By Ric Stevens, Open Justice reporter of 
Hamilton High Court Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Name suppression has been lifted for a man accused of murder following the death of Keith Pati in Hastings last month.
Kereama Rewita, 28, a cleaner, appeared briefly in the High Court at Napier on Friday morning.
Justice David Boldt, on an audio-visual link from Wellington, remanded the Flaxmere man in custody without plea to appear again on 9 May.
Rewita is charged with murdering Pati, who died in hospital late in the evening of 16 February after what police described as an assault near Kirkpatrick Park, in the Hastings suburb of Camberley.
The man who died is named as Keith Pati in court charging documents, with his family previously naming him publicly as Tulasunu'i Keith Alapati.
A family spokeswoman said earlier that he arrived in New Zealand in 2024 to "find a future for his family".
His family would forever remember him as a "humble, loving guy", she said.
"He was a great father, friend, brother, and cousin.
"He loved his children more than anything, loved going fishing, and loved putting his family first."
A small number of Pati's relatives attended the court on Friday.
Justice Boldt acknowledged their attendance on what he called a "difficult occasion".
This story first appeared in the New Zealand Herald.
