Police found the remains of Jasmaine Reihana in a burnt out vehicle near Ripiro Beach. Photo / Denise Piper/ Facebook
WARNING: This article discusses violence and may be upsetting to some readers.
Workers starting an early shift were the first to notice a farm was not as they’d left it.
A tractor was missing, paddock fences had been crushed and a line of tyre tracks cut a strange path toward the distant beach.
At the end of the trail, they found a burnt‑out car still smouldering in the sand. Inside, were the remains of a woman who had vanished the night before.
Anaru Ihaka Morunga, 35, is currently on trial in the High Court at Whangārei, charged with murdering Jasmaine Reihana, his ex‑partner and mother to two of his children, in September 2024.
The Crown alleges he killed Reihana at the Pouto Peninsula home in Northland 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.
This week witnesses have given evidence about events on September 8 and 9, 2024.
In a police interview, yet to be played to the jury, Morunga admitted he killed Reihana in his home by slitting her throat with a knife.
He said he then carried her body to her car parked in the driveway and drove to the tractor shed on the farm he worked on.
Morunga denied setting the car on fire.
Morunga also told police interviewers gangsters were following him and there was a man with a gun hiding in a hidden floor of Reihana’s car.
A phone mapping expert gave evidence Reihana’s phone was tracked near the farmhouse going back and forward at 5.45pm the night prior.
The phone was then tracked heading to Hinaki Rd at 5.50pm and sent its last signal at 6.19pm near the tractor shed.
It was also around this time, police arrived at the farmhouse after being called by Jones and took photos of blood on the walls before leaving.
Farm owner Chris Biddles gave evidence Morunga had been working on and off for him for two years and was learning to drive the tractor.
When Biddles arrived at the farm after being alerted by workers things were out of place, he found the tractor was missing, fences had been driven through and tyre tracks led down to the beach.
From the shed to the shoreline was about 5km.
Biddles had also been alerted there was a burned car near the beach.
The tractor was nearby, stuck in sand dunes.
While this was occurring, several people were trying to locate Reihana after she had stopped answering her phone about 5.45pm the night prior.
Biddles said he called the Dargaville police station but it was “hopeless” as no one was answering.
He then called 111 to alert them something strange was occurring at his farm.
“I went home to charge my phone and rang Sue,” Biddles said.
“I told her there was a car at the back of the farm on fire and smoking, Sue got really distressed,” he said and she told him, Reihana was missing.
“I phoned 111 again and said it needed to be upgraded from not serious to potentially serious.”
Various detectives, fire officers, forensic pathologists and experts have given evidence of the investigation that unfolded at Ripiro Beach.
When police arrived, the location of the car was so remote, it was only accessible via the beach at low tide.
Detectives discovered Reihana’s burnt body in the back seat of the car with other items.
Detective Wendy McDermott told the court she saw what appeared to be human bones on the rear seat.
Experts said the fire was deliberately lit, most likely with a match or lighter and possibly a flammable liquid.
They also said the fire reached temperatures close to levels used for cremations.
Detective Ryan Cooper said the remnants of a knife with a 30cm blade were found in the car with Reihana’s mobile phone and a curtain rod that was missing from the house.
Under cross-examination by Morunga’s lawyer Arthur Fairley, Cooper was asked whether the car was big enough to have a “false floor”.
“No,” Cooper responded.
“Was a gun located in the search of the vehicle?” Fairley asked.
“No”.
The trial continues for another two weeks 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.