A Northland human rights activist now has a minor charge against her name after a widely publicised protest in Te Papa in 2023.
Catherine Murupaenga-Ikenn (Ngāti Kuri, Te Rarawa) was part of protest group Te Waka Hourua, who defaced Te Papa’s large wooden display panel of the English version of the Treaty of Waitangi.
The group said the national museum’s display wrongly made it appear as if the English version was an accurate translation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
It had long asked for the display to be changed, including a protest outside Te Papa in 2021.
During the protest on December 11, 2023, Murupaenga-Ikenn used a battery-operated grinder to deface the bottom of the panel.
She was arrested and charged with intentional damage but later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of graffiti.
In Wellington District Court today, Murupaenga-Ikenn’s lawyer Jack Oliver-Hood asked for a discharge without conviction, saying a conviction would be out of proportion to the low-level protest action.
“It was action that followed a long history of engagement with Te Papa over how Te Tiriti was displayed with so-called English version of the text.”
Olive-Hood said Murupaenga-Ikenn had devoted her life to fighting injustice, including working as a practice lawyer and twice being appointed to indigenous fellowships with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“This is a person whose life has been devoted to the betterment of the community, with the conduct driven by that.”
Judge Peter Hobbs said Murupaenga-Ikenn’s work history was “impressive” and acknowledged her motivation for the Te Papa protest.
“You do not accept that there is an English version [of Te Tiriti] at all and you certainly believe that it’s an inaccurate translation ... You raised it with Te Papa but, feeling ignored, you decided to take action.”
However, Judge Hobbs said the offending was a serious case of graffiti as it was done on a display in the national museum.
Te Papa said the protest caused $15,000 in damage, and some staff reported feeling additional stress, anxiety and hurt after the protest, he said.
Murupaenga-Ikenn had not shown any remorse or regret for her actions, Judge Hobbs said.
He did not agree that a conviction of graffiti would impact her ability to find work in New Zealand or with the UN, nor her ability to visit relatives in the US, as her lawyer had suggested.
The judge declined a discharge without conviction.
When it came to sentencing, Judge Hobbs took into account the low level of the charge, Murupaenga-Ikenn’s guilty plea and the fact she had no previous convictions.
He ordered $1500 in reparation to be paid to Te Papa.
Speaking after the sentencing, Murupaenga-Ikenn said it was a shame she had to pay anything to Te Papa, as the national museum should have budgeted to change the display, as it had promised it would.
The defaced wooden panel was left up for a number of months, before being replaced with a large-scale video projection highlighting differences between Te Tiriti in te reo Māori and Captain William Hobson’s 1840 English version.
Murupaenga-Ikenn was saddened to hear some Te Papa staff were stressed by the protest action but believed a number of staff were upset with the display as it was.
She feared she would not be able to visit her parents-in-law in the US due to her conviction, no matter how minor.
Murupaenga-Ikenn is now following up with a complaint, after police arrested her at her Whangārei home and kept her in jail overnight for a charge of failing to appear in court that proved to be incorrect.
Denise Piper is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.