Anaru Morunga will serve at least 17 years without parole for the murder of his ex-partner and the mother of his two children, Jasmaine Reihana (inset). Photo / NZME
WARNING: This article discusses graphic violence and may be upsetting to some readers.
A numbness of the soul.
Those are the words used to describe Anaru Morunga – a man who had a pattern of making threats, intimidation and declared almost a decade ago that he “owned” the woman he went on to kill.
As Morunga was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years for the murder of his ex-partner, Jasmaine Reihana, her family spoke of a loss so profound it “will shape their children’s lives forever”.
“Jasmaine’s absence is felt every day, in milestones she will never witness, in guidance she can no longer give, and in the love her children will always miss,” her sister said at Morunga’s sentencing in the High Court at Whangārei this morning.
At the murder trial in March, the jury heard the pair had been away at a four-day tangi, then returned to the home he shared in Poutō with his mother and her partner.
At the tangi, Morunga gave a speech while high on methamphetamine, which Justice David Johnstone described at sentencing as “an embarrassment”.
The judge believed Morunga was then brooding over his shortcomings and exposing his vulnerabilities in front of whānau.
“That, combined with your significant methamphetamine use, inspired a false sense of persecution. In other words, a false feeling on your part that there might be people in your vicinity who were out to get you. Your thinking was disordered,” Justice Johnstone said.
The jury heard Morunga believed people were following him, that Reihana planned to kill him, and a trigger man was hiding in a hidden floor of the vehicle.
Reihana drove them to the house in Poutō that he shared with his mother and stepfather, who instantly noticed Morunga’s agitated behaviour.
When his stepfather left briefly to call the police, Morunga slit Reihana’s throat, threw her body into her car and drove it to the far end of the farm he worked on and set it alight.
When he was arrested and taken in for questioning, he admitted he had killed Reihana.
“I just walked over to her, grabbed her, pulled the knife out and cut her throat,” he said in his police interview recorded in September 2024.
Despite the admission, he pleaded not guilty and took the case to trial, where he got in the dock and gave a re-enactment to the jury of how he killed Reihana.
In that evidence, he changed his story and said Reihana had a gun and he had to kill her to protect his family.
“I pulled, she pulled, I won,” he testified.
He asked from the dock, “How come no one believes my story?”
Reihana’s family members delivered victim impact statements about the devastating loss of their girl, who was known as “Jaz”.
“Nothing can fully express the depth of loss our family has suffered. I do not believe that any of us will ever have complete closure around the circumstances of Jasmaine’s death,” her sister said.
The statement said they were hopeful the two families could move forward for the sake of the children.
“No family emerges from this without loss.
“This is a burden no child should ever have to carry, and it will shape their lives forever. Jasmaine’s absence is felt every day, in milestones she will never witness, in guidance she can no longer give, and in the love her children will always miss.”
The family said they would continue to honour Reihana’s memory and find a path that allows healing, dignity, and peace.
Crown lawyer Bernadette O’Connor submitted Morunga’s actions were callous, driven by his own jealousy and paranoia.
“His attitude toward the offending is a graphic demonstration of a want of feeling, or insensibility, amounting to a numbness of the soul,” O’Connor said.
O’Connor also pointed out Morunga had told pre-sentence report writers he was the victim, which defence lawyer Arthur Fairley elaborated on, saying:
“Obviously this man is a victim, there’s no question of that. He’s seen things no child should see, and he’s seen things that he’s seen.
“What he was struggling to say really, sir, was, well, he’s had losses as well.”
In summing up, Justice Johnstone referred to Morunga’s criminal history of violence, including an earlier incident where he threatened to kill Reihana.
“During that two-day episode, you said to Ms Reihana, ‘I own you’, and you threatened her with further violence.
“Mr Morunga, it appears you had thought about killing Ms Reihana with a knife on occasion for around eight years before you did kill her with a knife.”
Justice Johnstone said Morunga was callous and brutal, and Reihana was particularly vulnerable, having had a long history with him and remaining in contact for the relationships of their children.
“Without any form of provocation from Ms Reihana, you decided to, and you did, kill her using the knife.
“You suggested this was because she had aligned herself with those imagined people who were out to get you and that their plan was at some unknown time in the future to kill you, your mother and other relatives of yours.
“You told the police that Ms Reihana did not scream. The following are your words: ‘She accepted her fate, she understood it was either me or her. I told her they should have shot me.’”
Justice Johnstone said Morunga’s disordered thinking and paranoid delusions were associated with excessive methamphetamine consumption.
The judge said Morunga continued to adopt an unfeeling approach to Reihana’s life and death.
“You described killing her using disgraceful language. You said, these are your words, you ‘just f***** stabbed her in the neck and just cut her right open like a sheep’.”
Justice Johnstone did not accept Morunga was a victim because of his upbringing and awarded him no discount in sentencing.
“You’re in your mid-30s and, with your track record of violence, you have plainly failed to respond to life lessons about how you should behave, and you must be held accountable.
“You have no remorse, no insight into the appalling nature of your conduct.”
Morunga was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.
Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.