Tribesmen gang’s alleged ‘hotbox’ murder of member Mark ‘Shark’ Hohua

Minutes before Tribesmen Aotearoa gang members allegedly delivered a brutal and fatal assault on one of their own at an Eastern Bay of Plenty property, children had been happily bouncing on a trampoline.

Those children belonged to Tribesmen president Conway Rapana, who in June 2022 was living at the Hodges Rd, Waimana, property with his partner, Jolene Biddle.

Shortly after alleged murder victim Mark ‘Shark’ Hohua and his son arrived, along with co-defendant Te Patukino Biddle, an attack began as a punishment for unauthorised purchases from an online website, Layaway.

Rapana, vice president Heremaia Gage, patched members Ngahere Tapara and Te Patukino Biddle, and prospect Dean Collier today began their retrial in the High Court at Hamilton over the alleged murder of Hohua.

Biddle pleaded guilty to Hohua’s manslaughter, but Crown Solicitor Richard Jenson told the jury the case was “a murder”.

The trial first began in the Rotorua High Court in May last year but was abandoned after a week after Justice Geoffrey Venning became ill.

It is now being heard by a jury of seven women and five men before Justice David Johnstone.

The Layaway purchases, and the ‘small mercy’

Opening the Crown case, Jenson told the jury the case was about a fatal assault by a group of Tribesmen gang members on one of their own on June 18, 2022.

Hohua had been seriously assaulted by fellow Tribesmen Aotearoa gang members as he’d made unauthorised purchases using the chapter bank account.

The attack by the gang on one of their own members for alleged “wrongdoings or offences” was described as a “hotbox”, he said.

The hot box was sanctioned by the chapter’s president, and as with any assault or bashing, the “consequences are severe”.

“Mark Hohua was hot-boxed on 18 June and the next day, 19 June ... Mr Hohua died from his injuries.”

Hohua had made three purchases from an online website, Layaway, which sold household and personal items, between September 2020 and December 2021.

Tribesmen Aotearoa president Conway Rapana. Photo / Belinda Feek

Layaway allowed customers to pay for items in instalments.

Hohua had set up those payments to come from the Tribesmen’s bank account - but he didn’t have permission to do it.

Jenson said Hohua’s purchases were not discovered until a day or two before his death.

Word quickly spread about what he’d done.

With a club meeting scheduled for June 18, Hohua’s actions were to be the “number one item on the agenda”, Jenson said.

Tribesmen Aotearoa vice president Heremaia Gage, left, and patched member Ngahere Tapara in the High Court at Hamilton today. Photo / Belinda Feek

So keen for Hohua to attend the meeting, it was arranged for Biddle to be dropped off at his house and to travel back with him to Rapana’s property.

Jenson said shortly before Hohua arrived, children had been bouncing on a trampoline at the rural Hodges Rd property.

Drone footage, which was coincidentally being filmed by Biddle’s brother at the time Hohua’s vehicle arrived, was also shown to the jury.

A second vehicle, containing Tapara, then arrived, and the attack allegedly began.

Jenson alleged the attack started in a shed and continued around different parts of the property as Hohua tried to escape.

Patched Tribesmen Aotearoa member Te Patukino Biddle in the High Court at Hamilton. Photo / Belinda Feek

Rapana then ordered for Hohua’s son to be taken home, which Jenson described as “some sort of small mercy so he wouldn’t have to see what was unfolding”.

Hohua was then bundled into the boot of Rapana’s Toyota and driven to a nearby river, with Rapana following on his motorbike.

There, he was “cleaned up”, although Jenson said it may have been possible the assault continued down at the river.

Tribesmen Aotearoa prospect Dean Collier in the High Court at Hamilton today. Photo / Belinda Feek

After being taken back to Rapana’s house, he was bundled into Collier’s car and driven by him, with Tapara, to Whakatāne Hospital, “at speed”.

There, the pair allegedly told medical staff that they found Hohua by a bridge, that they didn’t know him, and were simply on their way to work.

‘This is a murder’

Jenson told the jury the defendants were guilty of murder either as a principal offender, or as a party, by aiding and abetting or encouraging the principal offender.

Although Biddle had pleaded guilty to manslaughter, that plea was based on the fact that shortly after the hotbox, Hohua became “frightened” and fled, and suffered his fatal injury after falling down a bank.

He told the jury that if they accepted Biddle’s version of events, they should also find his co-defendants guilty of manslaughter, but reiterated it was their case that Hohua died from the assault itself.

“The Crown says this is a murder ... not some frightening and falling down a bank.”

Defence counsel will deliver a brief opening tomorrow morning, before the Crown calls its first witness.

The trial is set down for four weeks.

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.