David Tamihere charged with breaching parole

The man convicted of murdering Swedish tourists Heidi Paakkonen and Sven Urban Hoglin has appeared in the Waitakere District Court this morning on charges of breaching parole.

A condition of his release two years ago was not to re-enter the Coromandel bush where at least one of the tourists died. Hoglin’s body was found at the foot of a bluff in 1991 but Heidi’s has never been located.

The parole breach charge is expected to be a challenge to prove, as Tamihere flew over the bush in a TVNZ helicopter for the making of a documentary on the case, and did not technically enter the bush at all. The case will hinge on whether parole conditions routinely include “airspace” as part of their definition.

Meanwhile, there’s still been no police action on rock-solid reports that Heidi was seen alive at Kawau Island in the company of a Maori man who was not Tamihere.