Lynace Parakuka murder: Her mother also died at hands of drunk jealous partner

Luana Raukawa died at the hands of her drunken, jealous partner while celebrating her daughter's 14th birthday party. Nearly a decade later, her daughter - Lynace Parakuka - suffered a violent death in chillingly similar circumstances.

A young woman was beaten to death by her drunk, jealous partner nearly a decade after her mother suffered the same fate.

Lynace Parakuka was celebrating her 14th birthday when her mother was beaten to death by a drunk, jealous man.

Nine years later, Parakuka - now a mother herself - suffered the same fate.

That's the tragic back-story to a murder trial which played out in the High Court at Rotorua this week and ended today with Jason Wiremu Poihipi found guilty of murder.

Lynace Parakuka was viciously punched and kicked in the head up to 20 times and died in the grounds of St Michael's Catholic School in Rotorua in September last year.

The 22-year-old was in the early stages of pregnancy and the mother of a toddler.

Her partner, Jason Wiremu Poihipi, admitted inflicting the fatal blows - including kicking Lynace in the face as she tried to get up - but denied the charge of murder laid by the Crown.

But on Friday he was found guilty of murder.

Lynace Parakuka was 14 when her mother Luana Raukawa was fatally assaulted. Photo / Supplied

"Tragically this is simply a case of a man going to find his girlfriend after she disappeared and bashed her after an argument," Crown prosecutor Duncan McWilliam told the jury during the trial.

"He assaulted her in a way that anyone who had done what he did would have appreciated the likelihood of death."

The 19-year-old Poihipi claimed to be guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter as he did not intend to kill her, or realise his sustained assault would likely kill his partner.

"He lost his cool, he was out of control at the time he lashed out, that is obvious," said defence lawyer Roger Gowing in his closing address.

Poihipi was drunk when he killed Parakuka and told police he confronted her in a rage.

He, wrongly as it turns out, thought he saw her through a window having sex with another man.

Jason Wiremu Poihipi, 19, on trial for murder in the High Court at Rotorua. Photo / Stephen Parker

The toxic combination of alcohol and a jealous lover are nearly identical circumstances to how Parakuka's mother was killed in November 2009.

Luana Ani Raukawa had been drinking at a birthday party for Parakuka in Kaingaroa and decided to go to sleep.

She was visited by another man, who embraced her on the bed.

Watching through the doorway was Gavin Horua who thought Raukawa was cheating on him.

A drunk Horua struck his 38-year-old partner on the bed, dragged her into the hallway and punched her in the face several times.

Raukawa died from her injuries but the post-mortem examination found the cause of death was rare.

The injuries inflicted by Horua, who was 36 at the time, were survivable according to the evidence of the pathologist.

The actual cause of death was bleeding in the brain from severed nerves, which can be attributed to a "whiplash" action.

"The victim's intoxication would have disabled her protective bracing mechanisms with the result that when you inflicted a blow to her head, her head hyper-extended thus causing the fatal injury," said Justice John Priestley.

‌

View note

Horua pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 6 years 3 months in prison.

He did not mean to seriously hurt Raukawa that night but Horua made the "rather alarming comment" that she had recovered from worse injuries inflicted in previous assaults.

"You have a clear predisposition to use violence when faced with emotional conflict. I also note your own mother had a lot to contend with during your childhood. She too was the victim of a violent and abusive relationship," Justice Priestley told Horua in court.

"It is a great shame Mr Horua that the lessons from your childhood did not lead you to avoiding the type of behaviour which made things so miserable for your mother. Instead you have chosen to follow the pattern of your father's behaviour."

Like Horua, Jason Poihipi grew up in a home filled with violence.

"As a young person growing up in that house he developed an indifference to violence. He has seen his mother get up [after a beating] and carry on with her day," Gowing said in his closing address to the jury.

"This broken young man would have had no idea what he did was going to kill his partner - this is a case of manslaughter, not murder."

The jury disagreed and found Poihipi guilty of murder.

He will be sentenced on November 22.

‌

The family of Parakuka declined to be interviewed for this story.

Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, who lives in Rotorua and is the former chief executive of Women's Refuge, would not confirm whether she was related to Raukawa and Parakuka or not.

"When it first came out, a family member asked me not to comment on that, but I do know the family and it saddens me deeply.

"This is truly a very sad case, one that will no doubt be repeated as intergenerational violence is rife in New Zealand," she said.

Raukawa-Tait said, in her opinion, "It does show also that young Māori men are full of rage. They're unable to handle themselves, they're gutless and they take their inability to cope out on young Māori women who think that these men are the greatest, and of course, they're not."

She said in her view men such as Poihipi had few life skills and low self-esteem.

"They're bullies and they're manipulators. Really I think that no self-respecting young woman should even look at them, they shouldn't touch them with a barge pole."

Raukawa-Tait said until young women could gain confidence to take control of their lives, "they will continue to be brutalised".

"I would like to see iwi design interventions that can be delivered and measured."

Family violence costs New Zealand an estimated $4 billion each year, with a 111 call to police made every 5 minutes.

Māori women are three times more likely to be victims and on average 16 women are killed each year by their partners. On a per capita basis, that is double the rate of Australia, Canada or the United Kingdom.

Green MP Jan Logie is the Under-Secretary to the Minister of Justice for domestic and sexual violence.

In a speech this month to a national conference, Logie outlined the Government's action so far which includes a "joint venture" - of 10 chief executives tasked with making government departments work together - as well as more funding for refuge services.

New laws have been passed to make strangulation a distinct crime, as well as "domestic violence leave" for victims to ask employers for time off.

Logie said the next step was a national strategy with an "achievable, measurable plan" to end family and sexual violence in New Zealand.

Gavin Horua at his sentencing hearing in 2011 for the manslaughter of partner Luana Ani Raukawa. Photo / Ben Fraser