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<\/p>\nFor two years, the spotlight has been on the violent seconds that ended 22-year-old Arthur Tahere’s life.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Tahere’s wh\u0101nau shifted the focus to his “beautiful wide woven mat” of a life threaded through iwi, hap\u016b and kura kaupapa.<\/p>\n
As his killer, Audrey Thompson, was sentenced in the High Court at Whang\u0101rei, the cultural dislocation his wh\u0101nau endured through police and court processes was laid bare.<\/p>\n
“Our wh\u0101nau had never before encountered such systemic abuse in such a harrowing time,” a wh\u0101nau representative said.<\/p>\n
The court has heard that, at the time of Tahere’s death, he had been in an on-and-off relationship with Kait\u0101ia woman Sunday Howard.<\/p>\n
In March 2024, Howard was pregnant with Tahere’s baby, but they had broken up and she moved to Kait\u0101ia to be with her sister.<\/p>\n
Howard stayed in Kait\u0101ia and had their son in July, when Tahere first travelled north to meet him.<\/p>\n
They reconciled, and Tahere drove to Kait\u0101ia again on 7 September to visit her and their baby.<\/p>\n
Howard had met Thompson about five years earlier, while working in local k\u016bmara fields, and they built a solid friendship.<\/p>\n
They often told each other of their struggles with their respective partners and that day, Thompson told Howard she should end things with Tahere.<\/p>\n
Howard was firm in saying she wanted to work on the relationship.<\/p>\n
Later that evening, the friends and others were drinking at Howard’s home, celebrating Thompson’s recent engagement and wedding plans.<\/p>\n
Tahere, whom Thompson had not met, arrived about 10pm and, after spending time with his son, began arguing with Howard.<\/p>\n
Howard believed Tahere wanted to drink, rather than spend time with her and their son.<\/p>\n
As she stood on the back porch stairs, she told him, if he wasn’t there to help, he should “f*** off”.<\/p>\n
At Thompson’s trial, Howard said Tahere was not angry and was instead sitting on a chair outside, when he told her: “Go inside, bro, you’re tired, bro.”<\/p>\n
Within seconds, Thompson smashed a bottle and stabbed Tahere twice in the neck. He died that evening at Kait\u0101ia Hospital.<\/p>\n
The defence case was that Thompson was acting in self-defence, because Tahere was allegedly acting aggressively and “bouncing around”, but the jury did not accept her defence and found her guilty of murder.<\/p>\n
At Friday’s sentencing hearing, a representative of the wider wh\u0101nau, Ngairo Tahere, said they did not want to focus on the defendant, but on their loved one.<\/p>\n
The wh\u0101nau said, from the moment they were informed Tahere had died, they were forced to grapple with government agencies that did not understand their deep beliefs in tikanga (cultural processes).<\/p>\n
‘Weapon of injustice’<\/p>\n
She said they tried their best, but the tikanga practices involving his t\u016bp\u0101paku (body) did not sit alongside the “hostile environment” of a criminal investigation.<\/p>\n
“We were forced to fit within an alien context and operated in a situation where it has been severed from m\u0101tauranga [M\u0101ori knowledge],” she said. “His final journey has been a weapon of injustice.”<\/p>\n
She said wh\u0101nau waited seven hours for the release of his body and were granted only one stop on the way to Auckland, enabling them to carry out karakia.<\/p>\n
“You would call it prayer; we would call it karakia. They are not the same.”<\/p>\n
In Auckland for the autopsy, she said restrictions again cut them off from Tahere’s body.<\/p>\n
A presentation in honour of Tahere, and the many iwi, hap\u016b and kura kaupapa he was tied to was played in court.<\/p>\n
M\u014dteatea (chants) and whakatauk\u012b (proverbs) were played on behalf of Te Kura Kaupapa o Hoani Waititi, Te Kura Kaupapa o Whangaroa, Ng\u0101ti Manu and Hokianga.<\/p>\n
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Hundreds of people welcomed Arthur Tahere home to Hoani Waititi marae, where he was a former student.<\/p>\n
Supplied<\/p>\n
A video was played of the moment Tahere’s t\u016bp\u0101paku was returned to Hoani Waititi marae, where hundreds welcomed him home.<\/p>\n
Crown lawyer Eilish O’Connor said Tahere was a much-loved son, brother, nephew and partner, and his son would never get a chance to know him.<\/p>\n
O’Connor submitted Thompson acted with intent and had time to gauge where she should strike with the weapon.<\/p>\n
“Her actions are not simply those of picking up an object. There were a number of deliberate steps taken to pick up and create a weapon.<\/p>\n
“She created what she must have known to be a sharp and lethal weapon.”<\/p>\n
‘This was not the plan’<\/p>\n
Defence lawyer David Reece said Thompson did not accept she was guilty of murder, but was exceptionally remorseful for Tahere’s death.<\/p>\n
“If I could trade places with Arthur, I would do so in a heartbeat,” she said in her letter of remorse, read aloud by Reece.<\/p>\n
“I do not expect my apology to change anything. I wish with all my heart Arthur is still here for the people who love and care for him.”<\/p>\n
Thompson’s mother filed a statement conveying her aroha for the Tahere wh\u0101nau and her daughter, noting she had been lovingly raised and well educated.<\/p>\n
“This was not the plan,” her statement said. “My utmost aroha to you all.”<\/p>\n
It was also revealed that Thompson’s fiance suddenly died a month after Tahere was murdered.<\/p>\n
Justice Natalie Walker acknowledged the Tahere wh\u0101nau’s feelings and the presentation.<\/p>\n
“You’ve conducted yourself with great mana through this process,” she said. “It cannot be easy at all to hear the events that took the life of your taonga.<\/p>\n
“I acknowledge the description, including the insult and indignation you felt in regard to tikanga, court and police process.<\/p>\n
“It [the presentation] was a beautiful wide woven mat – his ancestors of many iwi, connections to Te Kura Kaupapa M\u0101ori o Hoani Waititi and the important part he played as a volunteer for Ng\u0101ti Manu in the environmental management group.”<\/p>\n
Relating to his death, Justice Walker went through her assessment of Thompson’s ever-changing story.<\/p>\n
“In one interview, you said he was either sitting or standing that you couldn’t remember. Then you said, because he was taller than you, you think he must have been sitting down.<\/p>\n
“At trial, you said he was definitely standing. You said he moved closer, leaned in and you looked into his eyes.<\/p>\n
“You said he was threatening you, you said you wanted to push him away, but you stabbed him.”<\/p>\n
Justice Walker determined Tahere was sitting and noted Thompson’s claims that he was threatening her became more elaborate at trial.<\/p>\n
“None of the witnesses heard him utter a threat. I do not find credible evidence Arthur made any threat.”<\/p>\n
The judge said Thompson was caught in the crosshairs of an argument, but her actions were a “gross over-reaction in the most extreme and unnecessary way”.<\/p>\n
Thompson was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.<\/p>\n
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