Police investigate elderly Ōpōtiki man's suspicious death

Police are "absolutely determined" to hold the person who committed the crime to account.
Police are "absolutely determined" to hold the person who committed the crime to account. Photo credit: Newshub

Police are investigating the death of an elderly Ōpōtiki man, who was believed to have died from a fall. But new information has revealed the circumstances might have been far more sinister.

In July 2016, 77-year-old Brian Albert Hilton was admitted to Tauranga Hospital with facial injuries, from what was believed at the time to be a fall in his home. He died six days later.

"Eastern Bay of Plenty CIB officers have returned to Ōpōtiki this week to revisit the case of Brian Albert Hilton, who died after suffering serious injuries in his home in 2016," a police spokesperson says.

"We have recently received new information and as a result are reopening the investigation and treating Mr Hilton's death as a homicide.

"Eastern Bay of Plenty Police are absolutely determined to hold the person who committed this extremely serious crime to account, and bring this case to a conclusion."

Newshub.