{"id":18423,"date":"2026-09-04T12:16:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T00:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=18423"},"modified":"2026-09-04T12:16:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T00:16:30","slug":"man-accused-of-violent-rampage-in-aucklands-epsom-named-as-shalty-heta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=18423","title":{"rendered":"Man accused of violent rampage in Auckland&#8217;s Epsom named as Shalty Heta"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">The man accused of carrying out a\u00a0<a class=\"underline-brand-hover visited:text-foreground-secondary hover:visited:text-foreground-primary\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/crime-and-justice\/890302\/man-veered-into-teenage-cyclists-allegedly-killed-dog-in-violent-rampage-in-auckland-s-epsom\">violent rampage in the Auckland suburb of Epsom<\/a>\u00a0last month can now be named.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">He is 49-year-old Shalty Heta.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">Heta remains in custody after allegedly assaulting a jogger, taking a car and running down three high-school-aged cyclists, and killing a dog.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">Appearing at the Auckland District Court on Friday, he entered a not guilty plea through his lawyer, Jane-Frances O&#8217;Halloran.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pb-16 pt-8\">\n<div class=\"grid justify-center\">\n<figure class=\"mx-auto table\">\n<div class=\"image-ring flex w-full max-w-full -mx-16 md:mx-0 w-screen border-x-0 !max-w-[initial] md:w-[revert-layer] md:!max-w-full [&amp;_img]:w-full [&amp;_img]:md:w-[revert-layer]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"ml:max-h-[50rem] max-w-full aspect-[16\/10] object-cover\" src=\"https:\/\/media.rnztools.nz\/rnz\/image\/upload\/s--R5Ve1VVy--\/t_kt-crop-16x10\/w_614\/f_auto\/q_auto:eco\/4KU20N8_29_AKL_WhakaariRW2_JPG_1\" alt=\"29022024 Photo RICKY WILSON\/STUFF\/POOL\nWhakaari White Island court hearing sentencing\nJudge Evangelos Thomas\" width=\"614\" height=\"384\" \/><\/div><figcaption class=\"border-stroke-default w-full border-b py-12 text-sm *:inline table-caption caption-bottom mt-auto\">Judge Evangelos Thomas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-foreground-secondary flex-shrink-0 ml-4\">Stuff\/Ricky Wilson<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">He did not seek continued name suppression.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">Judge Evangelos Thomas set his hearing date for December.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">He faced 17 charges including intent to cause grievous bodily harm, which has a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"[&amp;_h2]:text-md [&amp;_h3]:text-md [&amp;_h4]:text-md clear-left mb-12 pt-16\">\n<h3 class=\"text-fluid-md-lg leading-snug [&amp;_em]:font-sans-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-sans-italic font-sans-semibold\">What police said happened on the day<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">Police said they were called to reports of a serious assault at the intersection of\u00a0<a class=\"underline-brand-hover visited:text-foreground-secondary hover:visited:text-foreground-primary\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/crime-and-justice\/890302\/man-veered-into-teenage-cyclists-allegedly-killed-dog-in-violent-rampage-in-auckland-s-epsom\">Ranfurly Rd and Manukau Rd about 7am on August 5<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">What followed were described by Auckland City District Commander Superintendent Sunny Patel as six separate incidents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">Acting Detective Inspector Craig Bolton said a man without warning had assaulted a woman, causing bruising to her face, head and upper body.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">&#8220;A member of the public stopped to assist the victim, before this offender has stolen the good Samaritan&#8217;s vehicle,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">Patel confirmed the woman was jogging when she was assaulted by the man who was not wearing any pants, and three our four members of the public came to help her.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">&#8220;The offender then fled in the stolen vehicle, hitting several vehicles before striking three cyclists who were riding on Manukau Road.