No plea by inmate over Swedes’ car

Press, 13 July 1989, Page 6

No plea by inmate over Swedes’ car

PA Auckland A 36-year-old Mount Eden Prison inmate did not plead to charges of unlawfully taking the missing Swedes’ Subaru car when he appeared in the District Court at Auckland yesterday.

He was also charged with stealing their camping equipment. David Wayne Tamihere, an unemployed steel fixer, was handcuffed to a detective when he appeared before Judge Pain.

He has been charged that, on or about April 10 at Thames, he unlawfully took for his own use a 1976 Subaru, worth $l5OO the property of Sven Urban Hoglin. He is also charged that he stole Mr Hoglin’s and Heidi Birgetta Paakkonen’s personal effects, backpacks, camping equipment, binoculars and other property worth more than $lOOO.

A duty solicitor, Lorraine Smith, said Tamihere consented to a remand without plea until July 25 when he will appear in the District Court at Thames.

Judge Pain said that because Tamihere was

serving a prison sentence he would be remanded in custody. The charges followed a tip from a Swedish journalist. Tamihere was arrested after a police swoop on houses in Blockhouse Bay and Avondale.

In one house, property belonging to the tourists was found.

Detective Inspector John Hughes, heading the inquiry into the disappearance of the two Swedes, said the arrest was the result of straight detective work.

“It has been a long hard slog, but it has been a breakthrough.”

The latest development was the result of information received from a Swedish journalist, Peter Svensson, who came to New Zealand to cover the case.

Mr Hughes said Syens-

son had been approached by a Swedish male tourist who was in Thames at a backpackers’ lodge on April 10-11. Mr ■ Hughes said the police allege the car was stolen from Tararu Creek Road near Thames on April 10, and abandoned in Auckland about midday on April 12 in front of Auckland Central railway station.

They believe the car was unlawfully taken for a second time and dumped in Watling Street, Mount Eden, in the early hours of April 15.

Until Tuesday Mr Hughes had described the inquiry as "frustrating.”

The breakthrough came at a time when it looked possible that. the inquiry would be scaled down from 20 detectives to 12.

No further charges were pending at this stage, Mr Hughes said.