Child molester runs for mayor despite past
Palmerston North’s donut man Maruna Engu has done time in prison for sexual abuse of a young girl, but says he will not hide from that history as he contests the city’s mayoralty.
The 50-year-old Cook Islander was convicted in 1993 on charges related to indecencies on a 5-year-old girl known to him, which took place over an eight-month period.
An appeal against his sentence of 31⁄2 years in prison was later dismissed.
The ruling from the Court of Appeal was that the sentence was ‘‘just’’ within the range of what was appropriate given the breach of trust and the trauma caused to the child.
Engu, who runs a donut business and organises the Highbury markets, said he understood his criminal past would be out in the open as he stood for public office.
‘‘I’m not going to hide.
‘‘I have asked, why would somebody like myself, with no qualifications, who has a criminal record, who lives in Highbury, is a brown boy, a Pasifika from a very small island... why would I do this?’’
But he believed God had called on him to stand to bring aroha back into the council and into the city.
He said he had complained to the Lord about the bad reputation Highbury had, and that was when he received his calling to go to the council chamber and sit through meetings and work for change.
The language and terminology of council business gave him ‘‘a massive headache’’, but after nine months of chewing it over, he decided to go for the mayoralty.
Engu claimed he was a victim of sexual assault himself as a child, having already been ‘‘rejected’’ by his mother and raised by his grandmother.
A victim first, ‘‘then I became a predator’’.
Counselling had helped him understand the behaviour and re-establish himself.
He said he had thought about what people would say about his past, but was ready for it and wanted to be transparent about it, ‘‘because these are good issues to be talked about’’.
Engu’s election slogan is: ‘‘My city that cares. My city with a heart. My city that I love.’’
His guiding principles of love for God and others were straight from the new testament of the Christian Bible.
He said he had studied the council’s 10-year plan, which read like its bible, but it was missing an important element.
He would be releasing more of his blueprint on September 1.
Engu has yet to formally lodge his nomination for the October 12 local body elections.
Nominations close on August 16.
Sitting mayor Grant Smith has yet to get his nomination in, as is academic and local government commentator Andy Asquith, who has announced his candidacy.
The first nomination for the mayoralty has been lodged by Manawatu¯ Multicultural Council vice-president Pierrehussein Strafford-kikhoungangot.
Engu claimed he was a victim of sexual assault himself as a child.