Open Justice reporting, funded through NZ on Air.

Name suppression has lifted on one of the men charged with the murder of 16-year-old Connor Whitehead in a shooting in Casebrook in November.

Daniel Nelson Sparks, a 43-year-old solo father, did not seek continuation of the interim suppression order that had been granted at earlier appearances in the Christchurch District Court and the High Court.

He faces a charge of murdering the teenager in the Guy Fawkes Night shooting incident, and has pleaded not guilty. The trial for all five people charged with murder or being an accessory after the fact, has been set for May 8, 2023.

In the meantime, all have been remanded to a pre-trial call-over in the High Court on February 18.

Another of those charged the murder, Joshua David Craig Smith, 32, a concrete worker from Burnside, sought release on bail in a hearing before Justice Rob Osborne in the High Court today.

Justice Osborne heard submissions from defence counsel James Rapley QC, and Crown prosecutor Barnaby Hawes, and then reserved his decision. He hoped the decision could be released on Friday.