A youth was due to appear in court today charged with murder after the weekend death of a man stabbed in an incident in Napier last Tuesday. Paul Robert Carrodus, 44, a sickness beneficiary, died on Saturday morning in the intensive care unit at Hawke's Bay Hospital. He was one of threepeople who were taken to hospital with stab wounds and other injuries after a fracas at a property in Trinity Cres, Pirimai, about 7pm last Tuesday. The other two had been discharged, one of them being one of two people who were charged with assault and appeared in court on Wednesday and Thursday. Mr Carrodus, an alcoholic, appeared in Napier District Court in April and was sentenced to 40 hours' community work for stealing a toothbrush from a supermarket and a bottle of vodka from a liquor store, while he was on parole. He had no known family in Napier, but his mother and sisters travelled from Christchurch to be with him. Napier CIB head Detective Senior Sergeant Nick Reid said a post mortem to determine the cause of death would be held today in Wellington, while the 18-year-old youth would be appearing in court in Napier. Police were continuing inquiries into the fracas and were not discounting the possibility of more arrests.
