Warning: this story contains details of the killing of pigs, which may be disturbing to some people.

An animal products officer happened to be driving by a four-hectare farm when he noticed a pig being slaughtered on the property.

He approached the man, farm manager Onani Finau, who was with a group of men and the dead pig.

Finau told the officer the home kill had been authorised by his boss, former All Black Robert Ngaro Kururangi.

Kururangi had leased the land to farm pigs, and later told Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) officers that the pig was a gift for a family friend’s tangi and he had no intention of killing the animals for money.

But, between 2021 and 2023, MPI sent undercover officers to Kururangi’s farm and were successfully able to buy pigs.

Kururangi facilitated the sales and Finau slaughtered the animals, hitting them with a metal pole before stabbing the pigs in front of the fake customers.

They even offered the option to prepare the slain pigs on a spit.

This week, Kururangi was sentenced in Manukau District Court for one representative charge of offering to sell unregulated animal products and two of failing to comply with MPI notices.

MPI food safety deputy director general Vincent Arbuckle said Kururangi’s operation was operating without “vital checks and balances” to “keep consumers safe”.

“While someone buying one of these pigs may have considered it a great deal, their health was potentially put at risk because of the pair’s illegal behaviour,” Arbuckle said.

He said the majority of operators in New Zealand follow the rules, understanding the importance of doing so to keep consumers safe.

“When we find evidence of people deliberately flouting the law, we take action to protect consumers as in this case.”

Robert Kururangi, then aged 66 years in 2023. Photo / File

A pig for a tangi

Kururangi leased four hectares of land on Hamlin Rd in Ardmore, South Auckland, where he farmed pigs.

In April 2021, an MPI animal products officer was driving through Ardmore when he spotted a home kill taking place on the farm.

He stopped and spoke to Finau, who was with a group of men and a dead pig.

Finau told the officer the pig was being killed for a tangi and all the pigs on the farm belonged to Kururangi, who had allowed the pig to be killed.

The officer provided Finau with educational material about the Code of Welfare for pigs and a guide to home kill and hunting and told him it was an offence to sell unregulated meat.

A week later, MPI returned to the farm and spoke to Kururangi, who admitted he had allowed the home kill to take place as it was for a family friend’s tangi.

He was also handed educational material and told it was an offence to sell unregulated meat.

He claimed not to be processing pigs for money and was aware of the consequences if he did so in future.

Offering pig on-a-spit and slaughtered on the spot

In September 2022 MPI began an investigation into the sale of unregulated meat in South Auckland.

That same month, an undercover MPI officer went to Kururangi’s farm.

An officer asked to buy a pig and the former All Black said the pigs on site would not be ready until the following month, but he had some more coming from Hamilton the following day.

Those pigs would cost $250 each and could be cooked on a spit for the officer, Kururangi offered.

The next day the undercover officers returned to the Hamlin Rd farm.

An officer spoke to Finau this time and selected a pig, which Finau hit on the head with a metal pole and stabbed with a knife, killing it.

The undercover officer paid $230 cash for the slaughtered pig.

Pigs, flying out the door

A month later, another undercover officer called Kururangi, asking to buy a pig cooked on the spit.

Kururangi told the officer the pigs would be ready the next day and Finau would be at the farm.

The following day the officer went to the farm and spoke to Kururangi.

Kururangi told the officer Finau was not there to facilitate the pig on a spit sale, the agreed facts said.

“The fella who deals with the pigs is at another address,” Kururangi was recorded as saying.

“He said just drive down and he’ll sort you out.”

The officer asked Kururangi how many pigs he had on that day.

“Seventy,” Kururangi replied.

“They won’t last long.”

Robert Kururangi, All Black number 286, played 91 times for Counties Manukau between 1977 and 1984, scoring 4 tries for New Zealand in 8 appearances on the 1978 tour of the UK. Photo / Supplied

The first notice, ignored

The following month, MPI issued each Finau and Kururangi a “Notice of Direction”.

It said they must be registered to sell pigs for eating under the APA and that any movements or sales of livestock must be officially recorded.

The notice also prohibited them from selling unregulated meat or providing their facilities for any person to kill an animal.

The two men signed the documents.

Despite this, less than two weeks later another of MPI’s undercover officers returned to the farm to buy a pig.

Finau offered the officer a selection of 25 pigs and, when the officer chose one, he again killed the pig with a metal bar and knife.

Offering to sell

Between October 2022 and March 2023 phone data showed Kururangi communicated with a handful of people about selling pigs.

He agreed to sell and kill three pigs to a person via text, and another time texted Finau saying a buyer would take two pigs for $280 each, which had to be cleaned prior to pick-up.

Another time a person asked if they could pick up a pig the following day and asked for it to be cleaned and gutted at the farm.

Kururangi agreed and told the person they would take cash.

Search Warrant

In May 2023 a search warrant was conducted at the Hamlin Rd farm.

Only 105 pigs were found at the farm, which left 603 unaccounted for.

The movements or sales of the pigs had not been recorded as required.

A total of $7,410 cash was found in a bedroom and was found to belong to Kururangi.

Following this Kururangi bought a further 277 pigs from Livestock Mart Ltd, bringing the total number of pigs that should have been on the farm to 382.

When MPI returned in September of 2023 there were 60 pigs at the address, with the movements of 57 pigs recorded - 265 pigs were unaccounted for.

A week later MPI issued a second Notice of Direction requesting all records of the selling of all livestock between May and August 2023.

A month later, MPI received an email with records accounting for only 87 of 265 pigs, which led to a second charge of non-compliance for Kururangi.

A ‘poor attitude’ and ‘lack of insights’

In court, Crown lawyer Pia Puertollano said Kururangi should not be allowed a discount on his sentence for his previous good character.

She said this was because he was involved in an extended period of offending, with repeated incidents of non-compliance despite multiple warnings from MPI.

Kururangi had two historical convictions that were unrelated, she said.

In a report before the court, a Corrections report writer said Kururangi had a “poor attitude” and a “lack of insights” into the offending.

Puertollano said some of the comments Kururangi had made to the report writer sought to avoid blame for the operation.

“That it was Mr Finau who did the killing, it was Mr Finau who was doing the selling,” she detailed.

Kururangi’s lawyer Grace Piddington said Finau’s offending was more on the “serious end” than her client’s.

Finau was sentenced in October for his role in the operation and fined $3500.

By the books

Judge Yelena Yelavich said Finau’s offending was not, on the whole, worse than Kururangi’s as Finau’s was in the context of being employed by Kururangi.

She noted Kururangi had also told the report writer he did everything “by the books” now.

She discounted his sentence for his previous good character and guilty plea and fined him $6,000.

The former All Black stood trial in the Manukau District Court in 2023 for seven alleged historic charges of sexually violating and indecently assaulting his daughter when she was between 5 and 8 years old.

He was found not guilty of all seven allegations.

Ella Scott-Fleming has been a journalist for three years and previously worked at the Otago Daily Times, Gore Ensign and Metro Magazine. She has an interest in court and general reporting. She’s currently based in Auckland covering justice related stories.