Bail was granted today to two men facing murder charges over the death of Timothy John Constable, who was found outside a house in the Christchurch suburb of Bishopdale two weeks ago.
The murder charges were laid on Friday and the pair were remanded to this afternoon to make bail applications in Christchurch District Court.
Suppression orders have been clamped on the bail hearings. Judge Jane McMeeken decided the pair could be released on bail but would not allow any other details to be published.
Two women have now also been charged with intentionally causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Constable. They are Shahana Mikena Coombs, aged 20, of Linwood, and Shaharna Margaret Lee Hickey, 22, of Oxford.
Three men originally appeared in court on August 7 charged with assaulting Mr Constable, who was a 24-year-old father of a girl. He was found after police were called to the house where a fight had been reported.
When the post mortem examination was completed, police said he had died of a stab wound and other injuries.
It is understood the altercation took place at a family gathering in Todd Avenue.
Crown prosecutor Deirdre Elsmore said the assaults were holding charges and the more serious charges were then laid when the three appeared in court on Friday afternoon.
Now the three face joint charges of murdering Mr Constable, and all have been remanded to appear on August 25.
The three are Levi Michael James Coombs, an unemployed 17-year-old, and Steven Wayne Bright, 25, who were granted bail, and Adam Robert Gempton, 20, an unemployed Sydenham man, who has been refused bail since he was first arrested.
The two women have been remanded to the same date.
