Ariki Rigby’s murderer sentenced to life imprisonment
Friday, 11 April 2025
Jimmy Heremaia has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the 2022 murder of Ariki Rigby, after he killed her and set fire to a car with her body in it.
In March, Heremaia admitted murdering Rigby following an argument about her wearing a Mongrel Mob T-shirt.
Rigby was 18 when she was killed. Her body was found in a burnt out car in a car park beside the Tukituki River on the outskirts of Havelock North on September 5, 2022.
Heremaia, 32, was sentenced to life imprisonment on a charge of murder and arson in the High Court at Napier on Friday morning by Justice Jason McHerron.
Justice McHerron ordered him to serve a minimum of 12 years.
In a victim impact statement on Friday the sister of Ariki, Anahera Rigby, said the tragic loss of her sister has devastated her.
“For over two years I have struggled to find happiness. I am trying to piece together a heart I know may never heal.
“The way she was taken from me, so violently and tragically has turned my life into a living nightmare.”
“Despite this deep pain, I refuse to let it completely break me. I will continue to carry my sister's memory and fight to keep her spirit alive.”
She concluded: “The scars will remain with me forever,” the heart-broken sister told the court through tears.
Ariki Rigby’s father Peta Rigby turned to the dock and spoke directly to Heremaia and told the murderer: “I will forgive you”.
He spoke of his own experience of God’s love and his final words were, “I forgive you Jimmy. Have a good life. Amen.”
A second man, Ropine Paul, 30, in February pleaded guilty to a charge of being a party to the arson.
Paul was sentenced to 12 months of home detention after being convicted of arson.
Following a police investigation that ran for two years Heremaia was arrested in Auckland on September 17.
The summary of facts, detailing the events leading to Rigby's death, were first reported earlier this year.
According to court documents Heremaia met Rigby about three weeks before her death.
They formed a close connection and communicated with each other regularly.
Sometime between August 29 and 31, 2022, Rigby came into possession of a Mongrel Mob t-shirt.
Heremaia was a patched member of the Mongrel Mob’s Flaxmere chapter at the time.
Rigby, who lived in Auckland for most of 2022, wore the t-shirt on the morning of August 31 while she was in Hastings.
Another patched member of the Mongrel Mob saw her and confronted her about wearing the t-shirt
Rigby taunted that person, before running away – still wearing the t-shirt.
The Mongrel Mob only allows people affiliated with the gang to wear gang related regalia, clothing or symbols. Allowing anybody else to wear these items is regarded by the gang as a serious violation of their rules, especially if the non-gang member wearing the item is a female.
Heremaia was told by senior gang members to retrieve the t-shirt.
He found Rigby in Flaxmere on the afternoon of August 31 and got the t-shirt.
Two days later, on September 2, 2022, Heremaia received a text message from his sister, who told him his Mongrel Mob patch had been collected from their family home in Omahu, Hastings.
The gang had taken Heremaia’s patch because he had been ‘de-patched’ due to the fact Rigby had worn the t-shirt.
On September 2, 2022, at 10.27pm Heremaia and Rigby were seen getting out of the car in Bay View by a member of the public.
Heremaia and Rigby then got back into the car and had an argument.
Rigby had a hammer with her, as she feared for her safety given what had occurred. During the argument Rigby swung the hammer at Heremaia.
He then took the hammer and struck Rigby twice to the head. This caused fatal injuries to her brain and skull which led to her death.
Heremaia then picked up Rigby’s body and put her in the back seat of the car.
At 10.34pm Heremaia sent three messages to Ropine Paul. Ten minutes later he called Paul and spoke to him for 90 seconds.
At 11.14pm he had a longer call with Paul, then drove to Paul’s house in Havelock North and at some point he stopped the car and threw the hammer into a river.
At about 1.25am on Saturday, September 3, Heremaia and Paul drove to the reserve in Havelock North. Paul drove his father’s car. Heremaia drove the car containing Rigby’s body.
Heremaia poured petrol from the container onto, and throughout, the Toyota then set it on fire. The car belonged to his Mongrel Mob ‘captain’.
In the months after the murder, Heremaia lived in South Auckland and unbeknown to him the person he lived with was an undercover police officer who was using the assumed name “Luke”.
Heremaia and “Luke” engaged in “work” on behalf of “Luke’s” “boss”, who was also an undercover police officer.
During a discussion between Heremaia and the “boss” on September 13, 2024, Heremaia admitted killing Rigby.
“It was only me that did it,” he said.
He went on to say: “I … picked the girl up, she attacked me, so, yeah … I bashed her, threw her in the back … torched the car”.
On September 17 Heremaia was arrested in Auckland and charged with the murder of Rigby and the arson of the Toyota.
Paul, who had wanted to join the Mongrel Mob’s Notorious chapter at the time of the murder, became patched after the incident.
Police acknowledged the sentence handed down to Heremaia.
Detective Inspector Dave De Lange said they were “pleased to see justice done for Ariki’s family, who have been such fierce advocates for her since her death”.
“We know no sentence could ever make up for her loss, however we hope today’s result offers some comfort to them.
“This was a meticulous, difficult and complex investigation spanning multiple Police districts and requiring many specialist skillsets.”
He thanked he investigation team for “your unwavering dedication to making an arrest and ensuring Ariki’s killer could be held to account”.
Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly said Ropine Paul was sentenced to 12 months in prison after being convicted of arson. Paul was sentenced to 12 months of home detention.