Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Crime house burns down

By Sandra Conchie
Bay of Plenty Times·
15 Aug, 2012 09:48 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

A home destroyed by a suspicious fire was at the centre of a court-ordered restraining order which could see the property forfeited to the Crown under the proceeds of crime law.

Firefighters were called to the blaze at the two-storey Ohauiti Rd house just before 5.30am yesterday and found it well alight.



The Bay of Plenty Times understands no one was home when the fire took hold and one neighbour told the newspaper the occupants had moved out about a week ago.

Detective Logan Nicholas said the fire was being treated as suspicious.

The Bay of Plenty Times has been unable to establish who owns or occupied the property, but Mr Nicholas confirmed it had been under the control of the Official Assignee because it was subject to a court-ordered restraining order under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said that was because the asset was obtained through criminal activity.

Mr Nicholas said he understood the process to have the property forfeited to the Crown was in its final stages of the required proceedings. The Official Assignee's office has yet to reply to the Bay of Plenty Times' request for more details about the property, the restraining order and whether the property was insured.

The Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 is used by the Crown as another tool to attack those benefiting from crime, as the person's assets can be restrained if the court is satisfied it has reasonable grounds to believe the assets are tainted.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Under the Act, assets can be ordered to be forfeited without the need for a criminal conviction.

Tauranga fire safety officer Ken McKeagg said crews had a difficult job because the back end of the house had caved in, and other parts of the building were in danger of collapsing.

Mr McKeagg said the cause of the fire had yet to be determined because it was too unsafe for him to go inside the building due to the instability of the charred remains.

A crew from A & J Demolition began demolishing the house yesterday afternoon to make the scene safe so Mr McKeagg could start searching through the debris as early as today.

Mr McKeagg said the usual process in cases of a suspected arson was not to disturb the scene but due to the structural instability of the gutted building and the likelihood the smouldering house could continue to burn for up to five days it was decided to promptly demolish it.

"It's not ideal and certainly makes my job even harder," he said.

Mr McKeagg said it appeared most of the house had been emptied of furniture.

"It has also been pretty much stripped out, including a lot of the light fittings, and I'm not sure whether the power was still on."

Mr McKeagg said: "We have a fair idea from the flames that the fire started in somewhere in the middle of the house, because it had caved in, and our investigation will focus on a 100sq m section in the middle of the gutted building."

A neighbour, who did not wish to be identified, said he first became aware of the fire when he drew back his curtains about 5.15am yesterday and saw "massive flames".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I immediately shot down to the property to have a look and rang the fire brigade, and alerted the next-door neighbours. My first concern was that there may be someone inside, and I was very relieved to be told that the tenants had moved out last weekend.

"It was an absolutely horrible massive fire, with flames shooting up in the air and small little explosions going on inside the house ... It is not nice to know that a house in our neighbourhood has burnt to the ground."

The resident said he did not know the tenants but had been aware of the property's "shady past".

Police would like to speak to anyone who had any information about the fire, and they should call Tauranga police on 577 4300 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

One taken to Tauranga Hospital after SH29 crash

12 Jul 02:27 AM
live
Bay of Plenty Times

Landslide sparks evacuations, roads closed, homes flooded after storm

12 Jul 12:43 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Some of the worst we’ve seen': Huge pile of concrete dumped illegally

12 Jul 12:00 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

One taken to Tauranga Hospital after SH29 crash

One taken to Tauranga Hospital after SH29 crash

12 Jul 02:27 AM

The crash at 5pm involved a car and a truck on SH29.

Landslide sparks evacuations, roads closed, homes flooded after storm
live

Landslide sparks evacuations, roads closed, homes flooded after storm

12 Jul 12:43 AM
'Some of the worst we’ve seen': Huge pile of concrete dumped illegally

'Some of the worst we’ve seen': Huge pile of concrete dumped illegally

12 Jul 12:00 AM
'Powerful example': Mum overcomes addiction to build a life helping others

'Powerful example': Mum overcomes addiction to build a life helping others

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP