Tauranga murder accused denies charge

Police at the scene in Wilrose Place where they believe Lance was critically injured.

The man accused of murdering another man who was left at Tauranga Hospital with critical injuries has pleaded not guilty.

Colin Richard Jeffries-Smith, 26, is accused of the murder of Lance Wayne Waite.

The accused entered a plea of not guilty to the charge via his lawyer at the High Court in Rotorua on Wednesday.

Jeffries-Smith was remanded in custody until a case review hearing on April 11.

A trial date has been set for February 11, 2019.

Waite, 58, was dropped off at Tauranga Hospital on January 3 this year with critical injuries and died that same day.

The death prompted police and Armed Offenders Squad raids at Wilrose Place in Gate Pa, where they believed Jeffries-Smith was prior to Waite being dropped off.

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