M.P. fears vigilantism in Wairoa

Press, 11 October 1988, Page 8

M.P. fears vigilantism in Wairoa

By

JOANNE BLACK

PA Wellington A vigilante mentality is developing among some residents in the troubled Hawke's Bay township of Wairoa where a week-end gang shooting occurred, says the local member of Parliament. The member for Waikaremoana, Mr Roger McClay, said yesterday he would ask the Ministers of Police and Justice, Messrs Tapsell and Palmer, to visit the town.

He also wants more Government assistance to increase employment, strengthen the local police and institute a curfew to keep youths off the street. But Mr Tapsell yesterday rejected most of the suggestions, saying the gang members were “utter thugs” who would not work even if they had jobs.

The gang confrontation which left two men dead and two injured in Wairoa’s main street on Saturday evening is the latest in a series of confrontations between the Mongrel Mob and Black Power chapters in the area.

Mr McClay said Wairoa residents were concerned and bitter. “Some are almost of a vigilante frame of mind.”

While he would not call for a town rally, it might help people to vent steam about the problem, he said. “If we don’t stop it now,

it will go on for years. They (gang members) will keep on at each other’s throats.

“They kill one and seek revenge.”

Mr Tapsell said police had told him that Saturday evening’s gang confrontation was a territorial dispute. During a stand-off one gang member “taking off Rambo” stood under a streetlight and fired a rifle from the hip into the darkness. When he was shot down, another gang member took over from him.

“It wouldn't matter if there had been 100 police there. No law had been broken until the first shot was fired,” said Mr Tapsell.

“It was a short thing lasting a matter of minutes.”

Wairoa might be an economically depressed town but Mr Tapsell said there was nothing at all that excused the behaviour of the gang members. “Many of them wouldn’t work if they were given jobs. They have become absolute thugs just practising hooliganism for the sheer thrill of it.”

The basic cause was a breakdown in discipline at the family, hapu (small group) and tribal levels.

Countless numbers of social workers, Maori workers and staff from the Internal Affairs Department had tried to help but to no avail, Mr Tapsell said.