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At the age of 3, Arohaina Henare was the sole survivor of a car crash which killed her mother. Thirty-one years later, she was stabbed to death, leaving her six children motherless.
Moses Mohi Taua, 49, was sentenced on Tuesday to life imprisonment with no parole for 10 years formurdering Henare, who was living in a sleepout at the Napier property also occupied by Taua and his partner.
After a day of drinking and using methamphetamine and cannabis, Taua confronted her in the sleepout in the early hours of November 18 last year, swinging a knife into her chest because of a dispute in which he had asked her to move out.
The courts have been told Henare had shoved Taua’s partner during a disagreement earlier.
“How dare you put your hands on my missus,” Taua said as he stabbed her and she begged him to stop.
After Henare dropped to the floor, bleeding and unconscious, neither Taua nor his partner dialled 111. Emergency services were called by friends of Henare, who came calling about 4.20am.
Four days short of the first anniversary of her death, members of Henare’s whānau gave emotional victim impact statements to the High Court.
They were divided between courtrooms in Wellington and Napier, connected by audio-visual links.
The statements included one from her “broken-hearted” 10-year-old son, which was read to the court by an adult.
He said he cries over the loss of his mother at night, and when he looks at her photo in his bedroom. He missed her on his birthday, her birthday and Mother’s Day.
“I miss her hugs, her kisses, her laughs - everything about her.”
The family statements described Arohaina as a whānau member who was fiercely loyal, compassionate and deeply loved. Relatives spoke of their deep, pure pain, grief, sorrow and heartbreak at losing her.
Arohaina’s sister, Te Whetu Henare, said they had been raised by their grandparents after their mother died in the car accident.
She said “our most beautiful soul” was left in a shed, drowning in her own blood. She wondered if her sister had been scared or suffering in pain, or crying for her children.
“I loved her and ... I never left her feeling alone. Yet in her final hours, she was alone, and that kills me.”
Te Whetu said she was horrified by the reality that Taua still lived while Arohaina did not.
“We have been condemned to a life of mourning and missing her.”
Justice Helen McQueen said Henare had six children. She did not specify their ages. The children are being cared for by relatives.
She sentenced Taua to the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment, and set a starting point of 11 years for the minimum non-parole period.
Forensic staff at the scene of Arohaina Henare's murder on Nuffield Ave, Napier. Photo / Paul Taylor
She discounted that by one year for his guilty plea, which saved the family and the courts from the time, anguish and expense of a trial.
Because murder carries a minimum non-parole period of 10 years, she was unable to give a further discount for his personal circumstances, which included the normalisation of violence in his upbringing and being abused at the age of 6 or 7.
Taua was a former member of the Nomads gang who began drinking at the age of 10.
Justice McQueen said that a report writer had noted that Taua prays every day, hoping Henare can hear him and his apology.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.
