• Jovan Aroha Zachariah Pora, 22, was sentenced to 12 months home detention for kidnapping Katelyn Rua-Tuhou. 
• Pora’s manslaughter charge was rejected by jurors, who cited Rua-Tuhou’s history of opening car doors. 
• Justice Mathew Downs emphasised Pora’s youth and potential for rehabilitation in his sentencing decision. 

An up-and-coming rugby player who kidnapped his girlfriend amid a drunken stoush - described by a judge as a terrifying 15 minutes of captivity that ended with her death on an Auckland motorway - has been sentenced to home detention instead of prison. 

Jovan Aroha Zachariah Pora, 22, was initially charged with the manslaughter of Katelyn Rua-Tuhou in the early hours of Boxing Day 2022. 

The Crown argued during his trial in June that Rua-Tuhou had opened the door to Pora’s car as he drove along the South Western Motorway - resulting in the car swerving, hitting a barrier and her being fatally ejected from the vehicle - only because she feared for her safety inside the car. 

Jurors rejected the “fright-response” manslaughter allegation, acquitting Pora of that charge after the defence argued Rua-Tuhou had a history of opening doors in moving cars while intoxicated. 

Katelyn Rua-Tuhou fell to her death from a moving car driven by Jovan Pora (inset) after she was abducted by Pora on December 26. Composite Photo / NZME 

But the jury also rejected Pora’s explanation that he only had his girlfriend’s best interests at heart that morning and that he was only trying to get the intoxicated 19-year-old home safely - not taking her against her will. 

It was clear from the victim impact statement by Rua-Tuhou’s father, which was read aloud in the High Court at Auckland today, that he still blamed Pora for the death regardless of the verdict. 

“I feel like I can’t be trusted as a father anymore. The greatest thing I ever created is gone,” Koroni Tuhou said in a written statement that was read aloud by a victim advocate. 

“I thought a grown man would run out of tears by now,” he added, explaining that there wasn’t a word in the English language to describe the level of pain he was feeling. 

“I can’t even do my job and support my family.” 

Justice Mathew Downs emphasised at the outset of today’s hearing, and reiterated later, that his job was to sentence Pora solely for kidnapping and two minor driving offences. 

Had the defendant been found guilty of manslaughter, his sentence would have been substantial, the judge said. But the reduced charge left the door open for home detention. 

Not surprisingly, Crown prosecutor Cam Fountain argued against home detention while defence lawyer Vivienne Feyen advocated for it. Both sides referred to the defendant’s once-promising rugby career, in which he was on scholarship to compete in Japan, to rebut their arguments. 

Jurors acquitted Jovan Pora of manslaughter but found him guilty of kidnapping. Photo / Dean Purcell 

While Pora sought a substantial 25% reduction for having been subjected to ongoing violence as a child, Fountain noted his involvement in high-level sports showed that this background hadn’t been so disabling as to stymie previous achievements. 

He argued for a lower reduction. But Feyen argued that the scholarship should be viewed differently: “a perseverance of character that reinforces his prospects of rehabilitation”. 

Pora wrote letters of remorse to the judge and to his ex-girlfriend’s family, but they were not read aloud in court today. 

During his trial, he opted to give evidence on his own behalf, telling jurors that Rua-Tuhou had been so belligerently drunk after a long Christmas Day of drinking that he had been called by her family to come and pick her up. The only intention, he said was to bring her back safely to his family’s New Lynn home where they both lived. 

It took jurors roughly eight hours of deliberations over two days to reach the split decision, which also included a guilty finding for failure to permit a blood specimen on the morning of the crash. He earlier pleaded guilty to driving while his license had been revoked. 

Prosecutors Henry Benson-Pope and Fountain had painted a much darker picture of the circumstances that night involving a violently jealous boyfriend, allegations of infidelity and Rua-Tuhou being so afraid of another beating that she opened the passenger door on the motorway in a desperate effort to escape. 

Because of their years-long relationship, Rua-Tuou initially got into the parked car with the defendant willingly, Benson-Pope said during his closing address, describing what he said was the “difficult reality in this case”. 

