Fashion designer Kharl Wirepa appears in the Rotorua District Court and pleads guilty to two charges. Photo / Kelly Makiha
Fashion designer Kharl Wirepa appears in the Rotorua District Court and pleads guilty to two charges. Photo / Kelly Makiha
A Rotorua fashion designer and former beauty pageant reality show star has pleaded guilty to two charges in court.
Kharl William WiRepa, 34, appeared in the Rotorua District Court yesterday for what was supposed to be a judge-alone trial for two burglary charges.
Before the trial started, however, WiRepa pleadedguilty to one burglary charge and to an amended charge of unlawfully being on a property.
Two people jointly charged with burglary alongside WiRepa had their charges dropped. Judge Greg Hollister-Jones told Manunui Deane Marshall McKinnon and Karena Edwina Kelly they were free to go.
The burglary charge WiRepa admitted related to breaking into a building at 1298 Tūtānekai St on Christmas Eve in 2024.
The amended charge related to his being found without reasonable excuse in a building at 1181 Pukuatua St. That charge carries a maximum prison sentence of three months.
WiRepa’s lawyer, Douglas Hall, said WiRepa admitted the burglary charge on the condition the police summary of facts was amended to say the amount stolen was valued under $5000, not over $5000.
Kharl WiRepa has admitted a charge of burglary at 1298 Tūtānekai St (pictured) on Christmas Eve, 2024. Photo / Google Maps
The summary could not yet be released to the media as it was being amended administratively.
Judge Hollister-Jones remanded WiRepa on continued bail to reappear for a judge-alone trial on unrelated matters on March 9.
On that day, he will defend charges that he stole more than $8400 from the Miss Rotorua Foundation, which he founded.
WiRepa was originally charged with this offending in December 2024, and 10 fraud charges of obtaining by deception from the Miss Rotorua Foundation were added in 2025.
WiRepa admitted earlier charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of cannabis, burglary of a lamp from Skingraft Rotorua, shoplifting make-up worth $298.93 from New World and $75.76 of cosmetics from Chemist Warehouse, and breaching bail by failing to attend court.
The drug charges stem from police raiding the Miss Rotorua Foundation premises on Pukuatua St in December 2024, where WiRepa lived at the time.
Kharl WiRepa photographed in August 2022. Photo / Andrew Warner
He was sentenced to 160 hours’ community work on the charges he pleaded guilty to. Judge Hollister-Jones said he would not sentence WiRepa on the two charges he admitted on Wednesday until after his judge-alone trial on March 9.
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.
