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One of the five men charged with murder after Samuel Curle was left critically injured on a highway near the northern edge of Auckland can now be identified.

Name suppression has lapsed for Benjamin Ta’Ilua Gabriel, a 31-year-old labourer from Morningside who has been described by police as having links to the Head Hunters gang.

A 42-year-old co-defendant from Glen Eden has also lost his bid for continued name suppression at the High Court level, but it remains in place while he decides if he will contest the decision through the Court of Appeal. The three remaining co-defendants are set to have a name suppression hearing next month.

Curle, 36, was found on the Kaipara Coast Highway near Helensville in the middle of the night on November 6 last year.

Samuel Curle, 36, was found on Auckland's Kaipara Coast Highway in the middle of the night on November 6. He died 20 days later.

He died in hospital after just under three weeks in a coma, and Gabriel was charged with murder on December 19. He first appeared in Whangārei District Court before the case was transferred to the High Court at Auckland.

Police indicated at the time of their arrests that they were not yet sure of the exact circumstances of Curle’s death.

About a month-and-a-half after the arrests of Gabriel and the 42-year-old Glen Eden resident, police charged three more men with murder.

Benjamin Gabriel appears in the High Court at Auckland, charged with the murder of Samuel Curle. Photo / Michael Craig

Police say the man in his 60s was arrested alongside a 17-year-old at a property in Massey. Detectives also travelled to Christchurch to arrest another 31-year-old.

A trial for all five co-defendants has been set for September next year.

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.

This story was originally published on the Herald,