The family of Taʻelata Mōleni who was killed in Auckland on Saturday 18 have released a photo of him taken few hours before he died.
The photo was photographed at his father’s house and it showed he wore a red sweater and a beanie.
The deceased older brother Talāsinga Mōleni said Taʻelata may have been mistaken for gang member and that the red sweater he wore as appeared in the photo may have been his asssailants’ motive.
The 42-year old man from Niutōua died while he was walking home along the Bernard St in the Auckland suburb of Mt Wellington.
Talāsinga said neither Taʻelata nor their brothers he was with at the time of his death are connected to any gangs.
Ta’elata was in the area after he went with his young brothers to a kava fundraising at a nearby residence.
The fundraising was organised by the Tongan kava drinkers and friends in the area to donate some money for Taʻelata as he was about to leave for Tonga next Tuesday, Talāsinga said.
Taʻelata arrived in Auckland two months ago to visit his father.
He left the fundraising and it was not long before someone alerted the kava drinkers and told them that Taʻelata was dead, Talāsinga said.
The crime scene was just two residences away from his father’s house.
Yesterday Police said they were looking for a group of men that were in connection to his death.
They believed there were at least four men involved in the initial altercation with the victim. They are said to be aged in their late teens and early twenties.
Talāsinga said he believed the perpetrators could have gang link with Black Power and they probably thinking his brother was Mongrel Mob.
The Black Power, which is associated with blue clothing, has a patch in Mt Wellington near where the incident occured.
The gang’s fierce rival, the Mongrel Mob, wears red.
In 2010 a 4-year-old boy at Bay of Plenty was assaulted by a Black Power member for wearing a red shirt.
The assault on the preschooler in a Whakatane park had drawn widespread condemnation from the public.
