Ngāruawāhia teen run down several times as Manuhuia Kupe and Miria Thompson laughed

Manuhuia Tahupotiki Kupe, 29, and Miria Thompson, 27, appeared for sentencing in the High Court at Hamilton. Photo / Belinda Feek

After intentionally driving his car into a 15-year-old boy several times on a rural Ngāruawāhia road, Manuhuia Kupe and his partner, Miria Thompson, got out of their vehicle and laughed at him as he lay pinned underneath.

They got back in the car, and Kupe drove it off him.

However, the 29-year-old then did a U-turn and struck the teen again, dragging him several metres towards a fence he’d just smashed through.

In total, Crown Solicitor Jacinda Hamilton said the victim, now aged 16, was struck six times, while Kupe’s defence counsel, Megan King, believed it to be three.

Either way, Justice Graham Lang labelled it as “extreme violence ... with a degree of callousness”, before jailing Kupe for seven years and eight months, and sentencing Thompson to 10 months of home detention.

Aggravating Kupe’s situation was that he acted similarly just six months earlier when he shoved a 77-year-old grandmother on to the ground before also hitting her with his vehicle.

Perhaps, even worse for the teen victim, was that he was mistakenly identified by the couple as a witness in the case involving the grandmother.

Kupe had just appeared for sentencing in the Huntly District Court on that matter when it was adjourned and he left the court only to come across the teen victim shortly afterwards.

‘Come here, I will kill you’

The full extent of Kupe and Thompson’s offending has not been able to be revealed until today, when they were in the High Court at Hamilton for sentencing on both matters.

Kupe’s two sets of offending amasses 10 pages of summary of facts and includes the pair lying about their involvement with the teen to police afterwards.

Manuhuia Tahupotiki Kupe was sent to prison for his offending. Photo / Belinda Feek

For Kupe, it began on the evening of October 22, 2023.

The elderly victim was cleaning the front yard of her Ngāruawāhia home when she walked across the road to dispose of some garden waste.

Thompson drove past her at speed, narrowly missing her.

“You nearly hit me, you f****** b******”, the woman yelled.

Kupe became enraged and gestured at her before stopping his car, reversing and getting out.

“Come here, I will kill you,” he kept yelling, along with, “Get here, I will kill you.”

Reaching the victim, whom he did not know, in her driveway, he shoved her with two hands, resulting in her falling backwards on to the concrete and hitting her head.

Kupe continued to abuse her as he returned to his car.

He then reversed up the road at speed and accelerated towards the victim.

As she tried to move backward, his car struck her with a glancing blow to her hip, which shoved her into a fence and knocked her over.

Sometime later, Kupe returned and began begging her for forgiveness, grabbing hold of her and not letting her go until she forgave him.

‘You’re dead’

On April 10 last year, Kupe was due to be sentenced in the Huntly District Court for that offending, on charges of threatening to cause grievous bodily harm, male assaults female, careless driving, and assaulting a person with a blunt instrument.

But the hearing was adjourned and he was granted bail.

Kupe left court and hopped into his black Toyota, in which Thompson was waiting.

They drove south, toward Hopuhopu, north of Ngāruawāhia, and at 4.55pm they saw the teen victim walking along Old Taupiri Rd.

After they passed him the victim crossed the road, and Kupe stopped his car and reversed, intending to hit him.

Miria Thompson was sentenced to home detention for her involvement. Photo / Belinda Feek

Kupe was heard saying, “You’re dead”.

The victim dodged the car and went back on to the footpath.

Kupe stopped his car and asked the victim if he was the young witness in his case involving the grandmother, to which the teen said no.

Kupe reversed his car again, swung it around so it was facing the victim, and said, “I was gonna hit you.”

Fearing for his life, the victim ran, initially hiding behind a tree. As he did, Kupe was heard calling him by the name of the actual witness and saying, “you bastard ... you’re dead.”

The victim kept running, trying to find protection.

“You gave me seven years,” Kupe yelled out while ordering him to stop running.

Kupe got out of the car and in fear of being assaulted, the teen ran.

But Kupe got back behind the wheel and chased him.

The victim tried to get into a member of the public’s vehicle, but the driver locked the door and drove away.

Kupe then accelerated toward the victim, who was standing near a fence, and hit him while travelling at 15 to 20km/h, causing him to fall backwards on to the ground.

He then got up and tried to jump over the fence but as he did, Kupe drove at him again, hitting him as he had one leg over the fence.

Kupe crashed through the fence, sending the victim flying through the air.

As he lay on the ground, Kupe ran over him, dragging him under the car for several metres.

While trapped beneath the front wheels, the couple got out of the car and laughed at him as he lay helpless.

They got back in the vehicle and Kupe drove off him and then did a U-turn and accelerated towards him again.

The victim was hit and dragged for several metres while Thompson yelled out that he was a “snitch”.

At that point, members of the public arrived to help, and the pair drove towards a relative’s house in Taupiri.

About 40 minutes later, Kupe rang police and said his Toyota had been stolen.

They then drove it to Pukemokemoke Reserve in Tauhei and abandoned it.

Kupe was arrested two days later.

In her interview, Thompson said the car was stolen while they visited a deceased relative at Taupiri Maunga, and denied knowing the car had been used to assault the victim.

However, as she was being dropped home by police, she fessed up. Thompson said Kupe was “seeing red” and both of them were upset at Kupe “going away for false allegations”.

The teen victim suffered extensive injuries, including fractures to an arm, leg, his clavicle, ribs, and spine. He also had a lacerated liver and spleen, a bruised pancreas and suffered bowel injuries.

NZME understands the victim is now mobile again.

‘It was quite spontaneous’

In court, Crown Solicitor Jacinda Hamilton said Kupe’s offending had been “rather understated” by his counsel, Megan King.

“This offending occurred while he was on bail and involved him chasing the young man down with his vehicle before lining him up on multiple occasions and driving over him repeatedly in an attempt to kill him.”

Reading through the summary of facts, Hamilton counted that the victim had been struck six times.

However, King disagreed and argued he’d only been hit three times.

Justice Lang wasn’t convinced, and suggested four, which King accepted.

King argued that there had been no premeditation involved in the offending, stating it “was quite spontaneous”.

But the judge had a differing opinion.

“Yes, they didn’t go out looking for him. But they didn’t drive off ... the vehicle was used multiple times,” he said.

“It must be premeditated. A conscious decision was made to do that.”

King said Kupe had a rough upbringing after his father died and was brought up by his grandparents, surrounded by drugs, alcohol and violence.

She pushed for an eight-year term of imprisonment as the starting point for both sets of offending, while Hamilton submitted 11 years and six months.

Justice Lang opted for 12 years and then issued a 25% discount for his guilty plea.

Following credit for other factors, including his upbringing, Kupe was then sentenced to seven years and eight months’ imprisonment and disqualified from driving for two years.

‘Tragic situation for everyone’

Thompson’s counsel Rosalind Brown said it was her client’s first time in court.

She added that although Thompson was in the car, said the word “snitch” and may have encouraged Kupe, just being present in the car wasn’t enough to make her offending any more serious.

Thompson had since done a lot of rehabilitative work and written a letter of remorse to the victim’s family.

“This is a tragic situation for everybody, but the court can step back from prison,” Brown submitted.

She added that Thompson also had the care of the couple’s young child, and as Kupe would be jailed, the Bangkok Rules – which address the needs of women in the justice system – applied.

Justice Lang agreed that home detention was suitable and gave her a 10-month term, much to the disgust of the victim’s family, who stormed out swearing.

“F*** this shit,” one said, while another said, “Who’s going to look after [victim], us”.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.