Another arrest in Zaiter murder

Police and SES workers at the scene of the burnt-out vehicle (left) near Barkers Vale, which was used by alleged murder victim Saaid Zaiter, back in December 2008.

A SEVENTH person has been charged in relation to the alleged murder of Gold Coast drug dealer Saaid Zaiter at a Chinderah caravan park in December 2008.

Todd Andrew Serone was arrested on Tuesday at his Kennedy Drive residence before being taken to the Tweed Heads Police Station where he was charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder.

The 28-year-old was refused bail at the Tweed Heads Local Court yesterday and will appear at Lismore Local Court via video link on March 16.

Zaiter, 47, was last seen at Chinderah on Tuesday December 16, 2008.

His remains were found in bushland near The Pinnacle lookout in the Border Ranges National Park, west of Murwillumbah one year later.

Police say Zaiter’s body was thrown off a cliff some time after he was last seen alive leaving his Surfers Paradise unit.

A silver Land Rover Discovery that Zaiter used was later found burnt out at Barkers Vale, near Nimbin.

Strike Force Rohan was established by State Crime Command Homicide Squad and Tweed/Byron Local Area Command detectives to investigate the circumstances surrounding the 47-year-old man’s death.

Police made a series of breakthroughs late last year, which led to a series of arrests in relation to the alleged murder from September last year.

Court documents have described Zaiter as someone “well known for his involvement in organised large-scale manufacture and distribution of drugs between Sydney and Surfers Paradise”.

He is believed to have died at Chinderah, with the investigation trail leading to Lismore, Casino, Kyogle and Victoria.

Rodney Boyd White, 43, alias “Rock”, from Chinderah and Kamarookain, Victoria, and Lismore man Ricky Leigh-Humphries, 26, are both charged with Zaiter’s murder. Serone has joined White’s girlfriend Jessica Birkensleigh, 23, Matthew Warner, 26, from Lismore, and Kyogle man Peter Elefsen, 37, in being charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder.

Police could not give details of the other person charged in relation to the case yesterday.

In details previously before the courts, police accuse White of bashing Zaiter to death in a cabin at Tweed Heritage Caravan Park where Zaiter went to provide White drugs in exchange for a large sum of money.