A woman swearing abuse at the judge and police was removed struggling from the public gallery of Hastings District Court today after the appearance of a man charged with murdering Hawke's Bay farmer Mark McCutcheon.
Hulio Henry Ataria, 22, unemployed, of Waipukurau, was remanded in custody until February 26 accused of murdering Mr McCutcheon outside the Sandford Arms Hotel at Ongaonga, in central Hawke's Bay, on January 24.
An order made prohibiting any photographic image of him being published was made by Judge Richard Watson.
A 26-year-old Waipawa man, who was granted name suppression, later appeared in the same court accused of assaulting Mr McCutcheon with intent to injure. He denied the charge but admitted two others of assaulting a woman.
He was remanded in custody to reappear in court on the same day as Ataria.
More than 30 supporters acompanied Mr McCutcheon's widow Paula to see Ataria appaer in the dock.
Tensions rose when police asked people in the public gallery to make room for Mr McCutcheon's family members and supporters.
A woman in the gallery called out "whose family? - we all have families".
When Ataria was being led from the dock, the woman called out to him and made Mongrel Mob barking noises. At that point Judge Watson told police to arrest her.
A scuffle broke out as the woman resisted police, shouting obscenities and she was forcibly removed from the courtroom.
Mr McCutcheon's widow was quickly taken through an internal door of the courthouse in tears by several women supporters. Other women in the group were visibly shaken and also in tears as they left the court.
Mr McCutcheon was fatally stabbed after he intervened in a domestic dispute outside the Sandford Arms Hotel in Central Hawke's Bay. Although injured, he left the scene but was found dead in his car the next morning.
