Man, 80, defies finalmarching orders in land battle
An 80-year-old man given his marching orders from the place he has called home for 20 years is vowing to stay against the landowner’s will.
Fred Carroll has lived on a block of land at Waima¯rama, Hawke’s Bay, since 2000. He claims he was told he could live there by a woman who cared for the land on behalf of its owners.
He put up a small bach, created a garden, paid rates and has lived there ever since.
In 2017, Kiri Manuel, the surviving trustee of the Heni Gillies Wha¯nau Trust, which owns two of three shares in the land, told Carroll she wanted to build a family home on her ancestral land.
She asked him to leave the 4200 square metre block by the end of 2017.
Carroll refused to move out, forcing Manuel to seek an injunction from the Ma¯ori Land Court.
Manuel said Carroll, who stopped paying rates in 2017, was trespassing and preventing her wha¯nau from using and enjoying their own whenua.
She also said Carroll had damaged the land by removing trees without permission. It was also noted that Carroll had made several unsuccessful attempts to buy the land over the years.
Carroll acknowledged he was not an owner of the land, or a relative of an owner, but said he had a relationship to the land through his descendants of Nga¯ti Rongomaiwahine, Nga¯ti Rakaipaaka and Nga¯ti Kahungunu, and he should be allowed to stay there for the rest of his life.
That relationship, he said, meant he was entitled to occupy the land and that Manuel’s approach was inconsistent with tikanga Ma¯ori. Carroll denied damaging the land and said he cared for and protected it and had installed a sewerage and water system.
In July this year, Judge Layne Harvey granted the injunction, and told Carroll he had to vacate the land by the end of winter.
The judge said Carroll had not filed any evidence to support his occupation of the land, and he was occupying the land unlawfully and without consent of the owners.
‘‘He is therefore, in legal terms, trespassing,’’ the judge said.
Carroll was given until October 13 to vacate the land. That was later moved to November 13 by of
Manuel for the avoidance ‘‘undue hardship’’ to Carroll.
Carroll failed to leave the property by that date, and last week he was sent a letter including an injunction requiring him to ‘‘permanently and immediately vacate the property and remove himself and his possessions, chattels and other materials’’ from the land.
On Saturday, Carroll said he would not be moving, and he was confident he was able to claim whakapapa to the land through ancestral ties to the original Ma¯ori inhabitants.
‘‘I’m not poor. I just don’t want to move. I consider it my land and my mokopuna’s land,’’ Carroll said.