 501s, deported to New Zealand since 2014 changes to Australian immigration law.
The arrival of the 501s, named after the character section their visas were cancelled under, has radically changed New Zealand’s gang landscape.
New groups, most notably the Comanchero MC and Mongols, have established and, according to police data, gang membership has increased dramatically.
Police previously said many of the deported gang members were powerful and influential figures in the Australian underworld who brought with them professionalism, a new flashy image and significant international connections.
There were concerns the arrival of the new international gangs – known for their propensity for violence, particularly their use of guns – would lead to clashes as rival groups like the Mongrel Mob tried to protect their turf.
