Three years after his 'execution', David Kuka's daughter has one question: Why?

Thursday, 11 February 2021

David Kuka was killed three years ago in what police described as an “execution”.

To whoever “executed” her father three years ago, Te Kimioranga Te Kuka would like to ask one question.

“Just why?”

“What else is there. What did he ever do to deserve this? That’s it.”

Ahead of the third anniversary of her father’s killing on February 11, Te Kimioranga said her dad’s death remains “hard to deal with”.

* Bay of Plenty killing a case of mistaken identity

* Killed Mob enforcer 'lived two separate lives', says family

* Execution-style killing of 'devout Christian' may be connected to gang murder five weeks earlier

Colin Richard Jeffries-Smith and Casino Heta Williams pictured at Jeffries-Smith’s murder trial in 2019. He was eventually found guilty of the manslaughter of Mongrel Mob enforcer Lance Waite, who was killed at the same address as David Kuka.

“We still don’t have the answers we need to be able to move on,” Te Kimioranga wrote in email correspondence with Stuff.

“We want to know why. Of course we’d like to know who, but most of all why.”

Who killed the 52-year-old is also the focus of Detective Sergeant Paul Barron, and he told Stuff police have a narrowed down a list of suspects, and that he remains “confident” they will eventually solve the case.

The 'taxing' of this Nissan Maxima, owned by Colin Jeffries-Smith, was the catalyst for the killing of Mongrel Mob enforcer Lance Waite, a death that may have bene the cause of David Kuka’s ‘mistaken identity’ killing just weeks later.

He cited the start this week of a murder trial for two men accused of the Red Fox Tavern killing of Chris Bush, 30 years after the event, as indicative of their persistence.

“Murder, especially execution style, all of them are horrific and New Zealand police are very committed to solving cases and finding the truth,” he said.

While his focus is on the who, for police the why is less uncertain, though Barron was careful to say “they haven’t closed their mind to other options”.

The strongest theory police have for Kuka’s death traces back to an idea of a mistaken identity. It’s linked to the same Gate Pa address where he was killed – the site of another killing just over a month before on January 3.

The “taxing” of a Nissan Maxima belonging to street level drug dealer Colin Jeffries-Smith may be what set in train events that left two men, Kuka one of them, dead.

Jeffries-Smith owed money to Mongrel Mob enforcer Lance Waite, who then took his car. Jeffries-Smith claimed at his murder trial he was in fear for his and his family’s safety.

He never denied shooting Waite twice in the back at his 2019 High Court trial, and according to his defence lawyer Mark Edgar, it was not a case of murder, but at its highest, manslaughter.

After almost six weeks and evidence from more than 80 witnesses, a jury agreed, finding Jeffries-Smith guilty of manslaughter.

Police at the scene of the Wilrose Place address where in 2018 both Lance Waite and David Kuka were killed just weeks apart.

His co-accused, long time Black Power member Casino Heta Williams, was found guilty of two charges; possession of a firearm and accessory after the fact of manslaughter and jailed for six years.

Jeffries-Smith was later sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment for both manslaughter and a number of drug offences, a sentence he has since tried to get reduced.

Police suspect Kuka was killed in a mistaken identity retaliation for Waite’s death.

Barron also said they had identified two cars of interest to their investigation, a silver Ford Falcon with a red bonnet and a silver sedan, and he said they would still like to hear from anyone who saw the cars around the time of Kuka’s killing.

In fact, Barron said they would like to speak to anyone who had any information.

”We’re always keen to speak to them,” he said.

”Loyalties do change over time.”

He said that while the team investigating the killing has got smaller over time, there remained “a solid team of half-a-dozen” actively chasing whoever killed Kuka.

He admitted the lack of result for Kuka’s killing grates sometimes too.

”You certainly invest a lot of time, the whole team does,” he said.

For Kuka’s daughter, carrying on with life is “a struggle because those questions are always in the back of my mind”.

”Because we don’t know what happened the mind can take you into some dark places where you just start making up your own scenarios,” she said.

She said her father was a humble man, always eager to help others.

”If there was ever a tangi at any or our marae in Tauranga Moana my dad would be there, weeding gardens or helping in the kitchen while he’s singing his heart away,” she said.

”Some people found it annoying but they probably miss it now.”

She didn’t shy away from her father’s past too as a former Black Power member, a life he later turned away from after becoming a Christian.

“He was in and out of jail most of our childhood but always wrote us letters and drew us pictures and sent us carvings he’d do while inside,” she said.

“We hope one day the person or people who did this are caught and can give us that closure,” she said.

“But as the years go on it’s getting harder to see that outcome. We have hope but always have to think of the worst case that it could never come.”

Anyone with any information about the death of David Kuka can call Crimestoppers at 0800 555 111 or Detective Sergeant Paul Barron on 07 577 4300.