But it was clear that she didn’t want to be with him when Pora began accusing her of infidelity, he said. 

“Ms Rua-Tuhou became scared and began screaming and trying to get away,” Benson-Pope said of the chaotic scene described by witnesses outside her father’s Manurewa home. “Her family were running out of the house and saw her screaming ... trying to get out. 

“The defendant wouldn’t let her go. He drove a scared, still struggling Katelyn Rua-Tuhou away.” 

She had good reason to be scared, prosecutors said, noting an incident five months earlier in which Pora acknowledged having assaulted his partner. Pora claimed to have been so drunk that he couldn’t remember any details, but text messages from Rua-Tuhou’s phone suggested a prolonged, terrifying attack at their home. 

“I really thought he was going to kill me,” she wrote. “I’m scared.” Their bickering continued on for months, with the defendant at one point just weeks before Rua-Tuhou’s death sending a message in all caps threatening: “IM HANDIN YOUR NUDES OUT EVERYWHERE TOO YA SNAKE”. The messages, prosecutors said, helped show jurors how suspicions of infidelity became “triggers to violence” for the defendant. 

Katelyn Rua-Tuhou, 19, died on the morning of December 26, 2022, after she fell from a moving car driven by boyfriend Jovan Pora on State Highway 20 in Auckland. Prosecutors said she died trying to escape a kidnapping. Photo / Supplied 

But defence lawyers Feyen and Holly Aitken insisted Rua-Tuhou hadn’t been frightened that morning, describing her instead as “a highly intoxicated young girl who didn’t agree with the plan” to drop her off at home so Pora could continue socialising without her. 

“Her actions were influenced by large amounts of alcohol and cannabis,” Feyen said during her closing address, describing Rua-Tuhou as someone who when intoxicated became “unpredicatable, erratic, uncontrolled and aggressive”. 

“Concerns for Katelyn’s safety when she was highly intoxicated was not new for Jovan.” 

Witnesses called by the defence described two other occasions when Rua-Tuhou tried to exit moving vehicles - neither of which, the witnesses said, were prompted by threats of violence or fear. 

During today’s sentencing hearing, Justice Downs described the pair’s relationship as having been “marred by frequent arguments and breakups” as well as “jealous and possessive behaviour on your part”. But they were also clearly fond of each other, he added. 

The judge said Pora drove to Rua-Tuhou that morning for two reasons: to take her home, at the request of her family, but also to confront her over his suspicions of infidelity - his anger “unquestionably fuelled by intoxication”. 

“The precise sequence remains unclear notwithstanding the trial,” Downs said. 

“But, in the very least, you forcibly restrained Ms Rua-Tuhou from getting out of your car despite the interventions of her whānau. She could be heard screaming for help from inside the home, and you were seen holding her, including by her underwear, to prevent her getting out of your car. Neighbours testified of hearing a very nasty incident unfold. 

“I have no doubt that at this point Ms Rua-Tuhou was very frightened of you.” 

The judge said he was “not sure” the defendant went to the home intending to kidnap his partner “against a more general intention to confront her in some way”. 

“That said, I do accept Ms Rua-Tuhou was vulnerable: she was slight and affected by alcohol; Mr Pora, plainly, you were much stronger than her,” he said. 

“She was also entitled to look to you for protection given your relationship. And, of course, you had seriously assaulted her earlier that year. These aspects aggravate your offending, meaning they make it worse.” 

The judge described Pora’s testimony at trial denying a kidnapping as “implausible, and the jury was right to reject it”. 

But he deserved discounts for his youth and rehabilitation efforts, for the 15 months he spent on electronically monitored bail and the several months he has already spent in jail before and after his trial, Justice Downs said. 

“You impress as intelligent, articulate, and capable,” the judge said, ordering a sentence of 12 months home detention. “You have potential. You are still young.” 

The case, he said, was on the cusp between home detention and prison, he said. 

“But you were found not guilty of manslaughter, and I must respect that verdict. In relation to the kidnapping charge let me speak to you in plain language: you have avoided prison by the skin of your teeth.” 

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.