Date: 07/03/16
The 18 year old man charged with the murder of 23 year old Todd Branch, from Kawerau, on the 2nd March is currently remanded in custody to reappear in the Whakatane District Court on the 23rd March 2016.
Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Standen head of the inquiry says "we have scaled back the inquiry to a smaller number of investigators to complete a number of outstanding inquiries with local people we have not been able to contact. The Post Mortem is now completed and we are not looking for anyone else in relation to this homicide.
I would also like to thank the Kawerau community for their assistance with this tragic and avoidable death and reassure the local people that this was not a gang or drug related case but more a matter that the two people involved knew each other and things then turned for the worse.
Detective Senior Sergeant Greg STANDEN
Whakatane Police