THE HIGH-profile criminal who used his underworld connections to arrange Matthew Blomfield’s infamous meeting with the Mongrel Mob following the 2014 attempt on his life has described Blomfield’s account of the sit-down as a complete work of fantasy.
Mark Stephens, aka the Parnell Panther, has become an unwitting figure in the whole Whale Oil saga after the pair crossed paths in 2014.
That we do know. The rest of what went on between this pair is as murky as dirty bathwater with Blomfield saying one thing and Stephens quite another.
Had Whale Oil author Margie Thomson picked up the phone and called Stephens she would have discovered these inconsistencies and possibly may have thought to ask some of the questions we’ve been asking.
Marc Spring has been following this part of the Whale Oil story closely and says it is absolutely crucial in the context of the wider story involving gunman Ned Paraha – and important as it reveals a lot about Matthew Blomfield the man.
“In this situation, anyone else would have let the cops do the job. The DNA isn’t even back and Matt is running around town meeting underworld figures like he’s John Wick or something,”: Spring said.
“And reading the book it’s an environment he appears to be very comfortable in. Anyone else would be shitting themselves sitting there in front of a big Mongrel Mobster covered in tattoos.
“But not Matt.He’s right at home. Strange.”
Some of the inconsistencies Stephens raises are insignificant such as Blomfield saying he contacted Stephens on his cellphone when we now know after talking to Stephens that he does not have a cellphone.
There are other countless examples, some more puzzling than others simply because it’s unclear what motive Blomfield might have had for trying to rewrite his history with Stephens.
But in the context of the wider story it’s Blomfield’s account of his meeting with the Mongrel Mob that has raised the most serious of questions.
Stephens is very matter of fact about the whole thing, claiming Blomfield was ‘full of shit’ and what he’d written in the book about his involvement with both him and the Mob was ‘bullshit’ and a work of fantasy.
He points to a reference in the book where Blomfield claims he met with the Mob’s Auckland Chapter president, even going so far as to describe the Mongrel Mob tattoo on his forehead and intricate swirls and lines of traditional moko on the rest of his face.
Stephens said at the time Roy Dunn was the president and Dunn had none of the tattoos Blomfield had referred to.
Stephens also revealed that when Blomfield initially reached out to him for help- he provided ‘a bunch of names’ of possible suspects for the home invasion with Stephens asking the question, like others would, where did these names come from given the confirmation by police they did not provide any names of possible suspects.