Police at the scene of the fatal assault on December 20 on Jellicoe St, Hastings which led to the death of Javon Aranui. Photo / Paul Taylor
Two 19-year-old men were granted name suppression when they appeared in court on Thursday charged with the murder of Hawke’s Bay man Javon Aranui.
The two appeared in the Hastings District Court – one in person and one via an audio visual link – in front of a public gallery filled with about 30 of their supporters.
Judge Bruce Davidson remanded both in custody to appear again in the High Court at Napier on March 15.
The men’s counsel, Matthew Phelps and Eric Forster, each applied for interim name suppression for their clients.
Judge Davidson said he was granting interim name suppression to protect the two men’s fair trial rights.
The man represented by Phelps faces other charges unrelated to the death of Javon Jesse Aranui, 24, who was found with serious head injuries in the Hastings suburb of Mayfair in the early hours of December 20.
Aranui, described by his family as a “happy-go-lucky person”, died in hospital the following day.
Police earlier thanked members of the public who came forward and provided information to assist the investigation.
“Our investigation team have been working tirelessly to get this result,” Detective Senior Sergeant Sally Patrick said.
Police had put a police caravan at the Splash Planet pool complex in January in the hope that someone in the area would share information with them.
Aranui’s mother, Annabell Tumanako, went missing from Napier in 2007 in what has become one of Hawke’s Bay’s most high-profile cold cases.
Tumanako’s body was never found despite a huge search and investigation. Police deemed her disappearance was “most likely” the result of “foul play” and the police file remains open.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.
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