4 Jan 2012

Public pressures police over death of NZ businessman in Vanuatu

6:10 pm on 4 January 2012

Vanuatu's deputy police commissioner says people have been pressuring the police to deal swiftly with the man accused of killing a New Zealand businessman.

Philip Tanaki, a well-known nurse in the public health system, will appear in court on January the 9th charged with the intentional homicide of Dick Eade.

Arthur Caulton says people saw Mr Tanaki shoot Mr Eade, a prominent vegetable grower, in the upper body at about 1pm on December the 29th following an argument over land.

He says Mr Eade recruited half of the 2,000 ni-Vanuatu who have participated in New Zealand's Recognised Seasonal Employers Scheme.

"There has been pressure from the public living around Mr Dick Eade's area that we should deal with him according to the law and we've told them that he's now in police custody so there's nothing to do with him at the moment and it's up to the court to deal with him in accordance with the law."

Arthur Caulton says the police are awaiting the outcome of a postmortem on Mr Eade's body.