Taiawa Harawira, son of Māori rights icon Titewhai Harawira, on trial accused of child molestation

A member of one of New Zealand’s most prominent families of Māori rights activists is accused of having repeatedly raped, strangled and threatened a young girl over the course of four years in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Testimony began today in the jury trial of Taiawa Harawira, 67, who is the son of late activist Titewhai Harawira and brother of former Māori Party MP Hone Harawira.

It was against the backdrop of the prominent hīkoi and protests of the era that Crown prosecutors Robin McCoubrey and Jessica Ah Koy said the defendant targeted the girl, babysitting her and other children while other adults were distracted with movement planning meetings in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

During her opening address this afternoon in Auckland District Court, Ah Koy outlined in graphic detail 44 different charges against Taiawa Harawira dating back to when his accuser was between the ages of 8 and 12. They include 30 counts of indecency with a child, four counts of threatening to kill, six counts of injuring with intent to injure and four counts of rape. Some of the charges are representative.

The complainant, now in her 50s, went to police in 2019 and the defendant was charged in 2020.

“I know what this is about,” he is alleged to have said after a detective arrived at his home. “I’ve been waiting for 30 years for this.”

Defence lawyers Ron Mansfield, KC, and James Olsen said their client “firmly and robustly denies” the accusations against him and suggested he will refute the claims directly later in the trial.

“His position is very firm. His position is that never happened,” Mansfield responded during his opening statement.

“It is a lie. Whether [the complainant] believes it now or not, I can’t help you.”

While the criminal charges weren’t filed until four decades later, Taiawa Harawira had been aware of the false allegations for “a very long time”, Mansfield said, explaining his client’s response to the lead detective. He described the allegations as having been launched by one family against another “in order to marginalise and embarrass him”.

It doesn’t make sense that his client, who would have been in his early 20s at the time, would have been used as a standby babysitter on so many occasions when there were others around to take on the task, Mansfield added.

He asked jurors to be cognisant of the difficult position the defendant is in, having to defend accusations from so long ago when potential witnesses have died and memories have faded.

Prosecutors also asked jurors for patience.

“You are going to hear some challenging things during this trial,” Ah Koy predicted. “It will also be very difficult for [the complainant] to come and give evidence about what Mr Harawira did to her.”

So far no one has been called to the witness stand, but jurors began the evidence phase of the trial by watching a videotaped interview the complainant gave with police.

“His favourite thing was to pick us up by our necks and pin us to the wall as a game,” the woman told police of the babysitting sessions, adding: “He didn’t start getting s**tty until later.”

Prosecutors said Taiawa Harawira first targeted the girl at an Avondale state house described as a “hub for Māori activism” at the time. The child’s family moved around a lot because of the protest movement and he later abused her at a Whangārei address and at marae in Auckland and Northland, it is alleged.

Strangulation and threats to kill the child’s mother if she told anyone became themes of the abuse as it persisted through the years, prosecutors allege.

“He always gave me very vivid details about what he was going to do to her,” the woman told police. “[He’d say], ‘I’m going to cut her throat. I’m going to strangle her.’”

The videotaped interview is expected to continue tomorrow as the trial resumes before Judge Mary Beth Sharp and the jury.

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.