Marching in Moko’s memory
Palmerston North residents from all walks of life have marched through the city, protesting in the wake of the death of a child known to many as Moko.
Gang members, politicians and school pupils were among the 200-strong crowd who protested outside the Palmerston North Courthouse on Monday, the same day the killers of Moko Rangitoheriri were sentenced.
Tania Shailer and David Haerewa were each sentenced to 17 years’ imprisonment in the High Court in Rotorua for Moko’s manslaughter – the longest sentence ever given for the manslaughter of a child.
Moko, 3, was repeatedly beaten by the pair in Taupo last year while his mother, Nicola Dallypaki, was in Auckland with another child in Starship hospital.
Protests were organised to be held at every New Zealand courthouse on Monday, after it was revealed the Crown had accepted an offer from the killers to plead guilty to manslaughter if the murder charges they initially faced were downgraded.
Sam and Nikki Warren held photos of Saliel Asplin, 12, and Olympia Jetson, 11, as they marched in Palmerston North.
The girls were murdered by their step-father Bruce Howse in Masterton in 2001. He is serving life with a non-parole period of 25 years.
The Warrens both said people who knew abuse was taking place needed to make sure they were listened to.
‘‘We knew [the girls] weren’t living a good life,’’ Nikki Warren said.
Sam Warren said people speaking out about abuse was the way to turn things around.
It was also important for mothers to be loyal to their children above their partners, she said.
Stormtrooper gang member Tekai-po Ahuriri said he attended the protest because he was friends with the father of Amber-lee Cruickshank, who was 2 years old when she disappeared at Kingston in 1992 while in the custody of her mother Nicola.
Older gang members, many of whom had lived in violent households as children, were trying to teach younger members a better way, he said.
‘‘Being Jake The Muss isn’t better than Jake who gives food away and is loving to his family.’’
Palmerston North MP Iain Lees-galloway was openly emotional as he spoke to the march once it had moved from the courthouse to The Square.
He said the concept that ‘‘it takes a village to raise a child’’ appeared to have been forgotten.
‘‘I think that’s an incredibly sad reflection about where we have got to as a society.’’
While people were concerned about what punishment Moko’s killers should get, Lees-galloway said he was more interested in how to stop deaths like Moko’s from happening in the first place.
After Moko’s killers were sentenced, Attorney-general Christopher Finlayson took the rare step of explaining why the charges were downgraded.
The manslaughter pleas were accepted due to the need to secure convictions against both killers, as there was a real risk one or both of them could have avoided conviction for murder and manslaughter if the case went to trial, he said.
The cost of prosecuting the trial was not taken into account when accepting the pleas. ‘‘The public interest in prosecuting such serious crime would never take into account the financial cost of bringing a defendant to trial.’’
‘‘Nor is plea bargaining a feature of the New Zealand justice system. Prosecutors cannot agree to a guilty plea based on the premise they will support a specific sentence.’’