Iti's marae gunfire like 'a royal salute'

Tame Iti arrives at the Rotorua District Court. Picture / Alan Gibson

Tame Iti's firing of a gun at a powhiri for Waitangi Tribunal members was the equivalent of a 21-gun salute for the Queen, the Rotorua District Court heard yesterday.

Iti, 55, is accused of unlawfully brandishing and firing a shotgun, including at a New Zealand flag, as tribunal members gathered to hear Tuhoe land claims at Ruatoki in January last year.

Tikirau Stevens was among the last defence witnesses called on the fourth day of Iti's trial.

A Tuhoe elder and former Army officer and Crown adviser, Mr Stevens reiterated evidence given by earlier witnesses that firing a gun on ceremonial occasions, particularly at tangi, was a Tuhoe tradition.

Mr Stevens, who spent 20 years in the Army, including 10 years training soldiers in firearms, said Iti's firing of the gun at Tauarau Marae was the equivalent of a 21-gun salute.

"There's no difference in significance to the 21-gun salute in relation to the Queen as to what Tame did," he said through an interpreter.

Mr Stevens said he had his "own thoughts" about Iti shooting at the New Zealand flag, having served as a soldier under that flag. But he said Iti's actions were in remembrance of Tuhoe ancestors and a symbol of the tribe's grief.

"All of Tuhoe participated and we were part and parcel of what occurred at that time."

However, under cross-examination, Mr Stevens said he would have expected Iti to use blanks rather than live ammunition and, as a soldier, he would have disciplined him for loading the gun while walking.

But as an elder and member of Tuhoe, he did not disagree with Iti's action in firing. "I cannot say that is wrong because I did that, my fathers before me did that, so if Tame is wrong, we are all wrong."

Mr Stevens had seen guns fired on many ceremonial occasions, including the tangi of Sir John Turei, attended by Prime Minister Helen Clark and Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartright, and at a powhiri for a Minister of Maori Affairs.

Mr Stevens, who was an adviser to the Crown (including on land claims) for nine years, did not think it necessary for a person firing a gun at a ceremonial occasion to have a firearms licence because such occasions were governed by elders and protocol. The position in which the person stood firing the gun was also irrelevant.

Te Motoi Taputu, a leading participant in the January 16 powhiri, also said Iti had acted in accordance with Tuhoe custom.

"Tame Iti will not do anything unless it is the bidding of his elders and above all else, it is tradition that governs what he does."

She said Tuhoe had paid a price with his trial.

"We are being judged and yet no one has approached us to ask us why we do what we do, because if there is even a little understanding, they may not feel so threatened by Tuhoe."

Historian and Waitangi Tribunal researcher Craig Innes gave examples of guns being fired by Maori on ceremonial occasions, beginning in 1817.

The references included muskets fired by rival chiefs as salutes, and at a signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in the Hokianga.

Mr Innes said intricate carvings on 19th-century guns indicated their cultural importance to Maori.

Iti, who is represented by Annette Sykes and Jason Pou, is arguing that his actions had lawful purpose because they were in accordance with Tuhoe custom, but the Crown, represented by Greg Hollister-Jones and Larry Meredith, contends he broke the law because he did not have a firearms licence and used the gun in public.

The two sides are expected to sum up today.

Judge Chris McGuire said he was unlikely to give an immediate ruling because the case was a "factual matrix" with complex matters of law to consider.