Photo: RNZ / Blessen Tom
Police are asking for the public’s help to locate the firearm used to murder the west coast man, David Robinson, almost three decades ago.
The 25 -year -old Robinson’s body was found in a remote West Costa Beach near Ross in December 1998 and a homicide investigation was launched, but no one was held responsible for his death.
Detective Geoff Baber inspector says police never located the .22 caliber firearm used to kill Robinson.
For over 25 years, the investigation remained unresolved, leading the police to review the case and conduct more investigations.
Since the beginning of the initial investigation, police know Robinson once on the head with a 0.22 caliber firearm.
Baber said that about two weeks before Robinson’s body was found between December 14 and 18, a single shot was heard by countless people in the Kakapotahi settlement.
Since the investigation was reopened last month, police received several firearms from individuals who had them in the Kakapotahi area at the time.
Now they are conducting forensic tests on these firearms to discard those who are not used in their murder.
“For the purposes of our investigation, we ask people to contact, inform you who can have these firearms now and if the police could temporarily take them to perform a forensic examination.
“It’s not too late to provide David’s family answers – if you know something, we encourage you to introduce yourself and talk to us.”
Baber told Verification point That police knew it was a “little longer”.
“We thank you for 26 years, but it is one of those things that people in that area of Westland have been really very cooperative and very useful with the investigation, so we hope that people in the area at the time can perform and, with luck, promote our investigation.”
Baber said there were no indications that Robinson had taken his own life.
“There are several factors that led us to believe it was murder and this is how we progress this investigation. So someone knows what happened
“We know David was seen inside and around the area, so it wasn’t as if he was hiding.
“He was camping in the area at the time, would have been seen by people, and anyone who spotted David is someone we would like to talk to, if we haven’t done it.”
Baber said there were no current suspects, but police remained confident that the murder of almost three decades can be resolved.
Police want to hear from those who had a .22 firearm in the Kakapotahi area at the time, or knew someone in the general area who had a firearm.
