One year and five months after first exposing a deceitful headstone scheme, Kawetanga Murray has expressed relief that whānau voices have been heard as Jacob Ngarewa faces over 21 charges in the Hamilton District Court.
Police have charged Ngarewa with 20 counts of obtaining by deception and one count of using a forged document.
“I’m glad that something has been done about it and our whānaus voices have been heard. So really positive about that. Good news, that’s good news for us, for all our whānau,” Murray said.
Ngarewa has appeared in court three times and has been remanded on bail until January. Aukaha originally broke the story in April last year through an interview with Murray, which prompted other victims to come forward.
“From the first call out, we’ve had absolutely nothing from him himself, none of the whānau. Probably only some of the reactions from whānau members were just off the Facebook posts themselves but from my end, obviously I felt mamae about that because it wasn’t about attacking anybody, it was more about raising awareness to other whānau,” Murray says.
Murray noted that she and her family have received no direct communication from Ngarewa or his whānau since the initial call out. Reflecting on the situation, she explained that her actions were intended to raise awareness for other whānau rather than to attack anyone.
“We just left it out there for the universe and look what’s happened? People rang up and had discussions over the phone over the last month about, oh did you hear about Jacob XYZ and I said kāo because we were moving with intent and we were moving with positivity that what’s been said out there on socials has actually got where it needed to be,” according to Murray.
Despite the ordeal, Murray and her family found peace in October after completing the headstone unveiling for her mother and older sister at Te Pāhou in Hairini, choosing to move forward with positivity and love.
A Timeline of Events:
16 April 2025 – Murray exposed Ngarewa with a warning post on Facebook to whānau and friends, warning them to be cautious of Ngarewa and his business, Affordable Headstones and calling out an alleged “headstone scam”.
17 April 2025 – Aukaha News spoke exclusively with Murray. She shared her experience of paying $950 dollars to Ngarewa and Affordable Headstones, breaking the story with more victims beginning to come forward.
19 April 2025 – Aukaha News spoke with victims, Nikita Joss and the Rota whānau and their horrific stories regarding their experience with Ngarewa and Affordable Headstones.
23 April 2025 – Aukaha News spoke with Ngarewa’s spokesperson, Jaiden Nelson who also worked alongside Ngarewa at Affordable Headstones. Ngarewa had also provided Aukaha News with statements, expressing his “heartfelt and unreserved apologies”.
14 July 2026 – Ngarewa first appeared in court for 20 counts of obtaining by deception and one count of using a forged document.
August 2026 – Ngarewa appeared in court for a third time. He pleaded not guilty to all charges through his lawyer Angela Smith.
Ngarewa was remanded on bail and will reappear in court in January 2027.