Suspected Serial Rapist Under Investigation Twice Got Bail

By VAN DER STOEP, Leigh

A MAN accused of several depraved sex attacks received bail twice while being investigated for serial rape.

Wiremu Haunui, also known as Wilzie Haunui, faces 12 charges relating to the kidnapping and rape of three Auckland prostitutes.

The 30-year-old digger driver is also being investigated for his involvement in about four other rapes between February last year and June this year.

But despite police opposition, Haunui was granted bail in June and September when he appeared in Auckland District Court charged with two separate attacks.

His bail conditions did not include a curfew.

The Prostitutes Collective’s Auckland manager Annah Pickering said the decisions to grant bail were “really bizarre”.

Detective Sergeant Andy King would not comment on a “judicial decision” but confirmed police had opposed bail and asked for a curfew.

Haunui was first arrested in June. He allegedly picked up a street worker on Liverpool St, Auckland Central, on the premise he would pay for sex.

The street worker was driven to an isolated area in Hillsborough cemetery and allegedly attacked several times.

The victim escaped and ran to a nearby house where she called for help.

Police arrested Haunui shortly afterwards and charged him with robbing the victim of $125, detaining her with intent, sexually violating her and two counts of rape.

The arrest came to the attention of a detective on King’s team who had been investigating an unsolved rape in August 2006 of a woman who had been picked up in Hopetoun St and then driven to Ponsonby and Newton.

When detectives reviewed the old file Haunui was charged with detaining a street worker with intent, sexual assault and rape.

King said detectives suspected serial offending after the second arrest and reviewed all their rape files dating back to the beginning of last year.

Pickering said a picture of the alleged offender was placed in the Prostitutes Collective’s Auckland office and registration numbers and descriptions of cars Haunui was known to be driving were also distributed.

King said the alleged rape victims “feared for their lives” during attacks.

“I would say there’s not a huge amount of physical violence involved, but just showing extreme overbearing or threatening behaviour to the extent where some women thought they were going to die,” he said.

Pickering said some street workers had raised alarm bells about a man who insisted services be performed in isolated places outside the prostitute’s usual area of operation.

Two women alleged they were attacked at Hillsborough cemetery, she said.

The women were aged from their mid-20s to 40s.

Last week police further charged Haunui with raping a prostitute in February 2006, stealing $60 from her, detaining her with intent and possession of a knife with intent.

He is alleged to have picked the woman up on Hereford St before taking her to Grafton where she was attacked.

Haunui appears in court again tomorrow – for a bail application.

(c) 2007 Sunday Star – Times; Wellington, New Zealand. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.