Wilkinson was found two weeks after going missing with wounds likely made by a machete. Moananui represented himself at trial with the help of an amicus curiae, a court-appointed lawyer. He made various legal challenges against the case, including one after he was convicted following the jury trial. The final challenge was an application for a judicial review, which Moananui intended to serve on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy, Attorney-General David Parker and more. But they never got that far, with a registrar putting it before Justice Francis Cooke, QC, to be considered. The judge struck out the proceeding without hearing any legal arguments, finding it was an abuse of process.
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Codi Wilkinson was left for dead after senior Mongrel Mob members attacked him for stealing from a drug dealer. As Justice Helen Cull addressed the Su’a brothers and Moananui she acknowledged their upbringings as factors in their offending. To Moananui, Cull accepted that he, like the others, had gravitated towards gang life to find community. “It is clear that like your co-offenders you were drawn into the gang life for the support it provided to you in the face of a dysfunctional upbringing where you have limited cultural and emotional support.” Poverty, cultural alienation and limited support throughout their lives shown in their cultural and presentencing reports saw Cull reduce their sentences by 15 per cent.
They were also found guilty of participating in an organised criminal group and wounding Wilkinson s friend Kyle Rowe with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. The jury also found Moananui guilty of kidnapping Wilkinson and Rowe by taking them from Ashhurst to Wilkinson the night they were attacked. But the jury were hung on all charges against Dean Arthur Jennings and Jason David Signal, as well as the kidnapping charges against the Su’a brothers. Majority verdicts were required for all the guilty verdicts. Justice Helen Cull ordered a retrial on the hung charges.
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Police at the Bunnythorpe property where Codi Wilkinson s body was found in September 2019.