Napier brothers guilty of manslaughter in Mongrel Mob killing

Codi Wilkinson, who was found dead in September 2019, dumped on a property at Bunnythorpe, near Palmerston North. Photo / Supplied

Two Napier brothers have been found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter in the 2019 killing of a fellow Napier gang member.

Jeremiah Su'a, now described as the Mongrel Mob Aotearoa Manawatū president but who grew-up in Napier, was convicted along with brother and fellow mob member Mariota Su'a, among five accused in a trial in the High Court in Palmerston North.

Jeremiah Su'a played for the Mob's Bulldogs rugby league team and also played several Lion Red Cup matches for the Hawke's Bay Unicorns under coach and eventual Kiwi coach Gary Kemble.

A third Mob member - Quentin Joseph Moananui – was also found guilty of manslaughter, Stuff reports.

All three were also found guilty of participating in an organised criminal group and wounding Kyle Rowe with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Moananui was also found guilty of kidnapping two men.

It related to the death of fellow Mob member Codi Jarmen Wilkinson, who was 27 when he died. It was up to a fortnight before his body was found on September 27, 2019, in Bunnythorpe.

It was also a fortnight after friend Rowe had been admitted to hospital with a serious head wound, later related to the events surrounding Wilkinson's death.

After a trial lasting 11 weeks and a jury deliberation of more than four days last week, the jury was hung on verdicts on the involvement of further accused Dean Arthur Jennings and Jason David Signal, who was not a gang member but was an associate of Jeremiah Su'a, Stuff reports.

All five had denied the charges relating to a machete attack the Crown claimed was staged as part of a gang depatching amid claims Wilkinson and Rowe had robbed a drug dealer without the consent from the chapter leader, and then failed to share proceeds and lied to the president.

The Su'a brothers and Moananui are expected to be sentenced later this year.

Justice Helen Cull ordered a new trial for the two other accused.