By Rachel Tiffen
A man has been charged in the past hour in relation to the alleged murder of a 20-year-old man in Kapiti.
Police say they were called to the Kapiti Lights complex around 12:40am this morning after reports of an altercation and found Paraparaumu man Sean Strongman-Lintern dead at the scene.
This morning, Paraparaumu woke up to a crime scene in its backyard and detectives combing it for evidence – first and foremost, the knife believed to have killed Sean Strongman-Lintern.
When police arrived early this morning, the 20-year-old was already dead. Last month they found 17-year-old Izak Millanta unconscious, but he died 24 hours later in hospital.
"To date, our inquiries do not reveal any correlation between the two,” says Inspector John Price, Kapiti/Mana area commander. “However, Kapiti is a small place."
It's understood Mr Strongman-Lintern was in a scuffle inside the Monteith’s Bar and moved outside by bouncers before a knife was pulled on him.
"One person is assisting us currently with our inquiries and we have more than 30 police staff working on this inquiry."
Twenty-five-year-old Manawanui Stewart has been charged with manslaughter over Izak Millanta's death, and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm on his brother Tane, but hasn't entered a plea for either.
3 News understands the same night Izak Millanta was knocked unconscious, Sean Strongman-Lintern was also knocked out and dragged onto the road to be run over.
Despite a liquor ban in the area, locals say it's alcohol-fuelled violence between groups coming from as far afield as Otaki and Porirua.
"It seems to be gang tensions, young tensions – people getting kind of miserable with each other,” says resident Donald Pine. “It's quite extraordinary around here at the moment."
“I personally don't go out here because there are so many things that happen,” says resident Anna Dent. "There is so much fighting and there are so many instances like this.”
Tensions have been high since Izak Millanta died and his brother Tane was injured.
Police say they have five staff out on foot every Friday and Saturday night, but after two deaths within 1km of the station, is that enough?
"I regard the police presence here as very reactive because they're under-resourced,” says Mr Pine.
Police will be out in force tonight, but Kapiti mayor Jenny Rowan says she knows a community approach is needed and young people need somewhere safe to go out at night.
3 News