The scene on the Northwestern Motorway at Western Springs after the shooting that followed the high-speed chase from West Auckland. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Police have confirmed that the man at the centre of a shooting on the Northwestern Motorway that left an innocent motorist dead will have further charges added to the 29 counts he is already facing.
Stephen Hohepa McDonald, 50, unemployed, is charged in relation to the police pursuit
that ended in the fatal shooting of Mangere courier driver Halatau Naitoko on January 23.
Mr Naitoko, who was farewelled at a funeral in Mangere yesterday, was caught behind the firing line of armed offenders squad members after an hour-long police pursuit that began in West Auckland.
Police spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty told the Weekend Herald that McDonald had been charged over offences the police allege occurred before the motorway drama near the St Lukes offramp.
Officers had informed McDonald's lawyer that more charges were coming but exactly what they would be was not known last night.
Present charges include allegations that he used a .22 sawn-off rifle against police and their Eagle helicopter.
Ms Hegarty said forensic tests on the helicopter conducted by a ballistics expert had not revealed any damage.
Another person, Margaret Patricia Iris Mann, 19, who is believed to be a street worker, is also facing charges in connection with McDonald for her actions in the minutes before the main chase began.
Mann was allegedly driving McDonald in a stolen blue Toyota Corsa, which first attracted police attention when she and McDonald pulled up at a West Auckland address, noticed officers there on an unrelated matter and sped off.
Ms Hegarty said people preparing for a wedding had witnessed the pair fleeing police on foot and carrying two bags.
Mann was arrested a short time later and McDonald continued on, allegedly going on to steal a green Toyota Hilux and a grey Nissan Skyline before the tragic shooting.
Ms Hegarty said police were confident they had spoken to a person they had called on to come forward who drove past the shooting scene as the tragedy was unfolding.
McDonald appears in the Auckland District Court and Mann appears in the Waitakere District Court next week. Anyone with further information is asked to call (09) 302-6567.
