Killing of Janet Moses

On 12 October 2007, 22-year-old Janet Moses died and a 14-year-old female relative was injured during a mākutu lifting (or exorcism) in the Wellington, New Zealand suburb of Wainuiomata. In 2009, nine members of Moses' extended family, all siblings of her mother or their spouses, were charged in relation to the event. One uncle and four aunts were subsequently found guilty of manslaughter.

The mākutu lifting and subsequent trial were notable for bringing mākutu into the public awareness in New Zealand; and the large number of independent people who stepped forward to distance mākutu lifting as they knew it from the events in this case. Unprecedented media attention was paid to mākutu, mākutu lifting and Māori religion.