An Atiamuri man has been found guilty of murdering his partner in a savage beating where she was struck more than 70 times.
A jury in the High Court at Rotorua took 45 minutes on Tuesday to find James Te Hiko, 44, guilty of murdering 41-year-old Queenie Karaka, known as Nina Thompson, at Atiamuri in April last year.
When the verdict was delivered Thompson's family gasped, a number crying with relief.
Te Hiko didn't flinch as the verdict was delivered.
In an unusual move, Justice Murray Gilbert allowed Te Hiko to address his whanau after the verdict was delivered and the jury had left the court.
Thompson's family declined to hear from him and left the court.
Turning in the dock, his hands pressed against the glass separating him from the gallery, Te Hiko said "to my family who love and support me, I love you from the bottom of my heart".
They responded in unison that they loved him too.
He then claimed there were a lot of things that should have been said that weren't.
"That is what this system is all about," he said before Justice Murray Gilbert ordered him to say nothing further.
Continuing to speak, Te Hiko assured his supporters, many of whom were sobbing, that he was sorry Ms Thompson's whanau didn't want to hear what he had to say.
The trial had lasted six days where the Crown argued the accused knew Thompson could die from the savage drug- and alcohol-fuelled beating he dished out after she suggested she could find another man.
Te Hiko argued it was a case of manslaughter.
Outside court, one Te Hiko whanau member said of the verdict "it is what it is" but she declined to speak further.
Other members abused the jury and the media.
By then there was no sign of Thompson's family.
Te Hiko will be sentenced on April 28.
- AAP