Brothers accused of threatening to kill Northland police officers remanded in custody

The incident in Dargaville over the weekend is the sixth occasion Northland police officers have faced firearm related violence in four months. Photo / supplied

A pair of brothers accused of pointing a firearm at police and threatening to kill the officers in Dargaville over the weekend have been remanded in custody.

Name suppression is in place for the two men, aged 20 and 26, who appeared before a community magistrate in the Whangārei District Court this morning to face a raft of firearm and violence related charges.

Seven charges have been laid against one of the brothers, including two of assaulting police, two of resisting arrest, a single charge of threatening to kill, dangerous driving and intentionally damaging a motor vehicle.

The other brother is facing five charges, two charges of using a firearm against police, two of threatening to kill, and a single charge of assaulting a police officer.

During their first appearance in court today it was alleged the firearm involved was an airgun.

Both men were remanded in custody until January 25 when they will appear via an audio –visual link.

The weekend's incident marks the sixth occasion police have encountered alleged firearm violence while on the frontline in Northland in four months.

In December Corey O'Connell, 31, appeared before Judge John McDonald in the Kaikohe District Court. O'Connell was arrested after police carried out a search warrant at an address in Maromaku, south of Kawakawa, on December 11 and were fired at.

No one was hurt in the incident.

In early September, several gunshots were fired at officers during a police pursuit that started in Otangarei, carried on to Onerahi, then to Tarewa Rd where the car being chased stopped and two people were arrested.

A female police officer wasn't hurt when she was fired at by two men in October.
The patrol car windscreen was peppered with shotgun pellets on Puketona Rd, off State Highway 10, just after 4am on October 27.

The incidents sparked a major police operation and a search by members of the Armed Offenders Squad at a series of properties on Matauri Bay Rd that were connected to the abduction.

During the same night, ram-raids were carried out at a Four Square in Paihia and a dairy in Moerewa. It is not yet known if those raids were related to the other crimes.
The two men are still at large.

Two shootings happened in November.

The first was in Ōtangarei, where a sole police officer was allegedly shot at by a male driver who was later arrested, together with a female.

Their cases are before the court.

Then at Tangowahine on December 1, a man wanted on cannabis and firearms' charges allegedly shot at a police dog before being shot at three times by police.

Both are recovering from their injuries, and a 30-year-old man has been charged with using a firearm against a law enforcement officer on December 1, injuring a police dog, and unlawful possession of a .357 magnum pistol and ammunition.

The most serious charge - discharging a firearm against a police officer - carries a maximum term of 14 years in prison.