guilty of murder.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Arthur]()
Arthur Tahere was fluent in te reo and educated in M\u0101ori medium schools. <\/p>\n
At today\u2019s 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
\u2018Weapon of injustice\u2019<\/p>\n
She said they tried their best, but the tikanga practices involving his t\u016bp\u0101paku (body) did not sit alongside the \u201chostile environment\u201d of a criminal investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were forced to fit within an alien context and operated in a situation where it has been severed from m\u0101tauranga [M\u0101ori knowledge],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis final journey has been a weapon of injustice.\u201d<\/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
\u201cYou would call it prayer; we would call it karakia. They are not the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Auckland for the autopsy, she said restrictions again cut them off from Tahere\u2019s 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
A video was played of the moment Tahere\u2019s t\u016bp\u0101paku was returned to Hoani Waititi marae, where hundreds welcomed him home.<\/p>\n
![\"Hundreds]()
Hundreds of people welcomed Arthur Tahere home to Hoani Waititi marae, where he was a former student.<\/p>\n
Crown lawyer Eilish O\u2019Connor 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\u2019Connor submitted Thompson acted with intent and had time to gauge where she should strike with the weapon.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer 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
\u201cShe created what she must have known to be a sharp and lethal weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018This was not the plan\u2019<\/p>\n
Defence lawyer David Reece said Thompson does not accept she is guilty of murder but was exceptionally remorseful for Tahere\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I could trade places with Arthur I would do so in a heartbeat,\u201d she said in her letter of remorse, read aloud by Reece.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thompson\u2019s 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
\u201cThis was not the plan. My utmost aroha to you all,\u201d her statement said.<\/p>\n
It was also revealed that Thompson\u2019s fiance suddenly died a month after Tahere was murdered.<\/p>\n
Justice Natalie Walker acknowledged the Tahere wh\u0101nau\u2019s feelings and the presentation.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve conducted yourself with great mana through this process. It cannot be easy at all to hear the events that took the life of your taonga,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI acknowledge the description, including the insult and indignation you felt in regard to tikanga, court and police process.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt [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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Relating to his death, Justice Walker went through her assessment of Thompson\u2019s ever-changing story.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn one interview, you said he was either sitting or standing that you couldn\u2019t remember … then you said because he was taller than you, you think he must have been sitting down.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt trial you said he was definitely standing. You said he moved closer, leaned in and you looked into his eyes. You said he was threatening you, you said you wanted to push him away but you stabbed him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Justice Walker determined Tahere was sitting and noted Thompson\u2019s claims that he was threatening her became more elaborate at trial.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of the witnesses heard him utter a threat. I do not find credible evidence Arthur made any threat.\u201d<\/p>\n
The judge said Thompson was caught in the crosshairs of an argument, but her actions were a \u201cgross over-reaction in the most extreme and unnecessary way\u201d.<\/p>\n
Thompson was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.<\/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
Join the NZ Herald\u2019s Open Justice team for Case by Case<\/a>, a video and podcast series examining the disputes and decisions making headlines across New Zealand. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The court has heard that at the time of Tahere\u2019s death he had been in an on-and-off relationship…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4727,131961,58251,35839,1558,8532,2082,78,18839,424,4275,111,43,139,69,1118,52087,5161,13172,261233,301272,1361,223,54946,20424,1530],"class_list":["post-611692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-4727","tag-22yearold","tag-arthur","tag-audrey","tag-been","tag-ended","tag-for","tag-in","tag-kaitia","tag-life","tag-murder","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-seconds","tag-sentenced","tag-spotlight","tag-tahere","tag-taheres","tag-that","tag-the","tag-thompson","tag-violent","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611692","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=611692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}