Bio

Menzies Reginald John Hallett was born in New Zealand in 1941. He came from a respected Taupo-area family. Public reporting described his parents, Walter “Reg” Hallett and Effie Hallett, as well known in the local community, and the family name was connected to Halletts Bay on Lake Taupo.

Hallett married his first wife, Susan, in the 1960s. The couple had two daughters and lived for a time in Palmerston North before moving to Taupo. Hallett worked in his father’s sporting goods store and later became involved in real estate and insurance work. He was also known socially as a yachtsman, musician, and businessman.

By the late 1970s, Hallett’s marriage to Susan had broken down. Susan moved away, and Hallett remained in Taupo. At the time of the murder, Hallett was upset about a custody dispute involving his children. According to evidence later presented at trial, he received a letter from Susan denying him custody of their daughters. This left him angry and emotionally distressed.

On the night of August 15–16, 1979, Hallett drove south intending to confront or speak with Susan about the custody issue. During the journey, his car developed a rattling sound, and he stopped at the Shell service station in Turangi shortly after 1:00 a.m.

Murder Story

In the early hours of August 16, 1979, Rodney Tahu, a 32-year-old service station attendant and father of two, was finishing his shift at the Shell service station in Turangi. The station had already closed when Menzies Hallett arrived and asked to buy oil for his vehicle.

Tahu refused to reopen the service station. Hallett became angry. Trial evidence stated that he used a racist insult toward Tahu before drawing a .22 revolver.

Hallett fired three shots. The first shot missed. The second struck Tahu in the shoulder. After Tahu fell to the ground, Hallett stood over him and fired a final shot into his head at close range. Prosecutors later described the killing as an execution.

After the shooting, Hallett left the scene and drove to Wellington, where he visited his estranged wife, Susan. According to her later evidence, Hallett told her that he had killed someone in Turangi. He also showed her the revolver, threw it onto the bed, and said, “There it is.” Susan later alerted police.

Hallett was arrested after an armed stand-off with police near the Napier-Taupo Road. He was charged with murder in 1979, but the case could not proceed because New Zealand law at the time prevented Susan, as his wife, from being compelled to give evidence against him. Without her testimony, prosecutors lacked the key evidence needed to take the case to trial.

For more than three decades, Hallett remained free. During that time, he lived under the name John Hallett and worked in insurance, real estate, screen-printing, and other business roles. He remarried and remained active in social and recreational circles, including sailing and music.

The case was later reopened after New Zealand’s Evidence Act 2006 removed the old spousal testimony barrier. Police re-examined the cold case, and Susan Sharpe, Hallett’s former wife, became the central Crown witness.

Hallett was arrested again in January 2012. His trial took place at the High Court in Rotorua in 2013. During the trial, the Crown argued that Hallett had intentionally killed Rodney Tahu after being refused service. Hallett initially admitted shooting Tahu but denied intending to kill him. Before the trial ended, he retracted the admission.

On May 1, 2013, a jury found Menzies Hallett guilty of murder. On July 12, 2013, Justice Ailsa Duffy sentenced him to life imprisonment. Because the murder occurred in 1979, the court could not impose a modern minimum non-parole period, but Hallett was required to serve at least 10 years before becoming eligible for parole.

Hallett died in custody in October 2019 after a medical event. He was an inmate at Northland Region Corrections Facility and had been receiving hospital treatment before his death.