Black Power member Kevin Moore has failed in his bid for a judicial review of decisions relating to the land he is illegally occupying. Photo / RNZ
Black Power member Kevin Moore has failed in his bid for a judicial review of decisions relating to the land he is illegally occupying. Photo / RNZ
A notorious Black Power member has failed in his latest fight against eviction from Māori coastal land he has been squatting on for a decade.
In the latest iteration of Kevin Moore’s years-long battle to remain on the site at Waitara’s East Beach, the High Court has dismissed his applicationfor judicial review of two Māori Land Court decisions on the matter.
A judicial review involves a check on the legality of decisions made under legal power, focusing on the process by which they have been made, Justice Andru Isac explained in his judgment, released on Friday.
“In the present case, there has been no decision by the Māori Land Court capable of review by this Court,” he found.
He claims to be a descendant of the land and argues it is his right as tangata whenua to live there.
But the trust, which manages about 8ha of Māori freehold land at the Taranaki beach under Te Ture Whenua Māori Land Act 1993, said Moore was a “squatter”. He was not a beneficiary of the land nor did he have a lease to reside there, it has argued.
Moore built himself a house on the site overlooking the ocean without consent from the New Plymouth District Council.
There are about 30 homes in the Rohutu Block at Waitara's East Beach. Photo / RNZ
According to trustees, he has entertained members of the Black Power gang at the property.
The trustees have told the court that prior to Moore taking up residency, the community at Rohutu was “low key and harmonious” and now it was “anxious and afraid”. Currently, there are about 30 homes in the Rohutu Block.
When Moore, a one-time president of the gang who was acquitted of the murder of a rival gang member in 1992, refused to budge and the trust began legal action to have him removed.
In 2018, Māori Land Court Judge Layne Harvey granted the trust an injunction to evict him. That order is currently stayed, pending Moore’s latest litigation.
A later decision by Chief Māori Land Court Judge Wilson Isaac ruled no errors had been made in dismissing Moore’s claim he had an ancestral link to the land.
In February, the case was called before Justice Isac in the High Court at New Plymouth after Moore sought a judicial review.
Moore argued there was a “wrongful” omission of his tīpuna, or ancestors, from the 1884 Crown grant, which listed the holding’s beneficiaries.
In 1958 a partition order was made by the Māori Land Court in respect of the same block. The beneficiaries identified in that order were the descendants of most of the original owners named in the Crown grant, but do not include Moore or his tīpuna.
Moore advanced his application on four grounds of review - that there was an error of law in Judge Harvey’s decision, there was an error of law and a mistake of fact in Chief Judge Isaac’s decision, and that the Chief Judge failed to consider the interests of justice in his determination.
Moore sought a declaration of illegality in relation to each ground and an order remitting the matter to the Māori Land Court to determine “whether the Partition Order was vitiated by mistake or omission in the underlying Crown grant”.
After considering the application, Justice Isac dismissed all grounds for review and said even if he had found there was an error of approach by the Māori Land Court, he would not have exercised the discretion to grant relief.
“The applicant has lived rent-free on the property which he has unlawfully occupied since 2013.
“The evidence indicates that his presence on the Rohutu block has caused upset for the block’s lawful occupiers.”
The trustees had offered Moore a lease in 2015, which he declined, and Justice Isac said it was obvious they had made a “serious effort”, despite the illegality of Moore’s occupation.
The opportunity to become a leaseholder had now passed for Moore, the justice noted.
