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The Tauranga company director charged with the murder of drug dealer Grant 'Granite' Adams has been named publicly.
He is Brett Michael Ashby, who made his second appearance in Tauranga District Court today.
After a stand-down to allow Crown and defence lawyers to reach an agreement, Judge Peter Rollo lifted interim name suppression but ordered that Ashby's home address and the name of his business be kept secret until further order of the court.
Police announced yesterday that they had dug up parts of a body, believed to be Grant Adams, in the grounds of the Wairakei geothermal power station near Taupo.
Adams, widely known in criminal circles as Granite, disappeared in December 2005.
Work to retrieve all the remains is continuing.
Ashby, aged 49, was further remanded in custody by consent for a pre-depositions hearing on August 14. Any application for bail will have to go to the High Court.
Ashby has not entered pleas to the two charges he faces. One is the murder of Grant Trevor Adams on December 14, 2005, and the other count is manufacturing the Class A controlled drug methamphetamine between January 1, 2005 and June 28, 2007.
His lawyer, Chris Tennet, asked that the interim name suppression allowed last Thursday, when Ashby was arrested, continue for a fortnight so he could gather and evaluate evidence to have that ruling extended.
He understood someone was on witness protection in relation to the case.
With Ashby in custody, his partner was home alone with children and did not want to be harassed or annoyed.
Crown prosecutor Simon Bridges argued it was in the public interest to name the accused, the primary reason being police believed that would materially assist them in their inquiries.
Mr Tennet said: "I appreciate the name has to come out at some stage. It would only hold up police inquiries for two weeks (if interim suppression was continued) when, in fact, the matter has been going on for some months."
Judge Rollo stood the case down for counsel to hold discussions. When they returned, Mr Bridges said they had reached an agreed position.
Name suppression would be lifted but suppression relating to all company names and Ashby's home address would continue.
"Inquiries are still very much ongoing by police and they will take some time," he said.
Mr Tennet asked for "as long as possible" until the next hearing date.
- NZPA
