Four arrested after killing at Kuirau Park | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

Four people have been arrested after the discovery of a man's body in Rotorua's Kuirau Park.

Polish man Roman Skorek, 64, was found dead by members of the public early on Tuesday.

Police said he suffered injuries to his head and body.

A 20-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy, both from Rotorua, were arrested yesterday afternoon. The man was charged with murder and was due to appear in the Rotorua District Court today.

The teenager was charged with assault and was to appear in the Rotorua Youth Court yesterday, although media were not permitted to be present.

The arrests followed two others on Wednesday night and yesterday morning.

Rotorua baker Rawiri James Samuel, 21, appeared in the Rotorua District Court yesterday charged with Mr Skorek's murder.

Samuel did not enter a plea and was remanded in custody by Judge James Weir to reappear on February 16.

A 15-year-old has been charged with assault and is being dealt with in the Youth Court.

Bay of Plenty police field crime manager Detective Inspector Mark Loper said it was likely that more charges would be laid.

He said police raided three Rotorua homes yesterday morning and seized evidence, including items allegedly belonging to Mr Skorek.

"It has been a very busy few days for the investigation team, many of whom have worked extremely long hours to try and solve this crime. Their hard work is to be commended, but it is not over yet."

A blessing was held in Kuirau Park just after midday yesterday.

"This is an important step for most incidents of such a serious nature, but particularly so in Rotorua," Mr Loper said.

The park would be fully open to the public once forensic mapping was complete and that was expected to be finished before the weekend.

"We would like to thank the public for their patience while we have undertaken this critical investigative work."

Mr Loper said there was still a great deal of work to be done, both on the investigation and to prepare the case for court.

Destination Rotorua general manager Oscar Nathan said the incident could have a big impact on the perception of safety in Rotorua.

"This incident is one too many.

"It was great to see the police getting on top of it as soon as they could."

Mr Nathan said the incident was sad for the whole community.

"No centre which is known for hosting people wants this to happen in their town. The best thing we can do as a community is work together to ensure these incidents don't continue to happen."

Meanwhile, an excavation of a Kawerau property has failed to uncover anything of interest for police involved in the ongoing historic investigation into the 1975 disappearance of Mona Blades.

A second sonar check at the hole dug yesterday has been agreed to.

Mona Blades was 18 when she was last seen getting into an orange Datsun stationwagon as she hitch-hiked between Hamilton and Hastings on the Napier-Taupo Road.

For two decades former Kawerau police sergeant Tony Moller believed a former Kawerau man was responsible for her disappearance. In 2004 he started compiling a file on the case and kept adding information.

The coincidences, Mr Moller told The Daily Post, were too many to ignore.

Mr Moller took a sonar machine to the Kawerau property he believed might hold a clue to the Mona Blades case.

"The machine showed a block of concrete, about 1m by 1m by 1.2m and containing unexplained cavities, under the laundry floor of the house," he said.

Detective Inspector Loper said acting on the sonar reading, police were prompted to undertake further sonar work which uncovered some areas warranting further investigation.

Yesterday morning excavators drilled to a depth of about 80cm, then probed a further 80cm without finding anything of interest to the case.

"Files like this always remain open waiting for new information or a situation to change, and we regularly review cold cases in a renewed effort to try and solve them," Mr Loper said.

A psychic told Mr Moller she believed there was more than one body buried at the property.

After the initial excavation, Mr Moller said he was sad he had not been able to bring closure for the Blades family.

"However, this isn't the end of things," he said.

"I don't think we went deep enough yesterday."