A 65-year-old man fatally shot Sunday, allegedly by his 18-year-old relative, was a former New Zealand police detective sergeant romantically linked in the past to two Tongan princesses.
A family friend of the suspect, who asked not to be named, identified the victim as Tongan-born Joshua Tu‘iono Liava‘a, a former Auckland police officer who lived with the suspect’s family and was a distant relative.
Prosecutors charged Samuela Mataele with second-degree murder, first-degree terroristic threatening and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. His bail was set at $250,000.
Police caught Mataele after a 61⁄2-hour manhunt for him. He was discovered about a half-mile away from his home.
Police said Mataele fired a single round from a rifle at about noon Sunday to Liava‘a’s head at the Kahaluu house where they both lived on Kamehameha Highway near Waihee Road. He also allegedly threatened to shoot a 36-year-old man, who managed to flee unharmed. Mataele also stole a wallet belonging to a 17-year-old boy.
Mataele was seeing a psychiatrist and had not been taking his medication, the family friend said. He had been living in Laie but had recently moved into his parents’ home, she said. Liava‘a had moved in with Mataele’s parents roughly five months ago after moving to Hawaii from the mainland, the family friend said.
She did not know why he left New Zealand, but said he had also lived in Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Sacramento, Calif., before moving to Hawaii.
Liava‘a’s nephew Rich Braun, who lives in Minnesota, said Liava‘a and his father are brothers and that the family quickly learned the news from his half sisters.
"I guess he was pretty well known," Braun said. "He was a good man, from what I’ve heard. My dad’s always talked highly about him."
Braun acknowledged his uncle’s "secret love affair with the princess of Tonga a long time ago."
Liava‘a was taken by ambulance in critical condition to a hospital, where he died at 7:15 p.m. Sunday.
The New Zealand Kaniva Pacific newspaper said Liava‘a married Princess Mele Siuilikutapu, the Tongan king’s niece, in Auckland in 1969, but the marriage was annulled under a royal command "after the princess was dragged back to Nuku‘alofa, Tonga."
He was a 21-year-old Auckland University student when they eloped, reported Stuff.co.nz.
The New Zealand Herald said: "Liava‘a angered Tongan royals after details of his affair with King Taufa‘ahau Tupou IV’s only daughter, Princess Pilolevu Tuita, emerged in 1999.
"The scandal hit the headlines when contents of a 1985 love letter written by the princess became public," the newspaper said.
Liava‘a "made little secret of publishing them," Stuff.co.nz reported.
According to the Herald, Liava‘a had told the newspaper in 2000 he had been accused of plotting to assassinate the king and that Tongan authorities had taken a contract out on his life because he married Princess Mele in 1969.
He joined the New Zealand police and left the force in the 1990s.
In 2000 Liava‘a owned a nightclub in Sydney and had six children, the Herald said.
Liava‘a, a soccer player, represented New Zealand at the 1975 rugby World Cup.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office said the 65-year-old has not been identified, and was unable to provide any information.
The Kaniva Pacific reported Liava‘a is survived by his wife, Victoria, also known as Leti Pikokivaka, and his children from a former marriage.
