Police shooting: Woman accused of complicity after the fact granted electronically controlled bail

A woman charged in connection with the alleged murder of a young police officer in the Auckland suburb of Massey was released on bail.

Officer Matthew Hunt was killed during a routine traffic stop on Reynella Drive on June 19.

Natalie Jane Bracken is accused of being an accessory to the alleged murder.

It is alleged that he aided the man accused of murder by obtaining a car and driving him away from the scene.

Eli Bob Sauni Epiha has been charged with murder in the death of Hunt, 28.

Epiha also faces charges of attempting to assassinate another police officer and injuring a member of the public when he allegedly crashed his vehicle while trying to evade the patrol.

Both Epiha and Bracken have pleaded not guilty to their respective charges.

Today Bracken applied to Auckland High Court for electronically monitored bail.

Judge Palmer granted the request with a 24-hour curfew and said it should go directly to the approved address in the company of a specific person without unnecessary stops.

Bracken must not leave the address without the approval of the electronic bond control team.

In Bracken’s first appearance in Waitakere District Court, Judge Brandt Shortland refused to grant his name suppression, despite claims that he received a “barrage of threats” and was in danger.

Judge Shortland noted that her identity was “on all social media” after police revealed her name and photo in an attempt to find her.

“Your name has been there … The reality is that it is on all social networks,” he said. “Like feathers in the wind, it is very difficult to return all those things.”

That decision was appealed to the Superior Court, but Judge Venning also rejected the deletion of the name.