Baby killing link to dead man

GRISLY FIND: The investigation gets under way at Te Mana Park.

A man whose body was found in an Aramoho park on Monday was jailed for the killing of a Wanganui toddler in 2008.

Tyrone Box, 26, has been identified by police as the man found dead by members of the public at Te Mana Park by Mitchell St at about 8.30pm on Monday.

Mr Box was sentenced to seven years in jail for manslaughter following the shooting of Wanganui 2-year-old Jhia Harmony Te Tua in a drive-by attack.

Jhia was asleep inside her Puriri St home when 14 Mongrel Mob members drove past and opened fire with a .303 rifle.

She was hit by a bullet that went through the couch she was sleeping on. Her father, Black Power member Josh Te Tua, was the target.

Police have not yet confirmed whether they suspect foul play in Mr Box's death.

Firefighters were assisting police at the scene and using their elevating ladder to create a vantage point so photographs of the scene could be taken.

Armourguard security guards monitored the scene overnight on Monday. Yesterday morning the guard, Jamie Peters, said a lot of people seemed to know about the death because people kept stopping. He was told not to let anyone on to the large, open field.

While the Chronicle was at a car park beside the field, with a TV3 crew, a woman drew up in a car and asked whether the media would go and take photographs.

"There's a family down there mourning - yous (sic) are rude. Watch out when the Mongrel Mob come around," she said.

Mr Box's body was removed from the scene yesterday afternoon and taken to Palmerston North for a post-mortem.

A blessing and karakia have been performed at the scene.

The area is popular with Mongrel Mob gang members. A resident of Mitchell St said the streets had been quiet in the last six months "apart from the occasional car roaring past".

Location of Te Mana Park.