Marriage bail refused

Press, 26 December 1985, Page 3

Marriage bail refused

Any suggestion that a man accused of multiple charges of rape could go on holiday and travel to the North Island was strongly opposed, said Sergeant G. C. Jones in the District Court on Tuesday. He was commenting on an application made by Mr G. E. Langham, counsel for Thomas Boy Hohapata, aged 28, a printer, for a variation in the defendant’s bail terms to enable him to travel to, a friend’s wedding ; at Whangarei. >■, Hohapata had been granted bail earlier this month on charges of raping two women in their house in Woolston on November 4. He is accused of raping one woman three times, and the other once. A condition of his bail is that he reports daily to the Christchurch police. A variation of the reporting condition was sought by Mr Langham to enable

Hohapata to travel to Whangarei for a wedding. He said Hohapata was a gang member and his friend who was getting married was a former member of the gang.

Mr Langham said Hohapata planned to leave Christchurch on December 26 and return on January 9. He would be able to report to the Whangarei police, and the police “shadow patrol”, which the police . gang ; liaison officer, had said would be assigned to accompany a group of gang members travelling north.

Sergeant Jones said any variation in the terms of bail was strongly opposed by the police, because of the number and nature of the charges that Hohapata faced.

Judge McAloon declined the application because of what he termed the number and serious nature of the charges.