Details emerging of earlier Tokoroa incident

The details about an alleged assault and kidnapping that occurred the day before Saturday's shooting in Tokoroa are becoming clearer, says the Bay of Plenty Police District Crime Manager, Detective Inspector Tim Anderson.

Detective Inspector Anderson says Police had been investigating the earlier incident since they were first notified on Friday morning.

"We had an investigation team working on the case from that point until the early hours of Saturday morning.

"There was a great deal of work to be done on this case alone. When Police became involved, we knew very little about what had transpired, apart from the fact that a woman had been assaulted and was found at a house which she had no connection to.

"Due to the nature and extent of her injuries, we were not able to speak to her until later on Saturday afternoon. Until then, we had been speaking to witnesses, undertaking forensic work and attempting to piece together her movements."

Detective Inspector Anderson says as of midday today, Police have been able to establish that the woman had been socialising with a large group of people at a pub in Tokoroa on Thursday night. He says a group of people then returned to her house to continue socialising.

"At some point everyone has left her property. She also left the house a short time later and went with Jamie Ginns in his vehicle. He then took her unwillingly to another property, where she was seriously assaulted and tied up with a black power cord.

"She managed to escape from the house, where she was found outside by neighbours who raised the alarm."

Detective Inspector Anderson says the victim has specifically requested that no further details about her attack are released.

"By late Friday night, Ginns had become a person of interest in the assault and kidnapping inquiry.

"We now know that he had left Tokoroa by 2pm on Friday afternoon, and only returned to the area on Saturday morning just before the shooting occurred."

Detective Inspector Anderson says the investigation team will continue to work on the two incident investigations over the coming week. He says Police and Victim Support are continuing to provide support to the victims and their families.

He says that the body located in the Mamuku Forest on Saturday afternoon has now been formally identified as Jamie David Ginns and that aspect has been referred to the Coroner.

There will be no further comment from Police today.