Rugby star accused of bashing killer

Ex-Hurricanes prop charged with kidnap and robbery

MIKE EDWARDS: Prop Edwards, 38, played more than 100 first-class games, including 11 for the Hurricanes and 81 for Wellington. While playing for the Avalon club in 2001, he was suspended from the game for six weeks after biting a player's arm. He was charged with kidnap, arson, grievous bodily harm, use of a firearm and robbery.

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A former Hurricanes prop has been charged with kidnapping a notorious murderer, beating him unconscious at gunpoint and torching his car before leaving him for dead.

Mike Edwards, 38, is facing charges for the attack on Michael John Sneller - a man who served a life sentence for what was once described as "a classic gangland burglary, beating and killing".

The identities of the accused and the murderer had been suppressed but can now be revealed after The Dominion Post successfully challenged those orders.

Sneller, 63, has told police he went to meet someone in Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt, about 10pm on February 5 and was beaten with a shotgun before being dumped, unconscious and severely injured, in a stolen station wagon.

He was able to escape at daybreak and was admitted to hospital with severe facial fractures.

Edwards, who played prop for the Hurricanes and Wellington representative sides, had a playing weight of about 110 kilograms.

He is charged with kidnapping, grievous bodily harm, arson, using a firearm, robbery and the theft of Sneller's car, cellphone and wallet.

Edwards' lawyer, Paul Surridge, has indicated he will deny the charges and has told the court his client has no previous convictions for violence. Edwards has spent time in custody but is now on bail.

The officer in charge of the case, Detective Sergeant Brendan Mears, said police would thoroughly investigate any serious crime, no matter who the alleged victim or accused were.

Edwards, who was nicknamed "Tyson", played more than 100 first-class games including 11 for the Hurricanes and 81 for Wellington. In 2001, when he was playing for the Avalon club, the Wellington Rugby Union disciplinary tribunal suspended him for six weeks after he admitted biting a player's arm. He claimed it was in self-defence.

Earlier this month, Sneller was returned to prison, jailed for 5 1/2 years for supplying methamphetamine and having the drug for supply.

Sneller served a life sentence for the 1983 murder of Lower Hutt businessman Robert Cancian. He and an accomplice had gone to rob Mr Cancian of $16,000 of jewellery and beat him to death in his home with a softball bat.

It was the first case in New Zealand in which witnesses had to be protected by police.

Sneller was freed after 11 years, but in 1998 the Parole Board recalled him to serve the rest of his sentence after he was convicted on drug charges. He was released again in 2001.

In 2006, police charged him with more drug offences. Corrections head office was contacted about recalling him to serve his life sentence on the grounds he had committed a crime and was a risk to the community, but there was no response. Sneller remained on bail till after the attack.

- © Fairfax NZ News