Car seized in relation to crash

Flowers on the Mohaka Viaduct underpass where a car ran off the road killing three occupants. Photo / Paul Taylor

Police are considering the possibility the driver of a second car which may have been involved in last weekend's Mohaka Viaduct underpass tragedy was not responsible for the crash which killed three Mongrel Mob Members from Wairoa.

The car - a blue Japanese model - was delivered to police waiting on a road in Raupunga about 1.45pm yesterday, after protracted negotiation among police, lawyers, gang leaders and family of possible occupants at the time of the crash, in which a silver Honda sedan carrying the mob members and an eventual sole survivor plunged about 100m into the Mohaka River, just south of the township.

A source in Raupunga told Hawke's Bay Today: "The boys brought the car down the road and the police were waiting. They were bringing it in."

At least one young man was taken away for questioning in relation to the crash but was understood to have not been charged by last night with any offence.

One of those spoken to by police yesterday had been the sole surviving passenger from a car in which four other men died in a previous multiple-fatality crash in the area.

Police had been looking for such a car since soon after Saturday afternoon's tragedy, saying there was evidence at the scene that another car, other than the silver Sedan, may have been involved and they needed to speak with its occupants.

Inquiries have included a forensic examination of the crash scene, an interview with a 44-year-old man who miraculously survived the death plunge, and now the crashed wreckage and the car which was seized yesterday, both now in Gisborne.

A resident of Raupunga said: "Raupunga is a small place, but you can't fit all of Raupunga in one blue car," adding there are both Black Power and Mongrel Mob links in the area, some working together in their jobs.

Gang leaders called for calm as victims Ronald Rangi Rigby Jnr, 53, TerryShane Stone, 31, and Nathan Conway Isaac, 29, are mourned in Wairoa.

By last night police had not responded to suggestions the driver of the second car might not be culpable. Eastern Police District communications manager Kris McGehan had, however, earlier stressed there was no evidence that a "third" vehicle was involved in the crash.

In a statement to media about 50 minutes after Hawke's Bay Today asked Ms McGehan for confirmation the blue car had been found, Detective Senior Sergeant Brent Greville said: "At this stage we cannot confirm that it was involved, but a forensic examination will help us determine if it played a part in the crash."

Meanwhile, tangihanga for the three men are under way. A final service for Mr Isaac will start at 11am today at Erepeti Marae, Ruakituri, while final services for Messrs Rigby and Stone are, according to death notices, being held simultaneously at different venues in Wairoa tomorrow and starting at 11am. Mr Rigby's will be at Takitimu Marae, and Mr Stone's at an address in Black St. Yesterday, there was visible extra police presence in Wairoa and at the crash scene about 36km away red and black flowers adorned a road marker and three bouquets lay on the scuffed dirt at the edge of the cliff from which the Honda sedan had plunged.