Sentences reflect wish to keep tightly knit family together

Pleas to keep a large, tight-knit family together so they could continue to support one another may have saved five adults from a spell behind bars.

But an uncle and four aunts convicted of the manslaughter of their niece Janet Moses look set to learn some lessons on Maori customs and traditions.

In the High Court at Wellington yesterday, Justice Simon France made it a condition of their community-based sentences that all five of the Wainuiomata whanau members undertake tikanga Maori or similar cultural programmes.

At the end of a six-week trial earlier this year, John Tahana Rawiri, 50, and his sisters Glenys Lynette Wright, 53, Aroha Gwendoline Wharepapa, 49, Angela Orupe, 47, and Tanginoa Apanui, 43, were found guilty of drowning 22-year-old Ms Moses in a bizarre effort to rid her of what they believed to be a makutu, or curse.

They attempted over several days to flush the demons out with water.

Yesterday Justice France told them that their knowledge of aspects of their culture was "not complete". They had exposed the younger generation of their family to "a terrible event" and let them down badly, he said.

"Mistakes were made."

The greater involvement of Rawiri and Wright, acknowledged as family leaders, meant that they were subject to harsher penalties.

Justice France sentenced both to six months' community detention and imposed a daily curfew of 9pm to 6am starting later this month.

In addition they each must do 300 hours' community work and spend 12 months under supervision.

Wharepapa and Apanui were also handed down a year's supervision and 300 hours' community work, while Orupe will serve 150 hours' community work and undergo supervision for six months.

As well as tikanga Maori education, other special conditions are that all five undergo any other programmes directed by the probation service, including psychiatric assessment and counselling.

- NZPA