Waiheke trespass heard

Press, 12 May 1984, Page 5

Waiheke trespass heard

PA Auckland Eleven people appeared in the Auckland District Court yesterday for a defended hearing of charges of trespassing on land at Waiheke Island. Before Judge Mac Lean were Henry Peter Rawiri, aged 22, unemployed, of Mount Wellington; Kahumaunga Joan Rawiri, aged 28, a mother, of Mangere; Tapu Teua Rawiri, aged 48, a docker, of Te Atatu; Graham Albert Rogers, aged 38, a beekeeper, of Waiheke Island; Peter Richard Lee, aged 41, unemployed, of Waiheke; Grant Robert Thompson, aged 32, unemployed, of Herne Bay; Taipurutu William Thompson, aged 29, a freezing worker, of Otahuhu; Leon Kuperia Thompson, aged 30, a beneficiary, of Otahuhu; Gary John Blair, aged 26, a shepherd, of Waiheke; Kameta Andrews, aged 49, a mutton butcher, of Papakura; and Tekaaho Anaru, aged 27, a storeman, of Newmarket. All have pleaded not guilty to trespassing on development scheme land at Oneroa, Waiheke Island, on February 2. At the end of the evidence Judge Mac Lean reserved his decision to next Thursday. It was, he said, almost the anniversary of the first day that he presided over the Bastion Point hearings. He congratulated the defendants and those present in court for their courteous behaviour, which he described as “very different” to that he had experienced at the other hearing. D'xon Wright, a director of the Maori Affairs Department in Hamilton, said he was told by the manager of

the Waiheke Island development scheme that some people had moved on to development scheme land and had camped there. They were obstructing entry to the property. Mr Wright said he was authorised to go to the island and serve a notice warning the people that they would be arrested if they did not leave. The scheme, he said, was under the control of the board of Maori Affairs. Mr Wright visited the island on February 1. The gate to the block of land was chained. About 45 metres from the gate were several tents and a group of people. He and his assistant director of community affairs introduced themselves. He told the group of the board’s position and asked them to leave. The two then left but returned several hours later

when they were told that the group would not leave. Mr Wright said he returned on February 2 with a police party. He read the warning notice. A number of people left but 11 remained and refused to go. He turned to the police and told them to do “what was necessary.” Cross-examined by Anaru, Mr Wright said there was no question that the Ngati Paoa tribe originally occupied land on Waiheke. Anaru told the Court that the defence was based on the fact that the land had been leased without first being offered to the Ngati Paoa tribe. The meaning of the land to his tribe was more than he could put into words. Judge Mac Lean said he accepted the sincerity of the defendants, but he was requiried to inquire into a matter of trespass, not the history of the land.

Rawiri said the group had been told that if they opened the gate to let the new lessee on to the land they would be allowed to stay. As they did not do so, they were charged with trespass. The tribe, she said, had been ignored and insulted by the department regarding its ancestral lands. In a statement handed to the Court, the defendants said they appeared in court as representatives of their tribe and they had the support of the tribe. They visited the block on January 22 and returned on January 30 to reoccupy their ancestral land. Ngati Paoa were the Tangata whenua of Waiheke Island but the tribe was never directly contacted by the board of Maori Affairs before it leased the land once owned by it. Elders of the tribe were present for the hearing.