Mongrel Mob man’s sentence attacked

Press, 12 January 1977, Page 3

Mongrel Mob man’s sentence attacked

P Hamilton I he New Zealand Matakite movement will protest to the Minister of Justice (Mr Thomson) against the sentence imposed on a young prison inmate, Anaru Pari, a member of the Mongrel Mob, who escaped from prison last week for 32 hours to attend a traditional Maori memorial ceremonv.

The movement’s leader, Dr Douglas Sin-1 clair, yesterday des-1 cribed the nine-month| sentence as extremely! harsh, and said the “European prison! bureaucracy” had no conception of the “strong pull of tribal association” that Maoris felt. Dr Sinclair said the Minister would be told that Pari had walked off the Rangipo prison farm, near Turangi, only after his request for special leave for the one-day ceremony had been declined by the prison authorities. Pari, aged 20, had been serving a term of two years before the extra nine-month sentence was imposed in the Magistrate’s Court at Rotorua last Wednesday. He had already served 10 months of his original sentence. Pari was the subject of a manhunt after he escaped from Rangipo on January 3, the eve of a traditional commemoration ceremony for Daniel Houpapa. Houpapa was shot dead by a policeman during a clash between the Mongrel Mob and the police in Taumarunui on January 4 last year. Pari was hidden on the Kaitupeka marae, at Taumarunui, according to members of the Mongrel Mob. They said he had escaped because he was a “mate of Danny’s,” and wanted to attend the ceremony. Pari is now believed to be in Mount Eden prison in Auckland. He was recaptured by the police after an eight-car Mob convoy was stopped at Taumarunui on the afternoon of

January 4. Although the I police at the township’s j roadblock were heavily out- ■ numbered by gang members ! when the convoy was I stopped, and there were { some tense moments during j the confrontation, there was {no attempt by the gang to {prevent his recapture. A Maori elder had told the police that Pari was in the convoy. Dr Sinclair said it was significant that there had been no action taken against the Maoris at the marae who were said to have harboured , Pari, and w T ho had refused to allow outsiders to attend the ' ceremony. “The police seem to have taken a reasonable attitude I {towards the people on the marae, but in not allowing Pari a brief leave there was { no leniency by the authori- ’ ties,” he said. , “It is always easier to " prosecute the individual. In { this case, the police have ! taken the easy way out. “They should make inquir- ( ies at the marae, not with the j aim of bringing prosecutions, but to find out what the atti- ; tude of these people is.” : Dr Sinclair said the memorial service had “great sym- ? holism” for the Maori people, i The tapu of the dead was > lifted and the spirits freed i during the ceremony, which was held, by custom, exactly ■ a year after a death. “The European prison . bureaucracy neither under- . stands this, nor wants to 1 understand it,” he said. f “About 90 per cent of Euro- > peans would not understand the strong pull of tribal as- ; sociation that Maoris feel, i Pari obviously felt the pull strongly, because even though i it was so difficult for him to > go, he went. “The prison authorities ? show a complete lack of sym-

pathy for Maoris, and yet the jails are full of Maoris.” Dr Sinclair said that Matakite would appeal to the Minister to urge prison authorities to take a “broader view” of the needs of Maori people in institutions. If the authorities had acted in a more humane manner initially, the great cost of the police search would have been avoided, he said. A Wanganui police spokesman said yesterday that he would expect “normal police inquiries” to be made into any assertion that Pari was harboured illegally. However, he did not know whether any police action would be taken, once all the circumstances of the affair had been considered. A Taumarunui police spokesman said he did not know whether any action would be taken against the Maoris at the marae. The superintendent of Rangipo Prison (Mr J. W. Trodd) said that a home-leave system was in effect at the minimum-security part of the institution. He said he did not know why Pari’s leave request had been declined. ; Mr Trodd said that every leave application was treated on its merits, regardless of trace or creed. Pari had abused la trust by escaping.