TIMES Soft judgment for a hard gangster

IT WAS one of Judith ‘‘Crusher’’ Collins most emphatic characteristics: the manner in which she supported the police and other enforcement bodies in cracking down on organised crime.

It is a supreme irony, then, that her final downfall was caused by allegations she was involved in behind-the-scenes machinations to white-ant the director of the SFO in that agency’s criminal investigation into disgraced financier Mark Hotchin.

She has called for an investigation to clear her name. But already, even before her resignation yesterday, her tough law and order legacy had started to unravel. Amid all the beltway comment about her departure and its impact on John Key’s National Party in the middle of the election campaign, what has been forgotten is the way her achievements are sorely undermined by her own actions.

As police minister, she backed her officers on the beat. As justice minister, she backed the judiciary. All of that is now tarnished.

Today, the Sunday Star-Times reveals how police were knocked back in their attempts to seize the proceeds of crime from one of New Zealand’s nastier gang bosses, Nomads president Jack Whakatihi.

It is an indication that under Collins’ watch the Courts may not be aligned with the Government’s – and indeed, the public’s – determination to crack down hard on organised crime.

Over the years, the Nomads have cemented a reputation as some of the country’s crudest, nastiest, most violent criminals. Foxton GP Howard Teppett, aged 79, died in 1993 after being bashed by two young men, one a Nomads prospect. His elderly sister was raped. It was a crime that appalled New Zealand.

Whakatihi’s predecessor, Dennis ‘‘Mossie’’ Hines, died of cancer in prison in 2009. He liked to be known as ‘‘The Godfather’’ and is said to have killed two people, though he was never prosecuted for murder. The very day of his funeral, the power struggle in the gang began. His stepson was shot in the leg and a house was set on fire.

Whakatihi came through victorious and set out to strengthen his hold on power in a manner only gangsters can.

Howard Teppett’s son, Robert, told the Sunday Star-Times yesterday: ‘‘The Nomads caused irreparable damage to lots and lots of people, not just my father, people who were vulnerable to their intimidation.’’

Now, as we report today, a High Court judge has rejected a police application to seize some of the proceeds of Whakatihi’s methamphetamine dealing: his battered Ford Falcon and a paltry few hundred dollars in cash. The judge criticised the police, saying the legal costs of the Proceeds of Crime Act application outweighed the value of the car and money. ‘‘This is a poor use of state resources and bears all the hallmarks of unthinking bureaucratic decisions.’’

The criticism in the judgement misses the point.

Parliament did not authorise such seizures as a revenue gathering exercise for the police. The object is to punish criminals, and to deter others from following in their footsteps.

Such seizures send a loud message that crime does not pay.

Judith Collins’ Organised Crime and Anticorruption bill was introduced in June. It would have demonstrated New Zealand’s ‘‘zero-tolerance approach’’ to organised crime, Collins said.

It did not make it into law before the election, remaining languishing on the order paper when Parliament rose in July. Now, it may never pass.

If that is the case, Collins has only herself to blame.