Detective Inspector Tofilau Faa Va’aelua, Counties Manukau CIB:

Counties Manukau Police are continuing to investigate a number of serious crime incidents that occurred in the district over the weekend.

Police enquiries to date in relation to a serious incident at Republic Bar in central Manukau in the early hours of Saturday have determined that the male victim was not shot but has actually sustained a stab wound.

“At no point was a firearm presented or discharged at this incident.

The man involved remains in hospital in a stable condition,” says Detective Inspector Tofilau Faa Va’aelua.

Police enquires are also continuing in relation to a homicide investigation following an assault at an address on Sturges Avenue, Ōtāhuhu on Saturday night.

“Investigators are following positive lines of enquiry in relation to that incident and while I can’t discuss the specifics of those enquiries, we can say at this stage that the individuals concerned are known to each other.”

Police acknowledge the community’s concerns around the number of serious crime incidents in the Counties Manukau district this year.

While this is in no doubt concerning, Police would like to reiterate the fact that arrests have been made in all these matters and individuals have been held to account.

“We have arrested and charged every single offender responsible for each of the homicides in Counties Manukau which has been the subject of recent media reports.

“We have also recovered every single firearm weapon allegedly used in each homicide case - which I must point out is a rarity but a great achievement by our investigators.

“We have also recovered all except one of the firearms in all of the reported shootings where a victim has sustained gunshot injuries.

Our staff have also recovered a number of firearms in unrelated incidents during the course of their duty.”

As these cases are all before the Court, Police are limited in what we can say. However, even after the outstanding results by Police in prosecuting offenders and recovering firearms used in all these cases, this will not resolve the issues in the community.

Police cannot do this on their own and we cannot simply arrest our way out of the issue.

“There needs to be a whole-of-community approach to these issues around organised crime, firearms, violence and family harm,” says Detective Inspector Va’aelua.

“A number of these cases allegedly involved an element of organised crime and Police continue to warn people about the dangers of getting involved with these kinds of criminal groups.”

If anyone has any information that would assist Police we ask that you ring Counties Manukau Police on (09) 261 1321.

We also encourage members of the public who might have information to share, but are unsure about coming forward to Police, to call Crimestoppers anonymously by calling 0800 555 111.

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