Whanau visit spot where Kimble Moore's body was found

Iris Simeon (fourth from left), the mother of Kimble Moore's partner, Shinella, with other whanau and friends, at a karakia where the body of Mr Moore was found last month.

"Hopefully, this is the end of it all."

So said a tearful Iris Simeon, when family and friends of Kimble Moore gathered at the remote Fairburn location where the Waipapakauri man's body was found by police, six months after he was reported missing.

Kimble Moore.

Mrs Simeon, mother of Mr Moore's partner Shinella, said she had not liked seeing the place where he had been found but she was there for her girl.

"Our family has been through it all," she said, "suicide, missing, now murder, but we must go on."

And Maori had to put a stop to violence among themselves, she said.

"We are destroying one another," Ms Simeon said. "It has to stop. There has to be teaching within our whanau.

"When our children grow up, they take their own path, but we have to love them and support them. We are here to show that we care about one another."

Mr Moore, she said, had high principles and morals. Some people had seen only a gangster but she had seen the better side of him, a man who, for instance, was strongly opposed to violence against women.

Mr Moore, 48, was a member of the Tribesmen.

Hone Bassett, who led the brief service, said suffering and shame had been brought upon the whanau.

"Closure must be what we all look for now," he said.

He thanked the police for finding Mr Moore and those who had taken him back to Taupo Bay, where he belonged.

"There is no way our bro would have wanted to be here for the rest of his eternal life," he said.

"I don't know how Christian he was, or if he was Christian at all. The things he did suggest he was not that way inclined, but he deserves our karakia.

"Be strong, whanau, for the next few days, the next few weeks. There is no need now to come back to this place."

Mr Moore was last seen in the company of a fellow gang member on March 31. Police said the focus was now on bringing the person or persons responsible for Mr Moore's death to justice.