Maori MP devastated at loss of life because of gang thuggery

The MP for Waiariki – Te Ururoa Flavell – is asking the question ‘What is going on in our society when a group of people go to a tangi in a place like Murupara and a young man like Jordon Herewini ends up being brutally murdered?’

‘I feel both very sad and very angry that this has happened. I also feel that the people who did this, need to be tried on our marae and need to stand up in front of our people so they can see and feel the shame that they bring on their own whanau, hapu and iwi.’

Jordon Herewini was known to Te Ururoa as a young man who ‘was courteous, humble and respectful; who had his whole life ahead of him'.

‘I met him each time I visited his school, so I was shocked to hear he was the victim of a gang attack and had been murdered.’ Although Jordon came from the eastern Bay of Plenty, he attended a kura kaupapa Maori at Murupara.

‘To learn that he was caught up in a gang confrontation in the town following a tangi where it appears he was targeted because of the colour of the shirt he wore is beyond belief. He was brought up – like other children at his kura – in tikanga Maori and the concepts of aroha ki te tangata and manaakitanga.’

‘Instead the other night he was exposed to a rumble in which tomahawks, axes and knives were used. There’s no mana in that behaviour and our society is in serious need of cleansing to get rid of that.’

‘This sort of behaviour has got to stop. I cant believe that this young man's life has been cut short, his school brothers and sisters left grieving and wondering why, all because of the trading of insults and a turf war.’

‘I have a feeling of numbness and contempt for the people responsible for this murder and the confrontation that led to it. It is time that we Maori took responsibility for stopping this behaviour where our people are involved. Moana Jackson – one of our leading legal minds- has long argued for a Maori justice system, and I believe it’s time we resurrected that debate.’

‘I say that for these crimes the people responsible need to be taken to the marae and displayed in front of people, the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, the nannies and koros. A courtroom is too small and private a place for their crimes to be heard. We must take it public.’

'I think the time has come for us to consider whether we continue to indulge gang members in our tikanga'.

'They look to their tikanga base as they lie their dead to rest. At the heart of our tikanga is whakapapa – genealogical ties. It is therefore a huge contradiction to look to tikanga on one hand, while lives are put at threat and taken, on the other. It simply makes no sense. We must consider why we should extend to people who have no respect for other people and tikanga, the rites of tangi on our marae. The loss of young Jordon is such a waste. I am devastated and this sort of crazy action has simply just got to stop”.