Mr Wright was bashed and "pelted" at a Hastings flat by Rakuraku with the Maori weapon and later buried in a shallow grave near Eskdale, north of Napier.
On August 26, 2011, Rakuraku's former partner "came clean" to police and led detectives to the grave.
She said she had found Mr Wright's body on June 23, 2011, slouched in the Hastings home where he had been kept prisoner and constantly beaten by Rakuraku.
The couple drove north from Hastings, under Rakuraku's direction, before reaching the Napier-Taupo Rd and turning off on to a cycle trail and burying Mr Wright's body, she said.
Crown Prosecutor Steve Manning said Rakuraku's motive for the crime was to avoid police custody.
He used intimidation and violence to gain control of his victims, their "safe houses" and finances in a desperate bid to escape the law, Mr Manning said.
Rakuraku also made efforts to eradicate the evidence, by bleaching and painting the flat where Mr Wright died, and by "training" his ex partner to provide police with a "master plan" during her "interrogation".
Mr Manning said the expert medical witnesses had made it "crystal clear" that Mr Wright had died as a direct result of the 36 rib fractures, some caused by the taiaha beating, two days before his death.
After firing his defence counsel, Russell Fairbrother QC and Leo Lafferty, on day one of the trial, Rakuraku defended himself and delayed the proceedings on several occasions.
The delays caused considerable distress among the large group of Mr Wright's family and friends who attended the proceedings.
His former representation were appointed amicus curiae (friend of the court) by Justice Joe Williams to preserve the integrity of the court.