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pb-16 pt-8\">\n<div class=\"grid justify-center\">\n<figure class=\"mx-auto table\">\n<div class=\"image-ring flex w-full max-w-full -mx-16 md:mx-0 w-screen border-x-0 !max-w-[initial] md:w-[revert-layer] md:!max-w-full [&amp;_img]:w-full [&amp;_img]:md:w-[revert-layer]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"ml:max-h-[50rem] max-w-full aspect-[16\/10] object-cover\" src=\"https:\/\/media.rnztools.nz\/rnz\/image\/upload\/s--AICjcowl--\/t_kt-crop-16x10\/w_614\/f_auto\/q_auto:eco\/4JKDCFF_Image_20_jfif\" alt=\"Auckland Epsom violent incident\" width=\"614\" height=\"384\" \/><\/div><figcaption class=\"border-stroke-default w-full border-b py-12 text-sm *:inline table-caption caption-bottom mt-auto\">Three students were struck on Manukau Rd.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-foreground-secondary flex-shrink-0 ml-4\">RNZ \/ Marika Khabazi<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">After crashing the vehicle, the offender approached a woman walking her dogs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">&#8220;The offender has subjected one of the dogs to a violent assault, and sadly the dog has died at the scene,&#8221; acting Detective Inspector Bolton said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pb-16 pt-8\">\n<div class=\"grid justify-center\">\n<figure class=\"mx-auto table\">\n<div class=\"image-ring flex w-full max-w-full -mx-16 md:mx-0 w-screen border-x-0 !max-w-[initial] md:w-[revert-layer] md:!max-w-full [&amp;_img]:w-full [&amp;_img]:md:w-[revert-layer]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"ml:max-h-[50rem] max-w-full aspect-[16\/10] object-cover\" src=\"https:\/\/media.rnztools.nz\/rnz\/image\/upload\/s---tzqZMWf--\/t_kt-crop-16x10\/w_614\/f_auto\/q_auto:eco\/4JKDOHT_Police_incident_Manukau_Rd_Epsom2_jpg\" alt=\"Police incident Manukau Rd Epsom\" width=\"614\" height=\"384\" \/><\/div><figcaption class=\"border-stroke-default w-full border-b py-12 text-sm *:inline table-caption caption-bottom mt-auto\">\n<p class=\"text-foreground-secondary flex-shrink-0\">RNZ \/ Marika Khabazi<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">Patel said police attempted to taser the man once and then were able to taser him and pull him off the dog which had been killed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">&#8220;It is a random event that has occurred,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">&#8220;This has all taken place in full view of the public going about their morning commute.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pb-16 pt-8\">\n<div class=\"grid justify-center\">\n<figure class=\"mx-auto table\">\n<div class=\"image-ring flex w-full max-w-full -mx-16 md:mx-0 w-screen border-x-0 !max-w-[initial] md:w-[revert-layer] md:!max-w-full [&amp;_img]:w-full [&amp;_img]:md:w-[revert-layer]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"ml:max-h-[50rem] max-w-full aspect-[16\/10] object-cover\" src=\"https:\/\/media.rnztools.nz\/rnz\/image\/upload\/s--lV0m2WCE--\/t_kt-crop-16x10\/w_614\/f_auto\/q_auto:eco\/4JKDDJW_Image_7_jfif\" alt=\"Police remove bicycles from the scene of a violent incident in the Auckland suburb of Epsom on 5 August, 2026.\" width=\"614\" height=\"384\" \/><\/div><figcaption class=\"border-stroke-default w-full border-b py-12 text-sm *:inline table-caption caption-bottom mt-auto\">Police remove bicycles from the scene of a violent incident in the Auckland suburb of Epsom.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-foreground-secondary flex-shrink-0 ml-4\">RNZ \/ Marika Khabazi<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">Later that day, Patel confirmed the dog had been strangled.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal\">\n<p class=\"[&amp;_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&amp;_cite]:font-serif-text-italic\">Police had assisted the dog walker, who Patel said was &#8220;very, very upset&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Source: RNZ<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The man accused of carrying out a\u00a0violent rampage in the Auckland suburb of Epsom\u00a0last month can now be named. He is 49-year-old Shalty Heta. Heta remains in custody after allegedly assaulting a jogger, taking a car and running down three high-school-aged cyclists, and killing a dog. Appearing at the Auckland District Court on Friday, he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nz-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18423"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18425,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18423\/revisions\/18425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}