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Queenstown father Mark James Smith
It is too early to say whether a man charged with assault
after the death of a Queenstown man will face more serious
charges, say police.
Mark James Smith, 47, died after an altercation at a downtown
Queenstown taxi stand about 11.30pm on Thursday.
A 34-year-old man has been charged with assault.
The funeral for Mr Smith, father of two children aged 11 and
19, would be held on Tuesday afternoon in Queenstown, Senior
Sergeant John Fookes of Queenstown police said.
A lot of people had come forward to talk to police, but they
still wanted to hear from anyone who was at Camp St taxi
stand between 11pm and 11.45pm, even if they did not think
they had any useful information, he said.
The 25 police officers investigating Mr Smith's death were
"getting a better picture of what's taken place", but were
still establishing the facts, he told NZPA.
"It's certainly a homicide to the extent that you've got one
person involved in the death of another, but what level of
legal culpability that person has is obviously something we
are continuing to examine."
The charges would be reviewed further down the track "when we
think we've got sufficient evidence and facts to make an
objective assessment", Mr Fookes said.
A post mortem was completed on Friday, but police could not
yet release the preliminary findings, he said.
The accused man was granted name suppression when he appeared
in Queenstown District Court on Friday.
He was remanded in custody to reappear in Invercargill
District Court this Friday.
