Dozens of police and paramedics rush to the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Manukau where Daniel Eliu was shot dead. Video / NZ Herald
A man accused of fatally gunning down Auckland gang boss Daniel Eliu in front of a South Auckland church may be at risk of retaliation, but that risk won’t be exacerbated by publishing his name, a judge ruled today.
The defendant, who pleaded not guilty to murder last month, didnot return to the High Court at Auckland today as defence lawyers sought in his absence to keep his current name suppression in place.
Justice Edwin Wylie declined the request, citing the need for open justice and a lack of evidence that any new risk would arise from the publication of his name.
However, the defendant has until next month to decide if he wants to challenge the decision with the Court of Appeal.
In the meantime, his name remains secret among the wider public - although, Justice Wylie pointed out today, it is already an open secret among members of the Mongrel Mob and at least one other gang.
The defendant was arrested on December 29, 12 days after Eliu was allegedly ambushed and shot multiple times with a semi-automatic weapon while attending a Grace Foundation function at Papatoetoe Seventh-Day Adventist Community Church on Puhinui Rd, near Manukau City Centre.
Also known by the nickname Sa-Dan Notorious, Eliu had been boss of the Mongrel Mob’s “Notorious” chapter in Auckland. But the 46-year-old had also been involved for about six months with the Grace Foundation, a Christian-based intensive rehabilitation programme catering to those “truly on the margins of New Zealand society” who are seeking to put their criminal pasts behind them.
Mongrel Mob member Daniel Eliu was shot dead in Manukau.
The group, which holds such events each Saturday, was waiting outside the church about 10am for a Christmas meal when the shooting occurred.
During today’s hearing, defence lawyer Shane Kilian acknowledged that there have been no known threats to the defendant and his family in the three months he has been in custody. But that may be because Corrections has taken careful steps to keep him segregated from other prisoners and not link him directly to the high-profile case, Kilian said.
But Justice Wylie pointed out that the alleged shooting was carried out in a very public place, with no apparent attempt at disguise. He also pointed to a police affidavit stating that gang members knew the man’s identity even before his arrest.
A man accused of carrying out a hit on Mongrel Mob boss Daniel Eliu pleaded not guilty at an earlier court appearance. Photo / Jason Oxenham
“I accept that [the defendant] is at risk, but the risk exists already and it is being managed by the Department of Corrections,” Wylie said. “It is not clear to me how publication of [his] name would aggravate the existing risk.”
The defendant’s arrest late last year came one day after his raucous but non-violent funeral for Eliu, which included motorcycle revving, haka, barking and chants of “Sieg f***ing heil” as his casket was carried to his grave by patched Mongrel Mob members.
Eliu had been the subject of media attention multiple times prior to his death due to his own run-ins with the law.
He was convicted of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
His most high-profile crime, for which he was sentenced to 11 years in prison, involved a 2006 knife attack and revenge kidnapping of a man whom Eliu suspected had “narked” on a gang-affiliated friend of his — allegedly telling police about the friend’s possession of a loaded pistol.
Using a boxcutter, Eliu slashed the victim’s face from his jaw to his hairline, which the Court of Appeal would later describe as “a particularly bad crime of its kind”.
