Murderer guilty of separate assault

Matiu Korewha has admitted assaulting his partner Barbara Moka months before he murdered her.

A Northland man convicted of murdering his partner has now pleaded guilty to a separate charge of assault that resulted in her receiving two black eyes months before he killed her.

Matiu Korewha, 44, was in early December found guilty of the murder of his partner Barbara Moka by a jury in the High Court at Whangarei and was remanded in custody for sentencing on February 27.

Last week, he appeared in the same court on a charge of injuring Ms Moka with intent to injure. That charge is not related to Ms Moka's murder.

It relates to an incident in January last year when he gave her two black eyes after she refused to go home with him.

Five months later, he murdered her not far from the Te Piiti Marae at Omanaia in the early hours of June 9 before wrapping her body in a blanket and hiding it under a pile of rubbish.

It took the jury just over two hours to find him guilty after a two-week trial. He admitted inflicting the injuries that led to Ms Moka's death, but said he had not meant to kill her.

He chose not to give or call evidence at the completion of the Crown case. Ms Moka's body was left unburied and exposed to the elements for weeks while her family and friends searched in vain for her.

The Crown said Korewha had deceived and diverted others away from his actions, which he never acknowledged.

It emerged during the trial that Korewha had continued beating Ms Moka despite knowing the risk of the victim dying. During the murder trial the Crown asked the jury to focus on the incident in January last year, when Ms Moka received two black eyes after he assaulted her.

He was remanded back in custody until February 27 when he would be sentenced on both offences.