Land fight family freed

The family arrested after refusing to leave their home at the heart of a land dispute in northern Hawke’s Bay have been released – but with a warning that they will face charges if they return to the land.

Bruce Smith, his wife Ruby and daughters Jarna and Kreslea were arrested on Wednesday under a civil arrest order issued after they failed to comply with Ma¯ ori Land Court orders.

They were held in custody overnight and appeared in the High Court at Napier yesterday.

The arrest followed years of dispute over the ownership on a farm near Wairoa.

Justice Christine Grice appeared by video link from the High Court at Wellington, and Bruce Smith appeared via video link from Gisborne.

The women’s lawyer, Leo Lafferty, said the family had filed further proceedings in the court and they needed to access the property as it held their possessions. He asked that they be released on bail.

Lawyer Holly Tunstall, acting for Bruce Smith, asked that he be released on the agreement he did not return to the property.

The family’s possessions were to be removed from the property today.

Justice Grice said if the family was released from custody they must not return to the land known as Waipaoa 5A2.

‘‘You are aware of the avenues available to you in the Ma¯ ori Land Court. You haven’t taken route,’’ Justice Grice said.

She did not feel a further reprieve should be granted. They were released at large, but if they returned to the property they would likely be charged with contempt of court, she said.

The land in question is a 790-hectare block. Once part of the 1760ha Ruatawhiri Station, it was leased by Bruce Smith’s late father, Francis Guthrie Smith.

Bruce Smith was one of seven siblings who held a majority 60 per cent share in the block through their father’s estate.

The other 40 per cent was owned by more than 500 shareholders, and administered by Te Tumu Paeroa (the Ma¯ ori Trustee).

Four years ago, a family dispute saw four of Bruce Smith’s brothers take a case to the Ma¯ori Land Court to get him to allow them access onto the farm, and a share of the decision-making. This followed a decision by the trustee to put the lease out to tender.

In November 2016, the court ordered that Bruce Smith, his wife Ruby and their three children remove themselves and their possessions from the property within seven days. A year later the court issued an injunction prohibiting the family from entering or occupying the land.

But within weeks the trustee learnt that the Smiths had used a gate to block access to the land.

The issue came to a head again in February, with Justice Grice saying the Smiths had behaved in a manner ‘‘showing wilful and inexcusable disregard of the order’’. that