{"id":456786,"date":"2026-06-02T08:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T08:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/456786\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T08:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T08:44:09","slug":"tauranga-man-harley-shrimpton-allegedly-shot-dead-execution-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/456786\/","title":{"rendered":"Tauranga man Harley Shrimpton allegedly shot dead execution-style"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the start of a trial in the High Court at Rotorua today, Crown solicitor Anna Pollett said that in the lead-up to his death, Shrimpton<\/a> had got himself into a \u201csignificant amount of debt while also trying to maintain his addiction\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201c … It became all the more serious with a debt to the gang,\u201d Pollett said in her opening address.<\/p>\n

Shrimpton was allegedly kidnapped by Piripi Tukaokao, a now-23-year-old patched Greazy Dogs MC member, also known as \u201cPids\u201d, who had been trying to retrieve money owed.<\/p>\n

The specific amount owed wasn\u2019t clear, but Pollett said it was thought to be between $2000 and $5000.<\/p>\n

Pollet told the jury that after kidnapping Shrimpton from a McDonald\u2019s, Tukaokao took him to his remote property in Poripori, which was surrounded by trees and bush, and there he shot him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe says despite threatening him, despite robbing his flatmate, and despite kidnapping Harley Shrimpton, and having earlier sourced a firearm and loading it, it was an accident,\u201d Pollett said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd in fact, not only did he admit to shooting him, he took the police to where Harley Shrimpton had been buried. But for this admission and guiding the police to the body, Mr Shrimpton\u2019s body may never have been located.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Go, go, go\u2019: Shrimpton thought he\u2019d escaped but was tracked down at a McDonald\u2019s, Crown says<\/p>\n

The Crown case is that Tukaokao first tried to track Shrimpton down, to get the money owed, by going to his former flat, along with co-defendant Tuara Heke, who is 21.<\/p>\n

\"TuaraTuara Heke, 21, and Piripi Tukaokao, 23, faces charges related to the kidnapping, death and burial of Harley Shrimpton, who was 28 when he died.<\/p>\n

The Crown said Shrimpton had been \u201cburying his head in the sand\u201d and had not been responding to messages from Tukaokao about the money he owed.<\/p>\n

The Crown alleges Tukaokao and Heke arrived in the early hours of the morning on November 3, 2023, wearing gloves and masks, and knocked on the door of Shrimpton\u2019s former flat. It was opened by the \u201cterrified\u201d flatmate, who told them Shrimpton had moved out.<\/p>\n

Heke denies being the second man in attendance.<\/p>\n

The Crown says the pair didn\u2019t believe him and had a look around, but when they didn\u2019t find Shrimpton, they allegedly demanded the flatmate hand over his phone and provide the passcode.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant, Mr Tukaokao, told [him] that if he talked about the home invasion, they would be back to put him in a box,\u201d Pollett said.<\/p>\n

The pair took the phone and Tukaokao allegedly used it to \u201clure\u201d Shrimpton to meet at a carpark at Sulphur Point in Tauranga.<\/p>\n

Thinking he was meeting up with his former flatmate, Shrimpton went there in a car with a couple of his friends.<\/p>\n

The Crown says Tukaokao arrived in a blue Toyota Prius, parked and walked over, then tried to open the driver\u2019s side rear passenger door, where Shrimpton was seated.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecognising he had been lured into a trap and in a panic, Mr Shrimpton yelled at his friends to \u2018go, go, go\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later that afternoon, as he drove along Maunganui Rd, Tukaokao spotted the car Shrimpton had been in parked at the Mount Maunganui McDonald\u2019s and drove \u201cvery quickly into the carpark\u201d.<\/p>\n

He then \u201cparked the blue Prius he was still driving in front of the vehicle Harley Shrimpton was in, still with the same two friends, ensuring their vehicle was blocked and unable to escape\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"HarleyHarley Shrimpton’s body was recovered by police in December 2023.<\/p>\n

While Shrimpton initially refused to go with him, Tukaokao\u2019s threats allegedly increased and Tukaokao also began direct them towards Shrimpton\u2019s friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe car being boxed in and not wanting to get his friends harmed, Mr Shrimpton realised he had no choice but to follow Mr Tukaokao\u2019s demands,\u201d Pollett said. <\/p>\n

