Three Mongrel Mob members were driving a badly injured associate to Rotorua Hospital when they pulled over and made a plan.

They decided to tell the police Zain Taikato Fox had been hit by a car.

The patched gang members now admit they lied to police when they said this, and have pleaded guilty to wilfully attempting to pervert the course of justice in the investigation into the 20-year-old’s death.

Fox was killed on July 26 last year in Maketū, in what is alleged to have been an internal gang confrontation.

Zain Matenga Taikato Fox, 20, died from critical injuries at Rotorua Hospital in July last year.

Damien Richard Beale, Brendon Major Nicholson, and a third man, who has interim name suppression, all admit that after taking Fox to Rotorua Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, they made false statements to police.

It’s alleged the men had been near the gang confrontation involving Fox, which will form the basis of a murder trial in which 12 people face charges.

However, the charges that Beale, Nicholson, and the third man pleaded guilty to today in the Tauranga District Court relate to what happened after Fox sustained his critical injuries.

According to the Crown summary of facts, the men had Fox lying injured in the back of a car as they made their way to Rotorua Hospital.

They were in two cars, and, on the way, they stopped.

Beale, who police say is the captain of the Hawke’s Bay Mongrel Mob MC chapter, told the others to “lie and say that Mr Taikato Fox had been hit by a car”.

The others agreed, and together they “came up with a story to tell the police”.

When they arrived at the Rotorua Hospital, they stopped for a few minutes in a staff carpark, before continuing to the hospital’s emergency entrance.

Beale, and the man who has interim name suppression, went inside to get help.

The summary notes that “the defendants were all aware that Mr Taikato Fox had died when they arrived at the hospital”.

Fox was pronounced dead shortly upon arrival, and police came to the hospital and spoke to the defendants, all of whom provided written statements.

Heard a ‘thudding noise’, said Beale

Beale told police he had gone to Maketu to “deal with some personal stuff between him and his friends”, and, while heading back to Rotorua with Fox in his car, and the others in convoy, they pulled over about 15 minutes out of Rotorua, so the occupants “could urinate”.

He told police he heard a “thudding” noise and saw Fox lying in a ditch on the side of the road, and that he was “pretty damaged and injured” but still breathing and muttering, “Oh mighty”.

‘Rolling around and moaning,’ said Nicholson

Nicholson told police he had been driving in convoy, and saw the other vehicle had stopped, so he stopped too.

He said he saw Fox “on the ground rolling around and moaning”, and told police that Beale had told him Fox had been hit by a car.

He said he helped get Fox into the back of his Nissan, and took him to Rotorua Hospital.

Third man said he saw ‘speeding vehicle approaching’

The third man said they’d been at a rugby game in Maketū which finished around 5.30pm, and they left in convoy.

He said that, about 10 minutes after leaving, they pulled over so the occupants of the cars could urinate.

He said he was back in his car and saw a “speeding vehicle approaching”, followed by a “big bang”, and then saw Fox lying on the side of the road unconscious.

He said he felt for a pulse but couldn’t feel anything, and he lifted Fox into one of the cars.

All three of the formal written statements, signed by the defendants, were false.

When police spoke to hospital staff, they confirmed that the injuries observed were “not consistent with Mr Taikato Fox having been hit with a car”.

All three later admitted to police that they made false statements and have now formally entered guilty pleas.

They will be sentenced in the Tauranga District Court on June 26.

The allegations that relate to Fox’s death will be the subject of a murder trial, expected to take place in 2028.

Twelve defendants have been charged with murder, including Valentine “Pop” Nicholas, 64, who the Crown alleges is the president of the Maketū chapter of the Mongrel Mob.

Others charged include George Alan Perham, 54, Colin Kiriona, 41, Nathaniel Thompson, 29, and Valentine Kemp, 39.

Some of those charged still have interim suppression orders in place for legal reasons, and one is a youth who was arrested in Whanganui.

Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at Newstalk ZB.