Police have charged four people, but are still investigating the homicide at the Gull service station in Raumanga. Photo / Michael Cunningham
The two men charged with the murder of Shayden Perkinson at a Whangārei gas station did not appear in court today because they are in hospital.
The pair, aged 24 and 29, each face one charge of murder by stabbing.
A Police spokesperson said they are in hospital due to injuries sustained during the incident on Saturday where Perkinson was killed, but are in a stable condition.
Judge Jonathan Moses granted both defendants interim name suppression at the Manukau District Court.
Represented by lawyers who dialled in from Whangārei, they were remanded without plea until their next hearing in the High Court at Whangārei in May.
A third man, 25, was charged with being an accessory to the murder and possessing a pistol and meat cleaver, while a fourth man, aged 54, was jointly charged with possessing the same weapons.
Those two defendants appeared in court briefly, the younger one telling a support person in the public gallery to send his love to his family as he left the dock.
Their names are also suppressed and the fourth man was granted bail with a night-time curfew.
Police arrested the four men in South Auckland on Thursday afternoon and are not ruling out further arrests and charges as the investigation continues.
Perkinson, 25, died from his injuries after what police called a “serious assault” outside a Gull service station in Raumanga, Whangārei, on Saturday, April 15.
Detective Inspector Dene Begbie said the young man’s death has touched many across the Raumanga and wider communities.
“Our thoughts are with his whānau, who are still coming to terms with the devastating events of Saturday night,” he said.
A Givealittle page set up by Perkinson’s family called him a “forever hero”, despite his troubled past.
In 2016, the then-18-year-old was jailed for three years and two months after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Whangārei man Michael Patrick Griffin.
His co-defendant, Elias Pomare, also 18 at the time, received a life sentence for Griffin’s murder.
Complainant alleges the abuse began the day she came into the man's care.