Also in the courtroom today were Hauwai’s remains - her ashes brought by the victim’s still-distraught mother, who confronted Komene with an emotional victim impact statement.
Hauwai and Komene had been in an on-again-off-again relationship since they were both 17 and had three children together. Although Hauwai had spent the past year living in Christchurch and was in a new relationship, she came up to Māngere Bridge and stayed with Komene’s extended family so they could be together with the children over Christmas last year, according to the agreed summary of facts for the case.
Around 9am on December 30, the former couple were in a bathroom together at the house when Komene attacked his ex without apparent warning or provocation - punching her with what he later estimated to be “8 to 10″ force on a scale of 10 before choking her to death.
His younger sisters were downstairs and he wanted to muffle her screams so he wouldn’t get in trouble with them, he would later tell police of why he strangled the woman.
“Mr Komene attempted to clean up the blood in the bathroom using a towel and some clothing,” court documents state. “He picked up Ms Hauwai from the bathroom floor and carried her downstairs to take her to the car.”
His sisters saw him carrying Hauwai in his arms, holding her up against his body.
“Stupid idiot, she slipped,” he replied when one sister asked him what happened.
He said he was taking Hauwai to the hospital and he initially put her in the front seat of his vehicle but moved her to the boot before leaving the home, the agreed facts state.
He did then drive to Middlemore Hospital, but it was to pick up other family members who had an appointment there. His parents were unaware the victim was in the boot as he drove them from the hospital to McDonald’s for breakfast and then dropped them off at home.
He then took the vehicle to run errands with another sister.
“During the drive [his sister] observed that the defendant appeared to be distressed, and that as he drove, he began to cry quietly,” court documents state. “He told her he had ‘f***ed up’ and that he had ‘hurt Shyanne’.”
But he didn’t yet explain the full extent of what he had done, and the two continued on to a Mt Roskill New World, a Mt Albert cafe, a petrol station and to the Sylvia Park area. Meanwhile, at the family home, relatives found blood in the bathroom and Komene’s mother got so worried she called him with an ultimatum: arrange for a video call with Hauwai within an hour so they could be sure she was safe or she would call police.
Komene claimed the victim was with her own family at a funeral. When confronted about the blood in the bathroom, he admitted he had punched Hauwai but insisted she was “all good”.
At about 1pm, Komene went into a Mitre 10 store in Manukau while his sister waited in the car. When he returned with the scissors, he immediately went to the boot of the vehicle and cut off some of the victim’s hair, documents state.
“When the defendant returned to the car, [his sister] noticed that he appeared to be chewing on hair,” according to the summary of facts. “She became frightened and asked him what he was doing. At that point, the defendant began crying and admitted, ‘I killed her. She’s in the boot.’”
Through tears, his sister told him he needed to turn himself in and he agreed - driving immediately to nearby Manukau Police Station.
“I’m sorry, she’s dead,” he told his family via speakerphone as he drove to the police station - eliciting screams as he hung up the phone.
At the police station, he went to the boot and embraced the body before going to the front desk, documents state.
“I think I killed someone,” he said through tears with his sister by his side. “The body is in my car.”
He then went back to the vehicle and sat at the rear of the car with the boot open and waited for police to arrest him.
In an interview that followed, he gave a full confession. He described falling into a “primal” state just prior to the attack but couldn’t say what caused it.
“I felt red. I actually saw red - red and white in my eyes,” he told a detective. “They blinded me, as if you squeeze your eyes and there’s little ... things you see. That’s the colour I saw.
“And before I knew it I had made impact with the side of her face with my left hand. That’s ... when I seen that colour. By the time I opened my eyes I was committing to a swing.”
The punch, he recalled, knocked Hauwai unconscious for several seconds as she fell to the bathtub. When she awoke, she started screaming with blood coming out of her mouth, he told police.
He then demonstrated a chokehold he said he put the victim in, fearful that his sister would “go off” if she heard what was going on. While the chokehold wasn’t “hard at first”, the pressure increased when he heard her continue to scream, he suggested.
He claimed the victim was still breathing when he put her in the boot but noticed she had died when he looked in the boot briefly after taking his parents home from the hospital appointment.
A post-mortem examination the following day determined that the cause of Hauwai’s death was neck compression. There was also evidence of a brain bleed, indicating blunt-force trauma.
During a victim impact statement this morning, Hauwai’s mother described how the ongoing trauma caused by the violent nature of her daughter’s death had led to struggles with relationships, job performance and alcohol. She expressed profound sadness for what Komene also took from his own children.
“Jackson, I loved you as my own son and I hated you for many months,” she said as she turned to face Komene. “But I have let go of the hatred for the sake of my own mental health.
“I feel this act is unforgivable... I will never be the same.”
Komene seemed to wince and his eyes became glassly as the mother addressed him.
The mother said she had brought her daughter’s ashes with her so she could be there to “hopefully find some justice”.
Crown prosecutor Aysser Al-Janabi asked Justice Venning to take into account the “gross breach of trust” involving the killing of Hauwai in a home where she was supposed to feel welcomed and safe, as well as his “pattern” of abusive behaviour and the callousness of leaving her body in the boot for several hours.
Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield KC disagreed that showed callousness and the judge partially agreed, describing it instead as an “unfortunate indignity”.
Mansfield described his client as having been under the influence of methamphetamine that morning, which he acknowledged was a “dangerous combination” when considering his history of being quick to anger.
“He is very much aware that his actions have caused others significant harm,” Mansfield said.
“He knows he has issues with anger. He knows he has issues with drug addiction. And he knows those must be addressed.”
In evaluating what the minimum period of imprisonment should be, Justice Venning took into account the need to protect the community “given your apparent propensity for violence in a domestic setting”. Komene’s criminal history includes prior convictions for violating a protection order and speaking threateningly against Hauwai. Unrelated convictions have included for choking and assault.
Komene was still on release convictions for one of those offences when the murder occurred, the judge said, noting that the conditions included bans on violence and usage of illegal drugs.
Starting with a 13-and-a-half year minimum period of imprisonment starting point, Justice Venning allowed a two-year discount for his early guilty plea but only a modest discount of six months for his personal circumstances and remorse.
“You did seem in a way to blame the deceased for re-introducing you to drugs around the time of the incident,” the judge noted.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
