Zain Taikato Fox death: Name suppression lapses for some Maketū murder-accused

An alleged Mongrel Mob president is one of a group of men charged with the murder of a young man in Bay of Plenty.

Rotorua man Zain Taikato Fox was killed on July 26 this year in Maketū, in what is alleged to have been an internal gang confrontation.

The 20-year-old died in Rotorua Hospital of critical injuries.

Following hearings in the High Court at Hamilton last week, some of the 12 accused can now be named, after their interim name suppression orders lapsed or, in some cases, applications were withdrawn.

Valentine “Pop” Nicholas, 64, who the Crown alleges is the president of the Maketū chapter of the Mongrel Mob, is jointly charged with murder.

Others charged who can also now be named include George Alan Perham, 54, Colin Kiriona, 41, Nathaniel Thompson, 29, and Valentine Kemp, 39.

Some of those charged still have interim suppression orders in place for legal reasons.

One of those charged is a youth who was arrested in Whanganui.

All have entered not guilty pleas, with a trial expected to take place in 2028.

At an administrative hearing in the High Court at Tauranga this week, Justice Kiri Tahana directed the Crown to comply with its proposed timetable, which involved providing tranches of disclosure to defence counsel each month until the end of February, when the matter will be called again.

Following Fox’s death, officers conducted inquiries that culminated in search warrants being executed in Maketū, Rotorua and Whanganui.

Detective Inspector Craig Rawlinson said after the initial arrests that it had been a big day for the small town of Maketū.

“It’s great to have progressed this investigation to this point. Our thoughts are with Zain’s family.”

Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at Newstalk ZB.