A man has been charged as an accessory after the fact to murder in the fatal shooting of Auckland Rebels MC member Texas Jack Doctor.
Police are still hunting for the person responsible for shooting Doctor dead in a car in Panmure Rd on Saturday night.
He had been embroiled - along with his father and brother - in a series of violent incidents as part of a tit-for-tat feud with another family.
His father, also called Texas, was shot in his driveway two years ago, while the younger Texas last year beat a charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm after the non-fatal shooting of a man in a car in Papatoetoe.
Last year he admitted charges stemming from a fracas with other gang members at the food court of Sylvia Park mall.
The 26-year-old man accused of being an accessory to Doctor’s murder appeared in the Auckland District Court court on Wednesday, where lawyer Annabel Ives sought and was granted interim name suppression.
Because of the seriousness of the charge, Judge Kevin Glubb immediately transferred the case to the High Court. He was remanded in custody but is expected to seek bail in the High Court.
Court documents state police allege he was an accessory after the fact to the murder of Texas Doctor by assisting a man who was a party to murder to avoid arrest by providing him with transport.
The charging document names the suspect police believe was a party to the murder. The Herald has chosen not to publish the suspect’s name at this stage for legal reasons.
Doctor, 22, was shot in a car on Penrose Rd on Saturday night shortly before 11pm.
Police arrived at the scene on Saturday night to find blood pooling beside the smashed driver’s window of a Mazda hatchback outside a vape store.
The Herald understands the shooting was captured on CCTV from multiple angles.
Acting Detective Inspector Chris Allan, of Auckland City CIB, said the man accused of being an accessory to the killing was arrested without incident after police executed a search warrant in Panmure.
Officers also seized a car described by police as a vehicle of interest.
Allan said on Wednesday afternoon police were still trying to find the man they’re describing as the “principal offender” in the homicide.
“The team are continuing to make progress and are focused on locating the person responsible and holding them to account,” he said.
Doctor’s body has since been released to his family following an autopsy as they prepare for his funeral.
Doctor, along with his father Texas Junior Doctor and his brother Wiremu, were patched members of the Rebels MC, an Australian bikie gang now with a formidable Kiwi presence.
His father had joined the gang to protect his children amid their feud with another family.
The police investigation will focus on a number of violent incidents involving Doctor and his family in recent years.
The young Rebel was himself charged with shooting a man in a car in Papatoetoe, though the case was later dismissed in court.
He was also involved in a brawl with members of the Head Hunters at an Auckland mall last year. The year before that, Doctor’s father was shot in the driveway of his own home in Penrose.
Court documents obtained by the Herald and details from the victim’s recent hearings in the Auckland and Manukau District Courts show his short life was characterised by tit-for-tat violence.
He and another man were themselves charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm after allegedly shooting a man in his car near the Li’l Abners Takeaways in Papatoetoe in March last year.
The complainant was repeatedly shot through his passenger side window four times and received multiple wounds from shotgun pellets but survived after driving himself to hospital.
It’s understood his co-defendant pleaded guilty but the Crown dropped the charge against Texas Jack Doctor after successful arguments about the strength of the case from his lawyer Bradley Moyer.
A legal memo from the Manukau Crown solicitor filed with the court said they were unable to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he was in the car at the time of the shooting.
Last year, Doctor was given a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to charges stemming from a fracas in the Sylvia Park Mall food court.
He was at the food court with his brother Wiremu when a scrap broke out between the pair and a group of Head Hunters gang members. Chairs and punches were thrown. Police found a 23cm knife on Doctor after he was arrested.
Moyer told the court at the August 24 hearing that Doctor was carrying the blade for protection because his father was shot in the driveway of his home the previous year.
That shooting remained under police investigation and there had been no arrests, the lawyer said.
Texas Jack Doctor’s father, Texas Junior Doctor, appeared alongside Wiremu Doctor in the Auckland District Court earlier this year.
The father-son duo were up for sentencing after admitting charges of discharging a firearm with reckless disregard amid a feud with another family in the area.
The specifics of the disagreement remain vague, but the sentencing judge noted the victims’ family had a relationship with rival gang the Head Hunters.
The Doctors, who lived in Penrose, had been involved in an earlier disagreement with a set of siblings who lived with their mother about 3km away in Glen Innes, court documents state.
The mother of those siblings had just been dropped off after an evening out with her three daughters, who were still in the driveway.
She was waving goodbye to her daughters from a laundry room window when the Doctors and a third man arrived in two vehicles – two of them carrying shotguns.
“Texas [Junior] Doctor shot at the house,” the agreed summary of facts for the case said.
“Shotgun pellets entered the window of the laundry where [the mother] was, causing glass from the window to fall into her hair.”
Texas Doctor the elder then fired twice at the van with the three sisters inside, puncturing two tyres as they tried to leave the driveway.
“That’s what happens when you f*** with family!” one of the defendants – it’s not agreed who – yelled as the shots were fired.
Texas Junior Doctor then fired at a parked vehicle in the driveway before the trio left the scene.
Three days after that shooting, he was shot outside his own home.
The court heard Texas Junior Doctor had joined the Rebels in 2022, aged 42, to protect his teen sons from bullying in their “troubled” East Auckland neighbourhood.
His sons followed in his footsteps.
“I accept your life has been difficult in terms of having to raise your three children while your partner, their mother, has been highly addicted to methamphetamine,” Judge John Bergseng said.
“Clearly, your focus was on your sons and raising them.”
“Unfortunately, you made a decision that to protect your family, the best way to achieve that was to become a patched member of the Rebels.”
He sentenced Texas Junior Doctor to four years and three months’ imprisonment and ordered a sentence of two years and seven months’ imprisonment for Wiremu Doctor.
Meanwhile, there are fears the killing of Texas Jack Doctor could inflame gang tensions in the city.
His death comes almost a year after Head Hunter Charles Pongi was shot at a reserve in Pt England about 10 minutes up the road from the scene in Mt Wellington.
Pongi was fatally wounded during a clash between members of the Head Hunters, Rebels MC and their associates. He drove himself to hospital but did not survive.
