Black Power Whanganui president Damien Kuru acquitted of manslaughter by Supreme Court

Whanganui Black Power president Damien Shane Kuru is challenging his manslaughter conviction for the death of a rival on the grounds the evidence didn't support the jury's findings. Photo / NZME

The Supreme Court has ordered the acquittal of Black Power Whanganui president Damien Shane Kuru, setting aside his conviction as a party to the manslaughter of Mongrel Mob member Kevin Neihana Ratana in a landmark judgment set to put limits on the evidence of police expert witnesses in gang cases.

Kuru has maintained his innocence since he was charged and was only acquitted after his release from prison last year after serving the entirety of his sentence of just over five years, and after being repetaedly denied parole.

In a judgment released last week, the Supreme Court found Detective Inspector Craig Scott, who was called to give expert evidence on gangs at Kuru’s trial, failed to say he was not familiar with the Whanganui Black Power chapter.

The Court also found his evidence lacked balance. The judgment is expected to limit the use of evidence from police witnesses put forward by the Crown as gang experts.

Kuru’s lawyer Christoper Stevenson KC said the judgment was “incredibly important”.

“It vindicates Damien Kuru’s stance throughout that he was innocent, with the Supreme Court now acquitting him, finding that the prosecution case did not support a guilty verdict,” Stevenson said.

“The Supreme Court has also held the police witness gave improper evidence in the case. Police witnesses will not be permitted to give such stereotypical and misleading evidence in the future.”

The Herald has sought comment from police.

During the trial of Kuru and his co-defendants, Scott told the court the president would have the final authority over all chapter business, and that in his experience, a serious crime against another gang would likely occur only with the president’s sanction.

The Supreme Court found Scott’s evidence “lacked the balance that an expert witness should bring to their evidence”.

Whanganui Black Power president Damien Shane Kuru sucessfully challenged his manslaughter conviction for the death of a rival on the grounds the evidence didn't support the jury's findings. Photo / NZME

Its judgment found the detective expressed an opinion on the evidence in a way that tended to suppor the Crown case, but offered no proper basis for such an opinion.

As a result, the Supreme Court concluded the detective’s evidence was insufficiently reliable to justify its admission at the trial. His professional experience was mostly drawn from the Gisborne area, and not Whanganui, the judgment noted.

The judgment said the court was unanimous that Scott’s general evidence on gang hierarchies would have been admissible if it had been appropriately limited and qualified.

Kuru’s sentence of just over five years expired last December and he was present at the Supreme Court hearing in March. He was denied early release when he appeared before the Parole Board in July 2023. A Parole Board spokesman confirmed he was again denied parole in September last year and walked free on his statutory release date in December.

Earlier, the conviction was contested in the Court of Appeal (COA) on the grounds the evidence from Scott was prejudicial.

That court dismissed the challenge, but its panel members were divided on the outcome so the case went to the Supreme Court.

Kuru’s lawyer Jamie Waugh, who took the case to the Supreme Court alongside Stevenson, earlier told the Herald his client refused a pre-trial deal assuring an easy path to an early release in exchange for a guilty plea to stand up for what he believed was “tika”, what was true.

“He said to me once, ‘I would plead guilty if I had done anything wrong - it’s about principles. I wasn’t involved in the death of Kevin Ratana in any way’.

Mongrel Mob member and father of two Kevin Ratana was shot dead by members of the Whanganui Black Power. Gang president Damien Kuru has sucessfully appealed his conviction for his manslaughter. Photo / supplied

On the morning of August 21, 2018, Black Power members, some wearing patches, face coverings and hoodies, descended on an address in Castlecliff where Ratana had been living, demanding he leave their turf.

When Ratana stepped out of the house armed and wearing his patch, he was shot in the neck and died instantly.

The Crown contended Kuru authorised the hit on a member of a rival gang - and a jury agreed, finding him guilty of manslaughter after a six-week trial in the High Court at Wellington in 2021.

Kuru, however, said he played no part in planning the attack, didn’t sanction it and wasn’t at the scene.

Black Power Sergeant at Arms Gordon Anthony Runga was found guilty at trial alongside Kuru.

Sheldon Rogerson pleaded guilty, as a party, to murder, and Damien Charles Fathom-Baker pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

George Block is an Auckland-based reporter with a focus on police, the courts, prisons and defence. He joined the Herald in 2022 and has previously worked at Stuff in Auckland and the Otago Daily Times in Dunedin.