Activist gets jail term for contempt

Press, 10 December 1983, Page 7

Activist gets jail term for contempt

PA Wellington An activist. Te Ringa (Dun) Mangu Mihaka. has been jailed for 10 days for contempt of court ’ after making what the Judge described as obscene and insulting outbursts.

In the District Court at Wellington on Thursday, Judge B. J. McK. Kerr said that Mihaka’s conduct during a hearing on non-pay-ment of parking fines “is bordering on the irrational.” “This defendant persists in thinking he can talk over a judge, to ignore the usual procedures in court, and as I have said earlier it is time to call a halt.”

The Judge said that it was important that a courtroom should be just that and not turned into a circus. He said that Mihaka was one of a small number of publicity seekers who described himself as a political activist.

He was entitled to his sincerely held views and had tested them on several occasions in the District Court, in the High Court and before the Court of Appeal.

Mihaka had been commended for his conduct in the High Court and in the Court of Appeal, but had often been condemned for his conduct in the District Court, said the Judge. It was quite clear that Mihaka was selective about his behaviour, he said.

“It is important that justice should be administered in a calm atmosphere to (allow) both the prosecution and the defendant to present their particular points of view.”

The Judge said that there was always a danger in such a case of making a martyr of a person who persisted in a case of contempt to the point that he or she sought publicity for

their cause and then claimed that they took a stand for a particular purpose.

"The defendant is not such a person. He is a violent criminal. He has convictions for criminal offences. He has appeared before a court on numerous occasions." he said.

When Thursday’s hearing began Mihaka had refused to go into the dock and the case had been put aside until later in the day. When it came up again Mihaka again refused to go into the dock, sought a delay which was granted with the Judge remanding Mihaka in custody in the meantime. Mihaka then made his outburst which led to the contempt of court hearing later in the day’ during which he made a second “equally obscene and insulting outburst," said the Judge.