Tribal courts to sit again?

Press, 24 April 1984, Page 28

Tribal courts to sit again?

PA Auckland A case could be made for setting up Maori tribal courts again, according to the President of the New Zealand Maori Council, Sir Graham Latimer. He said that Maoris now had no control over their own people, and he felt such courts could be reintroduced. Sir Graham, commenting •on ' a Wellington report pointing to the number of Maoris coming before the courts on rape offences, said he intended to raise the issue at the next meeting of the Tai Tokerau District Maori Council in Northland. Now that the rape issue had been raised, the whole area of violence was of even more concern, he said. “I wonder how many of

those who are charged with rape are on the dole and have nothing else to do?” said Sir Graham. Ten to 15 years ago, he said, Maori tribal courts had “nipped a lot of problems in the bud” before they got out of hand. Archdeacon Kingi Ihaka, of the Auckland diocese of the Anglican Church, said he assumed most rapes were occurring in towns and cities because in the country elders still had some control over young people. The co-ordinator of the HELP foundation for victims of sexual attacks, Ms Eileen Swan, said she did not believe that harsh prison sentences would deter rapists. She said education was the key to deterring rape.