{"id":291951,"date":"2026-02-19T16:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T16:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/291951\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T16:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T16:28:15","slug":"mother-of-man-accused-of-jasmaine-reihana-murder-claims-police-messed-her-around-on-night-of-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/291951\/","title":{"rendered":"Mother of man accused of Jasmaine Reihana murder claims police \u2018messed her around\u2019 on night of death"},"content":{"rendered":"

She has recalled repeatedly phoning the police and attending the station around the time of Reihana\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Morunga<\/a>, 35, is currently on trial in the High Court at Whang\u0101rei, charged with murdering Reihana, his ex\u2011partner and mother to two of his children, in September 2024.<\/p>\n

The Crown alleges he killed Reihana at the Pouto Peninsula, Northland, home he shared with his mother, Suzanne Morunga, and her partner of 10 years, Michael Jones.<\/p>\n

He is also accused of arson after allegedly setting Reihana\u2019s car alight with her body inside at the far end of the Ripiro Beach farm<\/a>, before fleeing and leading police on a State Highway 12 chase that ended with his arrest near the Brynderwyn Hills.<\/p>\n

In the days before Reihana\u2019s death, the pair had been attending a four\u2011day tangi in \u014ctorohanga with Morunga\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n

The tangi has been a focal point of the trial, with witnesses describing Morunga as appearing under the influence of drugs while in attendance.<\/p>\n

Suzanne Morunga told the court on Wednesday that her son appeared \u201cout of it\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe looked different, like he was on something,\u201d she said in evidence.<\/p>\n

Over those four days, she said, Morunga and Reihana travelled to Tauranga and back because her son wanted to visit his father\u2019s grave.<\/p>\n

She also gave evidence that Morunga had slept in a shed while Reihana slept in her car.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, September 8, the pair travelled back to the Pouto Rd address in Pouto Peninsula while Suzanne Morunga went to South Auckland to assist wh\u0101nau.<\/p>\n

\"AnaruAnaru Morunga believed people were following him and wanted him killed. Photo \/ Shannon Pitman<\/p>\n

Around 5pm, she received a text from Jones saying Morunga was \u201cfried\u201d and walking around with a knife.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy antennas went up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Suzanne Morunga said she was always in contact with \u201cJazzy girl\u201d and was tearful describing their relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was a good girl,\u201d she said in evidence.<\/p>\n

She said the last text she received from Reihana was letting her know they had arrived safely in Pouto, but after the message from Jones, \u201cJazzy girl\u201d stopped answering her phone.<\/p>\n

During that time, Jones had called the police.<\/p>\n

When officers arrived around 6.15pm, Jones escorted them to the house, but Morunga and Reihana<\/a> were gone, and so was Reihana\u2019s car.<\/p>\n

Police photographed blood on the walls and floor before leaving.<\/p>\n

Suzanne Morunga said she was not in a condition to drive after being at the tangi and desperately needed sleep.<\/p>\n

She said she called 111 multiple times throughout the night and at 4.30am began driving back to Pouto.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just taking so long for someone to hear my call. I spent about 40 minutes trying to get someone from police to acknowledge or hear me,\u201d she told the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was being messed around, something is so wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

She drove straight to the Dargaville police station and banged on the door, but no one answered.<\/p>\n

She then called a friend who had a contact at the station, and within minutes an officer appeared.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they opened a door, I saw five of them standing there in the back. I ran in there and said you guys need to help me, I\u2019m scared, my son\u2019s not well. He\u2019s fried.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said officers asked who her son was.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said \u2018Anaru Morunga\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suzanne Morunga said they appeared to show no interest.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe remote farmhouse where Jasmaine Reihana was allegedly murdered was on Pouto Road in Pouto Peninsula. Photo \/ Google<\/p>\n

\u201cIf yous are not gonna help me, I\u2019ll go and save Jazzy girl myself,\u201d she recalled saying.<\/p>\n

She said an officer told her to \u201cgo and get Michael and Jazzy girl, and once you get them off the farm safely, here\u2019s my card, ring me\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what happened, and I left. I was disgusted, crying, angry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

On her way to Pouto Rd, she saw Morunga driving the other way and they both stopped.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was looking at me different. I said, \u2018How can I help you? Let\u2019s go home and have a cup of tea.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

She said she was desperate to get her son off the road.<\/p>\n

She convinced him to return to the house, but when she arrived, she noticed a strong smell of Janola.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was overwhelming, I started to choke.\u201d<\/p>\n

She tried to persuade her son to come inside, but he refused and became increasingly agitated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was looking at him and he was getting angry, punching the steering wheel, his truck,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her phone then rang and it was her other son, Kahu.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy oldest said, \u2018Go inside, shut the door, make a cup of tea, give the phone to Anaru.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

She passed the phone to Morunga, but within minutes, he threw it out the window and said, \u201cThe cops are after me\u201d, before speeding off, she said.<\/p>\n

When she picked up the phone, she was surprised to hear the police on the other end telling her they were on their way.<\/p>\n

The Crown told the jury that in Morunga\u2019s police interview, he alleged Reihana was having an affair with his cousin, Ezekial Poharama, and their children were not his.<\/p>\n

He also told police that 200 gang members, and Poharama, were at the tangi to kill him, that children were allegedly being raped there, and that his brother had been taken by gangsters.<\/p>\n

Morunga claimed he was being followed by a convoy of cars, that a \u201ctrigger man\u201d was hiding in a false floor in a vehicle, and unmarked cars were driving up and down the driveway waiting to get him.<\/p>\n

He also claimed Reihana was going to sell their children to the Mongrel Mob.<\/p>\n

Under cross\u2011examination, defence lawyer Arthur Fairley asked Suzanne Morunga whether she knew of her son\u2019s allegations about his children.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, that was a consistent thing,\u201d she said, adding that Reihana had taken DNA tests confirming Morunga was the father.<\/p>\n

Suzanne Morunga also said she had not seen Ezekial Poharama in around 15 years and did not see him at the tangi.<\/p>\n

Fairley asked whether she had heard threats that the children would be killed or kidnapped if a ransom wasn\u2019t paid within 14 days.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I didn\u2019t,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Fairley then asked whether she saw unusual cars around the property when she got home.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I didn\u2019t see anybody out there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you hear Jasmaine threaten to kill any of your family members?\u201d Fairley asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOr Anaru?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, Arthur,\u201d Suzanne responded firmly.<\/p>\n

The trial continues before Justice David Johnstone.<\/p>\n

Shannon Pitman is a Whang\u0101rei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ng\u0101puhi\/Ng\u0101ti P\u016bkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She has recalled repeatedly phoning the police and attending the station around the time of Reihana\u2019s death. Morunga,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1117,665,1763,2562,634,1968,1364,159963,5158,161723,6178,4275,111,43,139,2551,69,1118,90,675,6289,159964,544,1961,96,13118,1455],"class_list":{"0":"post-291951","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-accused","9":"tag-around","10":"tag-article","11":"tag-claims","12":"tag-death","13":"tag-discusses","14":"tag-her","15":"tag-jasmaine","16":"tag-man","17":"tag-messed","18":"tag-mother","19":"tag-murder","20":"tag-new-zealand","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-newzealand","23":"tag-night","24":"tag-nz","25":"tag-of","26":"tag-on","27":"tag-police","28":"tag-readers","29":"tag-reihana","30":"tag-some","31":"tag-this","32":"tag-upsetting","33":"tag-violence","34":"tag-warning"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291951","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=291951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}