Briefly: Complicity alleged; House razed
Complicity alleged
A Brookfield man accused of helping a masked robber evade capture can now be revealed. The robber held up the Grange Rd Dairy with a pistol last Monday and stole about $480. In the Tauranga Registrar Court yesterday Anthony Aron Morrison, 19, faced charges of being an accessory after the fact to robbery and possession of a drug utensil, a glass pipe for smoking methamphetamine.
Court documents show police believe Morrison suppressed evidence in an attempt to assist the robber to avoid arrest. Morrison, who is yet to plead to the charges, was released on bail and he is due back in court on August 2. Meanwhile, James Alexander Cooper, 18, of Bellevue, appeared in the Tauranga District Court on July 9 charged with aggravated robbery in connection with the robbery.
Cooper remains behind bars and is due back in court on July 23 to make a bail application.
House razed
A house near Whakatane burned to the ground yesterday and the cause of the fire is being investigated as suspicious. No one was in the Matahi Valley Rd house when the fire started at about 7am. Eastern Bay of Plenty fire safety officer John Rewi said the house was in the middle of nowhere and had been razed by the time firefighters got there.
