Sao Yean murder trial: Four accused guilty of all charges

Sao Yean, aka Sao Young, murder accused, from left, Mihingarangi Tynneal Rameka, Anton Rite, Daniel Payne and Neha Grey in the High Court at Hamilton. Photos / Belinda Feek

Four people charged over the murder of a Hamilton man found badly beaten and decomposing in a rural water trough have been found guilty on all charges.

Mihingarangi Tynneal Rameka, Daniel Payne, Neha Wiremu Grey, and Anton Rite were all charged with the murder of 40-year-old Sao Yean, also known as Sao Young, who was found on the Gordonton property a month after he was last seen alive in March 2020.

Rameka, Payne and Grey also faced several violence and kidnapping charges in relation to two other victims, Jesse Whitiora and Mongrel Mob member Dean Mihinui, from weeks earlier.

After five weeks of evidence and about 10 hours of deliberations, the jury in the High Court at Hamilton returned with their verdicts just after 1pm today.

Rameka was found guilty of two charges of kidnapping, three of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and one of murder.

Payne and Grey were both found guilty of five charges each: three of kidnapping, one of wounding with intent to cause GBH, and one of murder.

Rite was found guilty on one charge of murder.

Justice Timothy Brewer convicted the four on all charges and remanded them in custody for sentencing in September.

‘Bad drugs lead to retribution death’

Earlier, crown prosecutor Duncan McWilliam told the jury that Rameka, heavily pregnant and a paranoid drug dealer with Mongrel Mob affiliations, together with patched Black Power enforcer Payne, sought retribution for the death of their friend Christopher Matatahi in a fatal drug overdose three months earlier.

Even though it was Rameka alleged to have sourced and supplied the MDMA at the 2019 New Year’s Eve party that was later found to be laced with heroin - killing Matatahi and hospitalising others - she sought to blame others, he said.

Rameka and Payne zeroed in on other party-goers.

First was patched Mongrel Mob Notorious member Dean Mihinui, who was nabbed from a vehicle he was a passenger in and taken to Rameka’s Byron Rd home in Hamilton’s Enderley and beaten on the front lawn.

Sao Yean, also known as Sao Young (centre), pictured with family members. Photo / Supplied

Nine days later on March 12, Jesse Whitiora, who also fell ill after consuming the drugs at the party, was taken to Byron Rd.

He said he was beaten in the house and the shed before being driven to Matatahi’s house in Casey Ave.

When Payne, also known as “Damage”, said he would bury Whitiora in the same place Matatahi died, the dead man’s girlfriend Te Aroa Puke protested, claiming Whitiora was innocent and he was soon let go.

Later that night, a friend of Rameka’s, Narath Chourn, delivered Yean to the Byron Rd property.

Rameka and Payne had spent a week “hunting” Yean because he was friends with Whitiora and had been seen in a rival car days earlier.

McWilliam said it was in the garage at Rameka’s house sometime after 4am on March 13, when Payne and Grey were called back to the property, that Yean was savagely beaten.

He claimed the body was then disposed of by Rite and Grey and left in a water trough on a Ballard Rd, Gordonton property.

As that was happening, a clean-up began at Rameka’s house, including her garage, where the fatal assault took place.

Carpet was ripped up and left outside in the elements for so long it was unable to be forensically tested, and walls were painted.

Yean’s body was eventually discovered by a farmer exactly one month after he was last seen alive.

A forensic examination discovered numerous broken bones, mostly in his head, along with his shoulder blade.

Pointing the finger

Defence lawyers for Rameka, Payne, and Grey all pointed the finger at Rite, who they claimed was high and took Yean voluntarily from the house, returned later with Yean in the boot of the car, collected Grey and then stopped in Gordonton to murder Yean because he was known to have “a big mouth” and Rite was afraid of being recognised.

Sao Yean 40, was murdered on March 13, 2020. His body was found on a property in Gordonton a month later. Photo / Supplied

Quentin Duff said when his client, Payne, arrived at the house and saw Yean in the garage and realised he was a “civilian” and not a gang member, he exploded at Rameka for summoning him to take the man away.

“What the f*** is this?” Payne said. “I’m not taking this c*** away.”

Jessica Tarrant, on behalf of Grey, said the only thing her client was guilty of was helping dispose of the body but he never took part in the assault.

Rameka’s lawyer Rob Weir said the Crown did not know exactly what happened in the Byron Rd garage and it was having “a bob each way” by claiming Yean either died in the garage or died later from his injuries in the water trough where he was found face down in the water.

Adam Holland said his client, Rite, was randomly at the house the night Yean was killed and only helped to get Yean from the car when Yean kicked out at the pregnant Rameka.

He said Rite was a “relative nobody” who had the misfortune of being there when Yean arrived and had no interest in seeking revenge for Matatahi’s death as they were not friends.

Once Rite realised violence was to be meted out, he wanted no involvement and it was Shanelle Horotini who heard Rameka, Payne, and Grey in the garage during the brutal assault on Yean, Holland said.