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Regional | Crime

Man charged with Collier murder appears in court

The man accused of murdering Ōpōtiki man Joe Collier on Sunday night has name suppression, and appeared for the first time today in the Rotorua District Court.

He will reappear again in Tauranga District Court on August 6.

There were four other arrests as a result of the violent incidents in Ōpōtiki.

Down the road from the house where Joe Collier died, there was another violent incident.

Three men appeared in the Whakatāne District Court charged with intent to injure and one other for assault using a vehicle.

Joe Collier's body was transported by his family to Tongariro-Rangipō Prison today with the consent of local tribe, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, to enable his father, a prisoner, to farewell him, before being taken to his marae in Rotorua.