"I see potential in that young man there," reformed gang member Phil Paikea told the court at Black Power man Harley Hauraki's sentencing. Photo / Michael Craig
"I see potential in that young man there," reformed gang member Phil Paikea told the court at Black Power man Harley Hauraki's sentencing. Photo / Michael Craig
As a man stood in the dock, facing prison for violent clashes both behind bars and on the streets, his life story unfolded – a history marked by survival, gang ties, addiction and crime.
But amid the weight of his past, a reformed former gang member addressed the court with a message of hope for the defendant being sentenced.
“One judge took a chance on me,” Phil Paikea told the court. “And I see potential in that young man there.”
Paikea was speaking at a hearing for Harley Hauraki of Whangārei, who was being sentenced on a range of charges including injuring with intent to injure and a prolonged incident with police while resisting arrest.
Hauraki was being held in custody at Northland Regional Corrections Facility when he was released into the yard with other inmates about 9am on May 23, 2023.
The patched Black Power member got into a fight with an unidentified man, punching and kicking him to the head numerous times causing sustained injuries to the man’s face, head and neck.
A year later in June, Hauraki was a rear-seat passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over by police in Raumanga, Whangārei.
When the driver got out, Hauraki locked the doors, got into the driver’s seat and turned the vehicle on.
Police told him he was under arrest but he reversed the vehicle before accelerating towards one of the constables, causing him to jump out of the way.
The vehicle ran over a device that caused the vehicle to immobilise and as police tried to open the car door Hauraki began swinging a patu towards an officer.
Hauraki continued to resist arrest by holding on to the steering wheel and police eventually located a glass methamphetamine pipe, .22 rifle, pellet gun and shotgun ammunition in the vehicle.
The court heard the 30-year-old has been using methamphetamine since he was 9 years old and was uplifted by the state at 12.
Paikea, a Northland community advocate, attended the sentencing, calling for the court to look at a rehabilitative option for Hauraki.
Paikea spoke of the similarities between Hauraki’s life and that of his younger self.
“He comes from a family of gangsters, I know because I used to be one,” Paikea said.
Paikea addressed Judge Taryn Bayley and said he was the former president and founding member of the Black Power Whangārei.
But his life changed when one judge took a chance on him.
“It was Judge Paul Rutherford. Standing in the dock he saw something in me I never saw and it was potential,” Paikea said.
Paikea said the offence he was going up on that day resulted in a prison term but the day he left prison, he never looked back.
“I’ve been clean now for 35 years and I see potential in that young man there. It’s like an onion, peeling off the layers, and we’re committed to him,” Paikea said to Judge Bayley.
Kaikohe's Rhonda Zielinski (pictured with Jane Beamsley) helps those in addiction and recovery. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Another Northland community advocate who works with recovering addicts, Rhonda Zielinski, also advocated for Hauraki, saying that change is possible and a space was available at a local addictions residential programme for him.
“Out of all my clients I’ve had come through, he is the one that you can’t judge a book by its cover,” she said.
Judge Bayley acknowledged Hauraki’s upbringing and the link between state care and gang affiliation.
“You were removed by the state at 12 ... you had to steal to feed yourself, you were expelled from school for behavioural issues and did not have opportunity for any education since the age of 7.
“You are said to be a patched member of the Mangukaha (Black Power) gang but there is nothing surprising about that. You are like so many other people who have trodden the path of state care into gang affiliation,” Judge Bayley said to Hauraki.
Hauraki was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, but with time served Zielinski was hopeful he could enter a residential treatment facility.
An order for destruction of the patu was made unless Hauraki could provide information on its cultural significance to his whānau within 30 days.
Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.
