By Laine Priestley of 
Former Green Party candidate Jack Brazil. Photo: Otago Daily Times / Gregor Richardson
A Dunedin shooting victim, social justice campaigner and former Green Party candidate has been arrested in Ireland after allegedly looting a shoe store during mass riots in Dublin last year.
However, he claims he has an alibi.
Former 2020 Green Party candidate Jack Brazil was arrested in Ireland on Tuesday (local time) for the alleged looting of a Footlocker store in Dublin last year, Irish media reported.
He allegedly committed the burglary on 23 November 2023, during the Dublin riots - an incident that involved widespread looting and disorder in the city in response to a knife attack on young children, the Irish Mirror reported.
He appeared in Dublin District Court on Thursday charged with burglary.
Brazil, 30, claimed he ''has an alibi".
Garda Brian Kenny told the court that when charged, Brazil replied: "I reserve the right to provide further exculpatory evidence,'' the Irish Mirror reported.
He was remanded on bail on a €200 ($NZ370) bond, his passport was seized, he was forbidden from applying for travel documents, and was given a midnight to 6am curfew.
Brazil was granted legal aid after the court heard he had no job and had no assets, The Journal reported.
On 16 April 2023, Brazil was seriously injured after being shot in Littlebourne Rd, Roslyn.
Police were called and at 3.10am they found Brazil had suffered a gunshot wound to the liver.
At the time of the shooting, Brazil had been in a vehicle with another man. He then drove himself alone to Yours, a café and venue operated by the Ōtepoti Possibilities Co-operative, where Brazil was a shareholder.
He initially called an ambulance but then flagged down a passing car to take him to the hospital.
A witness at the time told the Otago Daily Times the armed offenders squad raided the premises about an hour later.
Police said the shooting was an ''isolated incident'' and later asked for public help in finding another man reportedly in a car with Brazil at the time of the incident.
Brazil contested the Dunedin electorate in the 2020 election for the Green Party and was number 20 on the party list.
During his time in Dunedin, he was a prominent voice in the local anti-oil and gas movement, which grew out of the opposition to International oil giant OMV drilling in the Great South Basin.
- This story was first published in the Otago Daily Times
