Rainbow crossing repair payout sees man avoid conviction
An Auckland man married to Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki’s granddaughter has pleaded guilty to vandalising the rainbow pedestrian crossing on Auckland’s Karangahape Rd.
Ford O’Connor, 31, appeared in the Auckland District Court yesterday on charges of intentionally damaging the crossing on March 28.
He has agreed to pay $16,093 — the cost of repairing the crossing.
His lawyer, Steven Lack, said he would pay the amount in full within a month and O’Connor received a discharge without conviction.
Community Magistrate Jan Holmes said she had taken into account O’Connor’s early guilty plea, his significant reparation costs and his clean record.
Lack had argued that a conviction would have a significant effect on the father of four, who was in fulltime work.
Before O’Connor’s court appearance, Tamaki held a press conference in front of about 40 people to voice his “unwavering support” for him.
Tamaki said: “Today I stand alongside a young man, who is accused of wilful damage to the K Rd rainbow crossing . . . Mr O’Connor handed himself into the police last week and he was not arrested.”
“As I stated before, Mr O’Connor undertook a political protest against the excessive rainbow-washing that is occurring across New Zealand right now, at the expense of our taxpayers and our ratepayers.
“This rainbow-washing has gone too far. The over-promotion and protection of this perversion is not right.”
Earlier Tamaki said: “The young man has appointed me as his media spokesperson, due to the importance of this case.”
“It is ridiculous that the police have threatened to treat this as a hate crime when they have shown no interest in treating the Te Papa Treaty defacing as a hate crime. There seems to be massive inconsistencies with how one protest is treated, compared to another. One law for some and another law for others, and I am prepared to call out the police’s hypocritical actions.”
The Destiny Church head also promised to keep taking action.
“Until officials take notice and put an end to this madness, we will keep protesting in multiple places, in multiple ways.”
A police statement after the overnight incident on March 28 said they were treating the vandalism as a “hate crime”.
The vandalism to the Karangahape Rd crossing came days after members of Destiny Church painted over the rainbow crossing on Gisborne’s main street. The group were protesting a Rainbow Storytime event at the local library, where drag performers read to children.
The Gisborne crossing had been repainted, with police expected to bill Destiny Church for the work.
That led several protesters to return to the site, with Tamaki expressing his displeasure at the rainbow’s restoration.
Five protesters were arrested after attempts were made to paint slogans onto the repainted crossing.
Green Party co-leader Chloe Swarbrick earlier said it was important to “find out what drives an allegedly grown man to get so upset about a rainbow flag”.
“The drive behind this sad and bizarre waste of energy that saw someone paint over a simple symbol of our rainbow community didn’t come from nowhere.
“This anger and bigotry wasn’t born on our shores, and it doesn’t belong here.”