Black was paedophile, says widow
A highly regarded politician who died 20 months ago was a paedophile, his distraught widow has claimed.
Anihera Zhou Black said her husband — regional councillor and Ma¯ori Party candidate Awanui Black — had preyed upon children his whole adult life.
Te Awanuia¯rangi Black died aged 48 with organ failure after a short hospital stay. Twenty months later, Anihera was on Facebook trying to deal with fresh emotions as she told the world she believed the man she loved was an imposter.
The video had been viewed more than 30,000 times in the hours since being posted yesterday afternoon.
Anihera said her former husband came across as a larger-than-life leader with a booming voice but was actually “a shrivelled up cowering soulless shadow of a man”.
The couple met when they were aged 15, married at 18 and had 26 years of married life. Throughout that time, she said he lived a double life that — she believed — stemmed from sexual abuse he had suffered as a boy.
“I am so extremely sorry and devastated. You are all my babies now and I will do what I can to navigate through your healing process.”
Nga¯ti Pu¯kenga chairman Rehua Smallman said he would seek to meet Anihera to find out more about the allegations.
Awanui Black helped pen a Ma¯ori dictionary, sat on the Ma¯ ori Language Commission, was a regional councillor and iwi leader.