Thomas Richard Tahitahi, 42, has now admitted to the murder of Eliu, who was standing outside a church in Manukau when he was gunned down in December 2022.
The guilty plea in the High Court at Auckland this morning means that Tahitahi’s membership of a rival gang, the Head Hunters, can now be reported. His membership in the gang is not in contention - outlined in court documents, made public today, that have been agreed to by both the defence and the prosecution.
Tahitahi had previously tried to keep his name secret because of fears for the safety of his family, but this was rejected by the Court of Appeal.
Mongrel Mob member Daniel Eliu was shot dead in front of a Manukau church in December 2022.
The 46-year-old had been attending the final church service of the year for the Grace Foundation, a rehabilitation programme catering to those “truly on the margins of New Zealand society” who are seeking to put their criminal pasts behind them. He had been in the programme for about six months and was set to graduate later that day.
The service had concluded and Eliu was waiting outside the church with a group of about 200 people, including children, for a Christmas barbecue when he was killed in front of them.
Tahitahi, who had been released from prison less than a month earlier, had driven to the area that morning in a Mercedes-Benz after meeting up with an “unknown individual” in Pt England, according to the agreed summary of facts for the case. The car was seen on CCTV repeatedly driving past the driveway of the church to “scope out the area” between 9.51 and 9.54am before Tahitahi was dropped off and the unknown individual parked about 300 metres away.
“At approximately 9.55am, the defendant walked down the driveway of the church and through the car park,” court documents state. “He was wearing a blue hoody with the hood pulled up and sunglasses. However, his face was otherwise clearly visible. He also wore grey shorts and grey and black two-toned sneakers. Over his shoulder, he held a black jacket with a semi-automatic .22 firearm concealed within it.”
After milling around the car park for a few minutes, Tahitahi was seen walking up to the group gathered for the barbecue.
“He walked right up to the deceased and stood less than a metre behind him,” court documents state. ”With the gun still partially concealed in the black jacket, and in the midst of several bystanders, he shot the deceased six times in quick succession — twice in the back of each leg [with the bullets going through each leg and exiting through the calf], and then four times in the back.”
Thomas Tahitahi has admitted murdering Mongrel Mob boss Daniel Eliu in December 2022. Photo / Jason Oxenham
One of the shots to Eliu’s back passed through his aorta and would have been fatal on its own, but blood loss from the other wounds contributed to the death, authorities determined. He died within minutes.
CCTV footage showed Tahitahi running away from the scene around 9.59am, with multiple witnesses to the shooting chasing after him. But he was able to jump back into the Mercedes-Benz, which drove off at speed and returned to Pt England, court documents state.
Police were able to track Tahitahi down thanks to separate CCTV footage from Westgate shopping centre recorded just days before the fatal ambush. The defendant was seen using the same Mercedes at the shopping centre on December 13 and 16. In the footage, police noted, he had a distinctive scar on his shin that matched the scar seen on the shooter. He also wore the same grey and black two-toned sneakers.
“Polling data from his phone also mirrors the movements of the Mercedez-Benz on the morning of the shooting,” the agreed summary of facts states.
Tahitahi had been before the court previously for firearms offences.
Eliu also was no stranger to the criminal justice system.
At the time of his death, he was waiting to be sentenced after pleading guilty to two charges of conspiracy to deal methamphetamine, and four charges of supplying the drug.
On the same day Eliu was pulled over in 2020, police raided the Hastings home of another Mongrel Mobster, Ernie O’Neal Paul, and seized a further $26,755 in cash, along with two motorcycles.
Phone calls intercepted in Operation Casino indicated the pair agreed to a purchase price of $230,000 for 2kg of meth, plus a “delivery fee” of $20,000 for Eliu. This was because Paul was serving a sentence of home detention for his part in a gang-related assault in prison.
In 2006, Eliu had also been sentenced to 11 years in prison for kidnapping a man suspected of being a “nark”, or police informant.
Using a boxcutter knife, Eliu slashed the victim’s face from his jaw to his hairline, which the Court of Appeal would later describe as “a particularly bad crime of its kind”.
Jared Savage is an award-winning journalist who covers crime and justice issues, with a particular interest in organised crime. He joined the Herald in 2006, and is the author of Gangland and Gangster’s Paradise.
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.
