The owners of a now-defunct headstone company are facing a multitude of charges over an alleged headstone scam totalling more than $40,000.
Jacob Karwyn Ngarewa owned Affordable Headstones and Plaques, which hit headlines last year after numerous whānau were allegedly left empty-handed or given what they hadn’t expected.
Now, the 36-year-old Hamilton man has been charged with 20 counts of obtaining by deception over alleged incidents between December 5, 2023, and April 8, 2025.
He’s also facing one charge of using a forged document to obtain a pecuniary advantage on July 19, 2024.
Alleged losses total $42,009.02, ranging from $900 to $5210.
He appeared in Hamilton District Court for the third time last month when, through his lawyer Angela Smith, he pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Smith told Judge Nicola Grimes that she had just received “thousands” of pages of disclosure from police and needed time to go through it.
Ngarewa, with supporters alongside him in court, was remanded on bail to an Ōtorohanga property to reappear in January.
Paeroa woman Kawetanga Murray helped bring together complainants, ranging from solo mums who lost babies, kaumatua, rangatahi/young people, to others living in Australia.
She was unaware Ngarewa had been charged until contacted by NZME.
She was unsure if one of the charges related to her alleged experience.
Murray said she, like other complainants, first saw Ngarewa’s company advertised on Facebook.
She messaged him and said he had good communication, including video calls and photos of headstones, but alleged nothing eventuated.
Murray claimed she paid him in full for headstones for her mother and sister but allegedly didn’t receive either, leaving them heartbroken and forcing them to cancel their unveiling.
She was pleased that he had been put before the court.
