After his return to New Zealand in August 1945, Awatere spent two years travelling with Eruera Stirling, visiting hundreds of marae to honour members of the 28th (Māori) Battalion who had been killed during the war. Following this commemorative tour, he undertook two rituals of purification that were intended to release him from the effects of warfare. In the days leading up to 3 August 1969, he told friends and a church colleague, the Reverend
Wī Huata, that he had experienced several
rehu (premonitions) that Hākaraia was in danger. He sought Huata’s advice that evening, but the minister was unavailable, and Awatere later told him he had felt compelled to check on her welfare. Unable to sleep, Awatere wrote a short letter to Hākaraia expressing affection and concern and decided to deliver it in person. Shortly after midnight he drove to her home in
Te Atatū, carrying his overcoat and a small knife he habitually kept in its pocket. According to his later statement, he entered the house noisily and was confronted by Hākaraia’s new partner, Hendrikus Gerardus Vunderink. He said that Vunderink struck him on the head, causing him to lose consciousness, and that when he regained awareness Vunderink was lying on the floor with fatal stab wounds. Awatere telephoned the police to report the incident, then immediately phoned his wife. When officers arrived, he was arrested at the scene without being asked for a formal statement. Family accounts later claimed that his explanation was never recorded at the time of arrest. During his trial later that year, the Crown alleged that Awatere had gone to the address armed with a knife, indicating intent to kill. The defence presented medical evidence that he had suffered a serious stroke three months earlier, leaving him partially paralysed and prone to cognitive lapses, and that he was also suffering from undiagnosed diabetes. Defence psychiatrists Dr Laurie Gluckman and Dr Henry Bennett testified that the combined effects of those conditions could have produced a state of
automatism—a temporary loss of conscious control. The prosecution’s medical witnesses, Dr Eyre and Dr Savage, accepted that his stroke and diabetes would have seriously affected his mental capacity but argued that they made him more easily provoked and less capable of rational judgment, rather than unconscious of his actions. Despite this evidence, a jury found him guilty of murder, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment. His appeal to the
Court of Appeal was dismissed, and although his lawyers considered taking the case to the
Privy Council, the cost placed it beyond reach.
Imprisonment and later calls for review While serving his sentence in
Mount Eden Prison, Awatere remained active in promoting Māori language and culture. He taught
te reo and
haka to other inmates, wrote essays and poetry, and maintained a disciplined exercise routine despite ongoing health problems. He was regularly visited by Dr Gluckman, who had testified for the defence and later described him as “a man of intellect, discipline, and humility.” Visitors such as
Dr Pita Sharples and Dr Mervyn McLean recalled his mentorship and dignity within the prison community. His family and supporters have consistently maintained that he was wrongfully convicted, citing medical evidence of diminished responsibility, the composition of the jury, and reports that one juror was acquainted with the deceased. In later decades, his granddaughter Hinemoa Awatere published an essay, "The Official Story is Wrong" (2015), reiterating the family’s view that his conviction represented a miscarriage of justice. Prominent lawyer
Sir Peter Williams QC, who had represented Awatere at trial, later referred to the case as “a travesty” and called for a posthumous review. He also described Awatere as “one of the great New Zealanders of all time.” Near the end of his sentence, there were renewed appeals from community leaders for clemency or retrial, but before any formal action could be taken he died suddenly of a heart attack on 6 March 1976, just weeks before he was due for parole. After an extended funeral cortège with stops at several marae along its route, he was buried at
Waitetoki in
Northland. He was survived by his wife and five daughters, including
Donna Awatere Huata, who was a member of parliament for a time. ==Literary work==