{"id":590387,"date":"2026-09-04T22:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T22:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/590387\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T22:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T22:12:11","slug":"man-accused-of-epsom-rampage-can-be-named","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/590387\/","title":{"rendered":"Man accused of Epsom rampage can be named"},"content":{"rendered":"

The man accused of carrying out a violent rampage in Auckland’s Epsom<\/a> last month \u2014 injuring three high school cyclists, assaulting a jogger and killing a dog \u2014 has pleaded not guilty and can now be named.<\/p>\n

Shalty Jessie Heta, 49, is facing a raft of charges, including wounding and injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, assault with a weapon, and dangerous driving. <\/p>\n

Appearing in the Auckland District Court on Friday, Heta entered not guilty pleas to all charges and elected trial by jury. <\/p>\n

His lawyer, Jane-Frances O’Halloran, confirmed he was no longer seeking name suppression. <\/p>\n

Heta was taken into custody on August 5 following what police described as a “violent series of events” in Epsom shortly after 7am. <\/p>\n

In the space of about eight minutes, police allege he assaulted a female jogger on Manukau Rd, then stole a car<\/a> before striking a group of Auckland Grammar School cyclists on a training ride.<\/p>\n

Three teenage boys were hurt, including one who was critically injured<\/a>, hospitalised and required surgery. <\/p>\n

A police spokesperson said they would not comment on the boy’s recovery for privacy reasons but said last month he was awake and talking.<\/p>\n

Police allege that after crashing the stolen car, Heta approached a woman walking two of her dogs and violently killed one of them. <\/p>\n

Heta will next appear in court in December. <\/p>\n

Petition calls for dedicated police presence<\/p>\n

A petition to Parliament is calling for a dedicated police officer or patrol car on Manukau Road during school drop-off and pick-up hours following last month’s incident.<\/p>\n

The petition calls for a fixed police presence on the road between 7am and 9am and again from 2.30pm to 4.30pm on weekdays during the school term.<\/p>\n

“With nine schools nearby, thousands of children are estimated to travel this road daily during peak hours,” organiser Anna Su wrote.<\/p>\n

“I believe a dedicated police presence at these times would provide deterrence and rapid response; and reassure students, families, and staff. I feel this would prevent future incidents and protect students travelling to and from school.”<\/p>\n

More than 250 people have signed the petition.<\/p>\n

There is no minimum number of signatures required for a petition to be considered by Parliament. Once presented by an MP, it is referred to the Petitions Committee, which can seek further information and make recommendations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The man accused of carrying out a violent rampage in Auckland’s Epsom last month \u2014 injuring three high…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,67,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-590387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-auckland","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590387","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=590387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}