Anaru Morunga is on trial for the murder of his ex-partner and mother of his two children, Jasmaine Reihana.
WARNING: This article discusses violence and may be upsetting to some readers.
The mother of a man accused of murdering his ex-partner says that as her son’s drug-induced paranoia peaked, she begged for help but was repeatedly ignored by police.
Suzanne Morunga said she knew “something was so wrong”, and she was desperate to protect Jasmaine Reihana.
“I was being messed around,” Suzanne Morunga has said in evidence, at the trial of her son, Anaru Ihaka Morunga.
She has recalled repeatedly phoning the police and attending the station around the time of Reihana’s death.
Morunga, 35, is currently on trial in the High Court at Whangārei, charged with murdering Reihana, his ex‑partner and mother to two of his children, in September 2024.
The Crown alleges he killed Reihana at the Pouto Peninsula, Northland, home he shared with his mother, Suzanne Morunga, and her partner of 10 years, Michael Jones.
He is also accused of arson after allegedly setting Reihana’s car alight with her body inside at the far end of the Ripiro Beach farm, before fleeing and leading police on a State Highway 12 chase that ended with his arrest near the Brynderwyn Hills.
In the days before Reihana’s death, the pair had been attending a four‑day tangi in Ōtorohanga with Morunga’s mother.
The tangi has been a focal point of the trial, with witnesses describing Morunga as appearing under the influence of drugs while in attendance.
Suzanne Morunga told the court on Wednesday that her son appeared “out of it”.
“He looked different, like he was on something,” she said in evidence.
Over those four days, she said, Morunga and Reihana travelled to Tauranga and back because her son wanted to visit his father’s grave.
She also gave evidence that Morunga had slept in a shed while Reihana slept in her car.
On Sunday, September 8, the pair travelled back to the Pouto Rd address in Pouto Peninsula while Suzanne Morunga went to South Auckland to assist whānau.
Around 5pm, she received a text from Jones saying Morunga was “fried” and walking around with a knife.
“My antennas went up,” she said.
Suzanne Morunga said she was always in contact with “Jazzy girl” and was tearful describing their relationship.
“She was a good girl,” she said in evidence.
She said the last text she received from Reihana was letting her know they had arrived safely in Pouto, but after the message from Jones, “Jazzy girl” stopped answering her phone.
During that time, Jones had called the police.
When officers arrived around 6.15pm, Jones escorted them to the house, but Morunga and Reihana were gone, and so was Reihana’s car.
Police photographed blood on the walls and floor before leaving.
Suzanne Morunga said she was not in a condition to drive after being at the tangi and desperately needed sleep.
She said she called 111 multiple times throughout the night and at 4.30am began driving back to Pouto.
“It was just taking so long for someone to hear my call. I spent about 40 minutes trying to get someone from police to acknowledge or hear me,” she told the court.
“I was being messed around, something is so wrong.”
She drove straight to the Dargaville police station and banged on the door, but no one answered.
She then called a friend who had a contact at the station, and within minutes an officer appeared.
“When they opened a door, I saw five of them standing there in the back. I ran in there and said you guys need to help me, I’m scared, my son’s not well. He’s fried.”
She said officers asked who her son was.
“I said ‘Anaru Morunga’.”
Suzanne Morunga said they appeared to show no interest.
“If yous are not gonna help me, I’ll go and save Jazzy girl myself,” she recalled saying.
She said an officer told her to “go and get Michael and Jazzy girl, and once you get them off the farm safely, here’s my card, ring me”.
“That’s what happened, and I left. I was disgusted, crying, angry,” she said.
On her way to Pouto Rd, she saw Morunga driving the other way and they both stopped.
“He was looking at me different. I said, ‘How can I help you? Let’s go home and have a cup of tea.’”
She said she was desperate to get her son off the road.
She convinced him to return to the house, but when she arrived, she noticed a strong smell of Janola.
“It was overwhelming, I started to choke.”
She tried to persuade her son to come inside, but he refused and became increasingly agitated.
“I was looking at him and he was getting angry, punching the steering wheel, his truck,” she said.
Her phone then rang and it was her other son, Kahu.
“My oldest said, ‘Go inside, shut the door, make a cup of tea, give the phone to Anaru.’”
She passed the phone to Morunga, but within minutes, he threw it out the window and said, “The cops are after me”, before speeding off, she said.
When she picked up the phone, she was surprised to hear the police on the other end telling her they were on their way.
The Crown told the jury that in Morunga’s police interview, he alleged Reihana was having an affair with his cousin, Ezekial Poharama, and their children were not his.
He also told police that 200 gang members, and Poharama, were at the tangi to kill him, that children were allegedly being raped there, and that his brother had been taken by gangsters.
Morunga claimed he was being followed by a convoy of cars, that a “trigger man” was hiding in a false floor in a vehicle, and unmarked cars were driving up and down the driveway waiting to get him.
He also claimed Reihana was going to sell their children to the Mongrel Mob.
Under cross‑examination, defence lawyer Arthur Fairley asked Suzanne Morunga whether she knew of her son’s allegations about his children.
“Yes, that was a consistent thing,” she said, adding that Reihana had taken DNA tests confirming Morunga was the father.
Suzanne Morunga also said she had not seen Ezekial Poharama in around 15 years and did not see him at the tangi.
Fairley asked whether she had heard threats that the children would be killed or kidnapped if a ransom wasn’t paid within 14 days.
“No, I didn’t,” she said.
Fairley then asked whether she saw unusual cars around the property when she got home.
“No, I didn’t see anybody out there,” she said.
“Did you hear Jasmaine threaten to kill any of your family members?” Fairley asked.
“No.”
“Or Anaru?”
“No, Arthur,” Suzanne responded firmly.
The trial continues before Justice David Johnstone.
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.