He \u201creluctantly\u201d got into the front passenger seat of the blue Prius.<\/p>\n

Tukaokao had already sourced a \u201cloaded single-barrel semi-automatic shotgun\u201d, and the Crown says he had left it in the Poripori property\u2019s shed.<\/p>\n

The Crown says he and his family had earlier moved out of the Poripori address and the house was vacant.<\/p>\n

The firearm had been obtained from a Greazy Dogs MC gang prospect named Terrence Hayes.<\/p>\n

Shrimpton was led to the shed, where Tukaokao allegedly used the shotgun to shoot Shrimpton once in the chest. <\/p>\n

The Crown says the shot was not survivable, and Shrimpton was left on the shed floor, while Tukaokao headed back into town.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s alleged that Tukaokao picked up Heke, who went with him back to Poripori, where they wrapped Shrimpton\u2019s body in a tarpaulin and moved his body into a \u201dfreshly dug” hole, 2m deep by 1m wide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendants then destroyed items of the deceased\u2019s clothing and his cell phone before washing down the shed with bleach and water,\u201d Pollett said.<\/p>\n

After being arrested for Shrimpton\u2019s kidnapping, Tukaokao initially chose not to speak to police.<\/p>\n

Pollett said in the course of another interview, however, he told them another story, before he eventually said he \u201cwanted to show the police where the deceased was and that he had shot him, but it was an accident\u201d.<\/p>\n

He took the police to where Shrimpton\u2019s body was buried, and on December 5, 2023, Shrimpton\u2019s body was recovered by police.<\/p>\n

Tukaokao faces charges of murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery, all of which he denies.<\/p>\n

Heke, on the morning of trial, pleaded guilty to a charge of accessory after the fact, which related to the shed clean-up, however, he denies assisting Tukaokao to move the body.<\/p>\n

Heke also denies the aggravated robbery of Shrimpton\u2019s flatmate.<\/p>\n

On the morning of trial, he also pleaded guilty to a charge of wilfully attempting to pervert the course of justice, by arranging for his sister to leave the country to avoid speaking to police about what she knew.<\/p>\n

A suicide note from the supplier of the gun<\/p>\n

After Shrimpton\u2019s death, Tukaokao returned the shotgun to gang prospect Terrence Hayes and instructed him to get rid of it.<\/p>\n

The Crown said in opening that Hayes later took his own life and left a suicide note that said, \u201cPids got the gun from me. I left it in the back seat of my car.\u201d<\/p>\n

The note, which Pollett read to the jury, went on to say Hayes had \u201cno idea what his intentions were and what I was getting myself involved in\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I asked for it back and got no reply I knew something was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

The note went on to give directions to where the gun had been disposed of.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you follow the track down the bottom there\u2019s old bridge to cross to get to the water. On the left in the swamp is where the fun is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The note concludes: \u201cF*** you Pids\u201d.<\/p>\n

Defence says the death was an accident<\/p>\n

Tukaokao is represented by Rebekah Webby and Nicholas Dutch, and in her opening statement, Webby said her client had not done an \u201caggravated robbery\u201d of the flatmate, as there had been no violence.<\/p>\n

As to the alleged murder, she said the Crown had no witnesses to what happened in the shed; they only had what Tukaokao told police.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe says it should never have happened the way it happened,\u201d Webby said, telling the jury that Tukaokao had later wanted to make things right by taking police to where the body was.<\/p>\n

She reminded the jury to keep an open mind.<\/p>\n

For Heke, counsel Bill Nabney said in opening that his client had admitted to the involvement he\u2019d had \u2013 he had assisted with cleaning up the shed, but had nothing to do with moving the body.<\/p>\n

He also denied being the second man involved in the visit to Shrimpton\u2019s flatmate and the taking of the cellphone.<\/p>\n

The trial, before Justice Simon Mount, is set down for four weeks.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the start of a trial in the High Court at Rotorua today, Crown solicitor Anna Pollett said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7818,690,868,634,181,8912,232197,232196,5158,111,43,139,69,10117,108628,427,1227,1961,20424,1455,102],"class_list":["post-456786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-allegedly","tag-dead","tag-deals","tag-death","tag-details","tag-distressing","tag-executionstyle","tag-harley","tag-man","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-shot","tag-shrimpton","tag-story","tag-tauranga","tag-this","tag-violent","tag-warning","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}