The name of a Middlemore hospital nurse jailed for drug dealing has been revealed after more than a year, following developments in the investigation into her father’s fatal shooting at the family home.
Ma’ata Vi, 38, had her identity suppressed in a case that added further strain to the Vi family after her husband Samuela Kuki was sentenced to eight years in prison last year.
Her father, 59‑year‑old Paula Tu‘ipulotu Kokohu Vi, was shot outside the Pakuranga home the family shared. Court documents say Ma’ata rushed out after hearing the gunfire and tried to give first aid.
The injuries were too severe and her father died at the scene.
The shooting occurred while Ma’ata was already before the courts on serious drug charges.
In June, she was sentenced to four years and five months in prison after admitting in late 2024 to importing methamphetamine — an offence carrying a potential life sentence — along with 15 counts of money laundering, the NZ Herald reported.
Her offending was uncovered during Operation Worthington, a long‑running police investigation targeting a major methamphetamine supply network.
Thirty people were arrested when officers executed multiple search warrants in 2021. Among them were Ma’ata and her husband of around 14 years.
More than a year after Paula Vi’s killing, police arrested a 23‑year‑old man and charged him with being a party to the murder. A hearing on the case is scheduled for October.
Suppression lifted despite hardship plea
The suppression lapsed after Auckland District Court Judge Claire Ryan considered several factors, including arguments that the family had already endured significant hardship following the police raid on their home, the fatal shooting of Vi’s father, and the earlier imprisonment of her husband.
She also weighed the potential impact of further publicity on the couple’s children.
Judge Ryan acknowledged that the couple’s children would face a “devastating” impact from having both parents imprisoned, and she granted Ma’ata Vi a 15 percent reduction in her sentence to reflect that hardship.
However, the judge ruled that the real source of the family’s suffering was the seriousness of the offending itself, not any potential publication of the defendants’ names.
“I can do nothing about that. I didn’t compel these two people to offend,” Judge Ryan said.
“There are consequences for this type of offending, and unfortunately those consequences are imprisonment.”
