Yesterday afternoon at around 6pm, New Zealand Police arrested a 43-year-old Auckland man on a warrant issued in the South Australia Magistrates court in January 2018. The warrant was endorsed for execution in New Zealand under relevant legal provisions.
The warrant relates to the historic murder of 42 year old South Australian man Robert Sabeckis who was shot dead in the Gull Rock car park at Maslin Beach, south of Adelaide, about 1.15am on 13 January 2000.
South Australia Police will seek the man’s extradition to South Australia to face the murder charge. It is expected the man will appear in Waitakere District Court today where extradition proceedings will commence.
The arrest follows a DNA match under the New Zealand Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Act 1995 which was amended in 2016 to allow access to and disclosure of information on the New Zealand DNA Database for the purpose of responding to a request under the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1992.
Since legislation was changed there have been several requests from overseas law enforcement agencies, however this is the first search that hit against a profile held on the New Zealand National DNA Database.
Since the identification was made New Zealand Police have been working closely with their South Australian colleagues towards yesterday's arrest. Detective Superintendent Dave Lynch says that international law enforcement agencies are working closer together than ever before to ensure that people alleged to have been involved in serious criminal offending are able to be apprehended if they flee jurisdictions and this arrest is a great example of this.
New Zealand Police will not be making further comment regarding the homicide investigation and any media queries need to be referred to South Australia Police.
ENDS
Shelley Nahr/NZ Police