House not a gang pad, says Black Power member

A Black Power member who illegally built a home on Ma¯ori land says the house is for his children and will not be used as a gang pad.

Waitara’s Kevin Moore said the home, which he has built on the Rohutu Block, East Beach Waitara, was necessary because his previous home there, a bus, wasn’t suitable.

"I’m a fully fledged Black Power and I will be until the day I die but this house has nothing to do with them," Moore said.

"It’s for my children, I’m still sleeping and living in my bus, the house is for my son and daughter, she is the one that inspired and motivated me into building the house."

He initially moved on to the land in 2014 and has refused to leave, claiming the land belongs to him as tangata whenua.

While the New Plymouth District Council says the building is illegal because Moore doesn’t have consent, he claims it’s not required as it’s Ma¯ ori land.

Moore said he had built the wooden home with a large deck surrounding it because his bus wasn’t suitable for young children to live in and he wanted to give his family a warm, healthy environment for the future.

"It’s not comfortable enough for the young ones to live in and as they get older they want something bigger with their own space for when they have friends staying over.

"There’s nothing but smiles all round. ‘‘They’re very happy."

He said construction had been underway for two months but the inside was yet to be completed.

The Ma¯ori freehold land managed is by the Rohutu Block Trust and their legal advisers, under the Te Ture Whenua Maori Land Act 1993.

A spokesperson for the trust wouldn’t talk about Moore’s occupancy of the site.