{"id":293152,"date":"2026-02-20T08:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T08:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/293152\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T08:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T08:46:08","slug":"northland-murder-trial-hears-anaru-morunga-admits-killing-ex-denies-burning-her-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/293152\/","title":{"rendered":"Northland murder trial hears Anaru Morunga admits killing ex, denies burning her car"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anaru Ihaka Morunga<\/a>, 35, is currently on trial in the High Court at Whang\u0101rei, charged with murdering Jasmaine 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 home in Northland he shared with his mother, Suzanne Morunga<\/a>, 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, before fleeing and leading police on a State Highway 12 chase that ended with his arrest near the Brynderwyn Hills.<\/p>\n

This week witnesses have given evidence about events on September 8 and 9, 2024.<\/p>\n

In a police interview, yet to be played to the jury, Morunga<\/a> admitted he killed Reihana in his home by slitting her throat with a knife.<\/p>\n

He said he then carried her body to her car parked in the driveway and drove to the tractor shed on the farm he worked on.<\/p>\n

Morunga denied setting the car on fire.<\/p>\n

Morunga also told police interviewers gangsters were following him and there was a man with a gun hiding in a hidden floor of Reihana\u2019s car.<\/p>\n

A phone mapping expert gave evidence Reihana\u2019s phone was tracked near the farmhouse going back and forward at 5.45pm the night prior.<\/p>\n

The phone was then tracked heading to Hinaki Rd at 5.50pm and sent its last signal at 6.19pm near the tractor shed.<\/p>\n

It was also around this time, police arrived at the farmhouse after being called by Jones and took photos of blood on the walls before leaving.<\/p>\n

Farm owner Chris Biddles gave evidence Morunga had been working on and off for him for two years and was learning to drive the tractor.<\/p>\n

When Biddles arrived at the farm after being alerted by workers things were out of place, he found the tractor was missing, fences had been driven through and tyre tracks led down to the beach.<\/p>\n

\"WitnessesWitnesses have described “Jazzy Girl” Reihana as a bubbly, lovely woman . Photo \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

From the shed to the shoreline was about 5km.<\/p>\n

Biddles had also been alerted there was a burned car near the beach. <\/p>\n

The tractor was nearby, stuck in sand dunes.<\/p>\n

While this was occurring, several people were trying to locate Reihana after she had stopped answering her phone about 5.45pm the night prior.<\/p>\n

Biddles said he called the Dargaville police station but it was \u201chopeless\u201d as no one was answering.<\/p>\n

He then called 111 to alert them something strange was occurring at his farm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went home to charge my phone and rang Sue,\u201d Biddles said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told her there was a car at the back of the farm on fire and smoking, Sue got really distressed,\u201d he said and she told him, Reihana was missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI phoned 111 again and said it needed to be upgraded from not serious to potentially serious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AnaruAnaru Morunga denies setting the car on fire. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

Various detectives, fire officers, forensic pathologists and experts have given evidence of the investigation that unfolded at Ripiro Beach.<\/p>\n

When police arrived, the location of the car was so remote, it was only accessible via the beach at low tide.<\/p>\n

Detectives discovered Reihana\u2019s burnt body in the back seat of the car with other items.<\/p>\n

Detective Wendy McDermott told the court she saw what appeared to be human bones on the rear seat.<\/p>\n

Experts said the fire was deliberately lit, most likely with a match or lighter and possibly a flammable liquid.<\/p>\n

They also said the fire reached temperatures close to levels used for cremations.<\/p>\n

Detective Ryan Cooper said the remnants of a knife with a 30cm blade were found in the car with Reihana\u2019s mobile phone and a curtain rod that was missing from the house.<\/p>\n

Under cross-examination by Morunga\u2019s lawyer Arthur Fairley, Cooper was asked whether the car was big enough to have a \u201cfalse floor\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Cooper responded.<\/p>\n

\u201cWas a gun located in the search of the vehicle?\u201d Fairley asked.<\/p>\n

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

The trial continues for another two weeks 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":"Anaru Ihaka Morunga, 35, is currently on trial in the High Court at Whang\u0101rei, charged with murdering Jasmaine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[16489,45451,14772,3944,28428,29223,42,1350,1364,11156,52475,4275,43,1067,40,38,41,39,54],"class_list":{"0":"post-293152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-admits","9":"tag-anaru","10":"tag-burning","11":"tag-car","12":"tag-denies","13":"tag-ex","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-hears","16":"tag-her","17":"tag-killing","18":"tag-morunga","19":"tag-murder","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-northland","22":"tag-top-news","23":"tag-top-stories","24":"tag-topnews","25":"tag-topstories","26":"tag-trial"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293152","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=293152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}