A man has denied murdering a man in Whenuapai at the start of the month.
Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
Isaac Allen Harnwell, 33, is accused of murdering Coubin Arerua Tamatoa-Makaea on 5 August.
Police were called to a house on Trig Road at about 2am were they found Tamatoa-Makaea badly injured.
They tried to help him but he died at the scene.
Harnwell, of Whangārei, has since been charged with murder and appeared in the High Court at Auckland this morning.
He pleaded not guilty to murder and has been named for the first time today after interim name suppression lapsed.
Justice Fitzgerald has set a trial date of 9 August 2021.