Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

Title invalid, says paua poacher

Imran Ali
By Imran Ali
Multimedia Journalist·Northern Advocate·
3 Mar, 2013 10:22 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

One of four men convicted in one of Northland's biggest paua-poaching busts in recent history wants the High Court to declare a title issued by the Maori Land Court null and void.

Hone Steven Matene, 36, was sentenced by the Kaikohe District Court in September last year to 300 hours community work on two charges of breaching the Fisheries Act by taking under-sized paua.

Matene, James Kemp, Michael Yukich and another person were nabbed with 715 paua - every one of them undersize - at Takou Bay north of Kerikeri in October 2011. All four forfeited their wetsuits, snorkelling equipment and a Peugeot car they were in at the time.

Matene's appeal against sentence and conviction in the High Court at Whangarei was heard last week.

Ken Brown, who appeared as an agent for Matene, told Justice Murray Gilbert that according to Section 140 of the Seabed and Foreshore case, titles held by the Maori Land Court were null and void.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said the Crown was allowed to present as evidence a copy of the land title at Takou Bay obtained from the Maori Land Court in the absence of that court's registrar.

As a result, he said Matene could not cross-examine the registrar on the title.

Mr Brown argued that if all titles kept by the Maori Land Court were null and avoid, then all land in New Zealand reverted to the Treaty of Waitangi.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He told Justice Gilbert that the appeal was not so much on conviction and sentence but the Kaikohe District Court's ruling on the admissibility of evidence from the Maori Land Court.

The court, he claimed, had been found to have presented fraudulent documents.

Crown prosecutor Moana Jarman-Taylor said the appeal had snowballed to cover all land in the country. She said the area from where Matene obtained the paua was freehold. Fisheries officers did not need permission to enter and search people.

The sheer scale of the paua theft outraged coastal communities, particularly in Takou Bay, where locals imposed a ban on diving for kai moana and vowed to record the details of every vehicle entering the area.

Justice Gilbert has reserved his decision.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northern Advocate

Northern Advocate

Storm hits Northland, 500 still without power as crews work to restore

Northern Advocate

256-year-old anchor found after 43 years, confirming historic discovery

Northern Advocate

'Will it take someone to die?': 85yo's fears after home demolished by airborne car


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northern Advocate

Storm hits Northland, 500 still without power as crews work to restore
Northern Advocate

Storm hits Northland, 500 still without power as crews work to restore

'Hopefully we can get out there and get it all fixed.'

17 Jul 09:27 PM
256-year-old anchor found after 43 years, confirming historic discovery
Northern Advocate

256-year-old anchor found after 43 years, confirming historic discovery

17 Jul 09:02 PM
'Will it take someone to die?': 85yo's fears after home demolished by airborne car
Northern Advocate

'Will it take someone to die?': 85yo's fears after home demolished by airborne car

17 Jul 05:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP