Damage to pa site not deliberate, judge rules

A prominent Northland businessman has been ordered to pay a total of $8000 for damaging an archaeological site, a judge ruling he did not do so deliberately.

Wayne Earl Cowley, owner of Cowley's Hire Centre, was ordered to pay $7000 by Judge Greg Davis in the Whangarei District Court yesterday and a further $1000 in costs to the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. The trust had asked for a fine of up to $20,000.

Cowley created a building platform that removed a ditch and disturbed archaeological material on his property at Taurikura ridge early last year.

The damaged pa site also contained middens, terraces, ditches and artefacts.

The trust argued Cowley's action had been reckless and had resulted in 200sq m of the area being damaged.

However, his lawyer John Ross said it was an honest mistake rather than a deliberate or reckless act.

His client enjoyed a warm relationship with Maori and was an honest and hardworking businessman, he submitted.

Mr Ross said damage to the pa site was minor and submitted that the Whangarei District Council website and GIS maps in respect of the archaeological site were confusing.

Judge Davis said work that Cowley did was on land around the archaeological site and that the damaged middens were not recorded on the New Zealand archaeological site.

Because of that, he said, Cowley's actions were neither deliberate nor reckless.

On April 29, 2010 an employee of the Ngati Wai Trust Board, Clive Stone, reported to the trust that a road had been built over an archaeological pa site and that substantial site damage had been done. Cowley's property straddles a series of important landmarks for Maori that stretch from Te Whara/Bream Head on the East Coast to Ripiro Beach on the West Coast.

On April 30, 2010, officials from the trust and Ngati Wai visited the site and determined that tracks had been cut on the property using earthmoving equipment that had disturbed middens.