A man has been arrested and charged with being an accessory after the fact of murder, in relation to the death of Don Henry Turei Junior.

Don was killed in a crash on State Highway 35, opposite the Raukokere Marae, near Te Kaha, on November 26, 2016.

“In the days following the crash Police upgraded the investigation to a homicide investigation,” says Detective Inspector Lew Warner, Bay of Plenty Field Crime Manager.

“Yesterday afternoon Police arrested a 33-year-old Te Kaha man in Wairoa.”

He is due to appear in Gisborne District Court today.

“Police enquiries into the homicide are continuing and the investigation team is making good progress, as demonstrated by this arrest.”

During the investigation last year, Lew said witness accounts and forensic examinations of the scene and Don’s motorbike clearly show this was a deliberate act.

“We believe Mr Turei was purposefully hit by a white Honda Odyssey-type van, which immediately left the scene of the crash.”