Riot charges not established—J.P.s

Press, 2 June 1989, Page 13

Riot charges not established—J.P.s

Four members of the Mongrel Mob and a woman associate were discharged after a preliminary hearing in the District Court on Wednesday on riot charges arising from a confrontation with three Black Power gang members in the Wilson Neill, Ltd, bottle store on February 9. They are Richard Thomas Campbell, aged 23, unemployed (Mr Brian Callaghan), Thomas Ngatai Hakopa, aged 28, a pipe fitter (Mr Michael Knowles), Wayne Pohutuhutu, aged 24, unemployed (Mr Mark Callaghan), Martin Henry Reuben, aged 28, unem-

ployed (Mr Stan Barker) and Dana Wrathall, aged 25, a solo mother (Mr Gerald Lascelles). After hearing prosecution evidence and submissions by defence counsel, Mr C. M. Andersen and Mrs A. Hill, Justices of the Peace, held there was insufficient evidencw to commit the five for trial. Each had faced charges of taking part in a riot, in that they were members of a group of more than six people who used violence against persons to the alarm of others in the neighbourhood; and of taking part in a riot and unlawfully damaging the

bottle store. Sergeant Brian Roswell prosecuted. The charges arose from an incident in which bottles from the shop’s shelves were thrown after the Mongrel Mob members entered the bottle store, where the three Black Power members were said to have been shopping. Damage amounting to $l5OO was said to have been caused. Defence counsel submitted that the defendants were not part of a group of more than six persons “acting together” a requirement of the rioting charge.