Tiari Boon-Harris pleads guilty to helping Dariush Talagi avoid arrest after Sione Tuuholoaki’s Auckland shooting death

A woman who helped a man accused of a high-profile Auckland killing avoid arrest has pleaded guilty, several months after her own arrest.

Tiari Andre Boon-Harris, 24, was initially charged with being an accessory after the fact to the murder of Sione Tuuholoaki, who was gunned down on lower Queen St on August 3.

A pregnant Boon-Harris stood in the dock at the High Court at Auckland today and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of being an accessory after the fact to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Tiari Boon-Harris has pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Dariush Talagi has pleaded not guilty to murder and awaits trial.

Co-defendant Dariush Talagi, 25, turned himself in three months after the shooting and has since pleaded not guilty to murder. He awaits trial next year.

Witnesses to the shooting of Tuuholoaki said the shooter fled on a Lime scooter.

Tuuholoaki, who had moved from New Zealand to Australia in 2022, was described by friends as “an old soul trapped in a young body” and an “angel” who impacted many. His death shocked co-workers at a distribution centre for The Warehouse Group. A company spokesperson described him last year as “a really nice person who was always polite, approachable and hardworking”.

Sione Tuuholoaki (inset) was fatally shot on Auckland Central's Queen Street in August 2023. Witnesses said the shooter fled on a Lime scooter. Photo / Hayden Woodward

Justice Downs granted Boon-Harris bail until her sentencing, citing humanitarian grounds that were “self evident” - a reference to her pregnancy.

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.