{"id":140568,"date":"2025-11-18T03:51:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T03:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/140568\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T03:51:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T03:51:11","slug":"kaitaia-homicide-nz-first-pays-tribute-to-far-north-businessman-monty-knight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/140568\/","title":{"rendered":"Kait\u0101ia homicide: NZ First pays tribute to Far North businessman Monty Knight"},"content":{"rendered":"

The woman was remanded in custody until her next appearance in the High Court at Whang\u0101rei on December 5.<\/p>\n

News of Knight\u2019s death sent shock waves through Northland<\/a> and further afield, including Parliament. <\/p>\n

NZ First deputy leader Shane Jones today acknowledged on behalf of his caucus and the party\u2019s leader Winston Peters, \u201cthe tragic passing of an extraordinary identity from Northland\u201d.<\/p>\n

He praised Knight for \u201csingle-handedly\u201d putting Kait\u0101ia on the map in the past several decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn amazing entrepreneur, an amazing business owner, a man who stood up to represent his community in local government,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

Knight was born and bred in Kait\u0101ia and began his career as an entrepreneur with a shoeshine stand.<\/p>\n

In 1968 he opened a tiny record store called Monty\u2019s Disc Inn<\/a>. The business flourished and eventually grew into a major supplier of electronics, appliances and beds.<\/p>\n

He succeeded an older brother as owner of Knights the Jewellers, which was founded by his parents, and established critically acclaimed vineyard Okahu Estate in 1984.<\/p>\n

\"MontyMonty Knight said he was warned about setting up Okahu Estate in the 1980s but the Far North winery went on to win many awards.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Knight was inducted to the Northern Advocate Business Hall of Fame, calling it one of the highlights of his career.<\/p>\n

He was a Far North District councillor from 2010<\/a> and was also elected to the Northland Regional Council in 2015.<\/p>\n

Knight unsuccessfully stood for the Far North mayoralty several times, and this year threw his hat in the ring again as a district council candidate.<\/p>\n

Jones described Knight as \u201ca person who never stopped advocating for the North\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to reflect and join with the thousands of other Northlanders, New Zealanders, who enjoyed his Okahu wine, who loved his infectious humour, who respected the resilience that the man had to ensure that Northland had the best of opportunities in terms of commerce, retail, and also a high quality of life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe mourn your passing, Monty. We salute you. You were a t\u014dtara tree, a great towering, sheltering influence for those of us who grew up in the Kait\u0101ia area.\u201d <\/p>\n

Northland kaum\u0101tua and former government minister Dover Samuels was shocked to learn Knight had died.<\/p>\n

Samuels said the pair and Joe Carr, who is now a Northland Regional councillor, had served together on the Far North District Council together.<\/p>\n

\"NorthlandNorthland kaum\u0101tua and former government minister Dover Samuels. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

He described Knight as \u201cone of the best\u201d colleagues and friends he had in his many years of local government politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cA mighty totara has fallen but will never be forgotten,\u201d Samuels said.<\/p>\n

\u201cE te Rangatira te hoa e Monty. Haere Haere. Hoea to Waka. Ko marino te moana o Te rere nga wairua ki Hawaiki nui! Hawaiki Pamamao. Arohanui.\u201d<\/p>\n

Far North Kahika Moko Tepania said the loss of such a long-standing Far North community and business champion was tragic. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe send our thoughts and prayers to Monty\u2019s wh\u0101nau, and our wider community affected by his loss. Moe mai r\u0101 e te rangatira, e okioki i te aroha o te Atua.\u201d<\/p>\n

To acknowledge Knight\u2019s death, flags at Far North District Council offices will fly at half-mast on the day of his funeral. Details of which are yet to be made public.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The woman was remanded in custody until her next appearance in the High Court at Whang\u0101rei on December…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7818,138,6255,39197,528,1888,8916,18839,13635,13489,94400,43768,111,43,139,529,69,10142,20442,10809,61,20838],"class_list":["post-140568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-allegedly","tag-business","tag-businessman","tag-extraordinary","tag-far","tag-first","tag-homicide","tag-kaitia","tag-knight","tag-leader","tag-monty","tag-murdered","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-north","tag-nz","tag-paid","tag-pays","tag-sunday","tag-to","tag-tribute"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}