Police remain at the scene of a homicide in Mansfield St, Ohauiti, yesterday. Photo / John Borren
Police remain at the scene of a homicide in Mansfield St, Ohauiti, yesterday. Photo / John Borren
Takena Tiepa-Ranapia left a trail of blood - half a kilometre long - after he was assaulted in Ohauiti.
Mr Tiepa-Ranapia, whose name was released by police yesterday, ended up dying at the end of a driveway.
The 19-year-old left a party at a Mansfield St address, walked to theend of the cul-de-sac, through a reserve, around the back of a row of houses and collapsed at the end of a shared driveway at the end of Mansfield St where his body was found on Sunday morning.
His path was revealed by a trail of cones placed by police and his body was covered by a red and yellow tarpaulin, which is visible in the photo.
A post-mortem examination revealed Mr Tiepa-Ranapia was the victim of an assault but police would not reveal the cause of his injuries.
Friends and family of Mr Tiepa-Ranapia gathered at McCallum Pl in Papamoa yesterday afternoon.
A caller told the Bay of Plenty Times there were "five or six" police cars at the address, but a police spokeswoman said there had been no issues and police were there because of the large number of people, some of whom were wearing gang patches.
Mr Tiepa-Ranapia was affiliated to a gang. Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Turner said at this stage, police were confident there was no gang rivalry related to Mr Tiepa-Ranapia's death.
He hoped members of the public would provide information related to the incident and also asked people in the Mansfield, Harrisfield and Ohauiti Rd areas to be on the lookout for any objects discarded on their properties that may have been used as a weapon.
Police were particularly interested in the movements of a maroon four-door Ford Laser sedan in the Tauranga and Mount Maunganui areas between midnight and 1am.
Mr Turner said a group in a car had arrived at the Mansfield St party, spoken to an occupant of the house and left. Police were still establishing if Mr Tiepa-Ranapia was injured when the car arrived at the party, he said.
It was unclear if Mr Tiepa-Ranapia had got into the car.
"The occupants of that address noticed that one of their friends who was visiting didn't come home that night but they weren't overly concerned."
Mr Turner urged people to come forward.
"We would like to hope that there would be members of the public who have observed a male who would have been bleeding, wandering around the area," he said.
