A cold case more than seven years old has been solved, with a gang member admitting that he killed Eddie Peters in Flaxmere, Hastings, in November 2018. 

Erueti Wirihana, 29, appeared in the High Court at Napier today and pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter. 

One of the reasons why it took so long to bring Wirihana to justice was also revealed – his partner falsely claimed for years that she was with him all the time on the night Peters died, providing the killer with an alibi. 

That deception came to an end when the partner talked about the alibi in a phone call with Wirihana when he was in prison in 2022, for unrelated reasons. 

That phone call, recorded by prison authorities, was obtained by police under a court order. 

It ended with Wirihana screaming at his partner in an expletive-laden rant that told her she would be the one who “sinks the ship” because of things she was saying on the call. 

“You just f***** up. Quite a bit,” he told her. 

In addition to manslaughter, Wirihana was also charged with perverting the course of justice in regard to the false alibi. 

So was his partner, who has been dealt with separately by the courts. 

Peters died in Wellington Hospital 

Edward Anthony Peters, sometimes known to his friends as “Eddie Spaghetti”, 45, died in Wellington Hospital surrounded by his whānau on November 24, 2018, from injuries he received when Wirihana assaulted him the previous week. 

Eddie Peters was assaulted in Flaxmere in 2018 and later died in hospital. Photo / Supplied 

The events which led to his death stemmed from the tangi of Wirihana’s father, Samson Wirihana, which was held at a house in Diaz Dr, Flaxmere, on the evening of November 15, 2018. 

Samson Wirihana, who died from a terminal illness, and his son were both patched members of the Hastings chapter of the Mongrel Mob. 

Peters was not a mob member but attended the tangi to pay respects to Samson, because he was a friend who had known him for many years. 

While there, he got into an altercation with Erueti Wirihana, who punched him on the jaw, knocking him to the ground. 

Wirihana later chased Peters down the street when he tried to leave the tangi. 

Wirihana caught up with Peters and assaulted him again, punching and stomping on him. 

Residents at the property outside of which that attack took place discovered Peters with head injuries in a pool of blood on the grass verge beside their driveway, a few metres from their door. 

Peters was taken to Hawke’s Bay Hospital in Hastings and spent several days there, but was well enough to leave the hospital for brief periods to visit relatives and collect some clothes. 

Condition deteriorated 

However, on November 19, his condition deteriorated and he suffered two seizures. A CT scan revealed bleeding around the brain, and he was airlifted to Wellington Hospital. 

Eddie Peters had been at a tangi in Diaz Dr, Flaxmere, and was assaulted outside another house in the same street. Photo / NZ Police 

His condition deteriorated further and on November 22, Peters was declared brain dead. On the morning of November 24, he was formally declared deceased. 

Wirihana was charged last year with murdering Peters and his trial was due to start on May 8. 

However, Wirihana, with a heavily tattooed face, was brought back to the Napier court today to plead guilty to the charges of manslaughter and perverting the course of justice. 

Justice David Boldt remanded him in custody ahead of his June 4 sentencing. 

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of frontline experience as a probation officer.