Hundreds of gang members on motorbikes cause disruption on Auckland's North Shore. Video / Supplied
Two gang members who rode their motorcycles over the graves of military veterans have been charged with offering an indignity to human remains.
The pair were among a procession of about 30 on a memorial ride across Auckland in November to mark the death of Merc Maumasi-Rihari, a Tribesmen memberwho had been killed in a head-on collision in Canterbury a year earlier.
The unruly convoy was stopped by police and security guards at the gates of the North Shore Memorial Park.
The cemetery was shut at the time because of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
Two of the group, aged 26 and 35, mounted the kerb and rode their Harley-Davidson motorcycles over a wooden boundary fence, which associates had broken down, and into the cemetery grounds.
The duo then rode over nearly 30 graves which are the resting place for military veterans, allegedly leaving deep track and tyre marks.
The entire episode was captured by cameras mounted on the police Eagle helicopter and this month the police laid charges against both men in the North Shore District Court.
Court documents released to the Herald on Sunday show the defendants - one of whom is a Tribesmen, the other a member of the Head Hunters - have been charged with offering an indignity to a buried person.
Veterans' Affairs, a division of the Defence Force, which provides local government agencies - in this case Auckland Council - with funding for the upkeep and maintenance of service cemeteries throughout the country.
"We do this to honour and respect those that have served their country, and are buried in these places," said Bernadine Mackenzie, the head of Veterans' Affairs.
"Any desecration of a service cemetery insults those who should be honoured – and their families and whānau. We support the decision of the police to prosecute the people involved in this act of vandalism."
The criminal offence of offering an indignity to human remains carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison.
But the charge is more often laid in cases where a body has been moved, or interfered with, inappropriately after death.
A legal academic with expertise in criminal justice believes the prosecution will be defended vigorously in court.
Merc Maumasi-Rihari, 21, was killed in a head-on collision while riding his motorcycle as part of a Tribesmen gang run in Canterbury in November 2020. Photo / Supplied
"Driving over the grave is offensive and morally inappropriate, certainly, but I'm not sure that constitutes the crime of offering an indignity to a body," said Warren Brookbanks, a professor of law at AUT.
"That would normally require some kind of direct contact with a corpse, removing or touching it. In the case of driving over a grave, you're separated by six feet [1.8m] of earth. It's certainly the first time I've heard of it being used in these circumstances."
Simon Strombom is a decorated former New Zealand soldier and now runs the Remembrance Army, a volunteer charity that restores war graves.
He said vandalism in cemeteries is "more common than you think", but people tended to feel guilt or remorse once they stop to think about the disrespect shown by their actions.
"This is disappointing but it's more likely to be stupidity, or sheer ignorance, rather than blatant disrespect."
The policing of large convoys of motorcycles in gang runs, or funeral processions, has come under the spotlight in recent years.
When Merc Maumasi-Rihari was killed in November 2020, hundreds of Tribesmen members and associates gathered on motorbikes, or in vehicles, to mourn their loss.
While the police were monitoring the procession, angry residents on the North Shore complained about dangerous driving, burnouts and blocked streets.
Weeks later, police issued more than 300 tickets for traffic infringements and laid charges against eight individuals.
Other gang-related funeral processions and convoys around the country have been handled in a similar manner.
New tactics were trialled earlier this year, with police conducting pre-planned traffic stops of the Comancheros and Killer Beez gang runs on consecutive weekends in Auckland.
These were a practice run for a nationwide crackdown on gangs, called Operation Cobalt, in which police districts have been required to focus on "suppressing, disrupting and enforcing" unlawful activity by gang members.
Hundreds of gang members and associates gathered for the funeral procession of Merc Maumasi-Rihari in November 2020. Photo / Supplied
To help police deal with gang convoys, Police Minister Chris Hipkins announced the Government would add more driving offences to the laws which allow vehicles to be seized and impounded for 28 days.
The law change was one of five proposed in July to tackle gang activity after the Labour Government came under sustained public and political pressure for its response to a series of tit-for-tat shootings between the Tribesmen and Killer Beez in Auckland.
Hipkins replaced Poto Williams in the police portfolio in a reshuffle of Cabinet by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who said Williams had "lost focus" on the escalation of gang tensions and firearms.
Gangs have again become a political issue ahead of next year's election, with the National Party targeting Williams over her performance and leader Christopher Luxon announcing the party would bring in new laws to ban gang members from wearing patches and gathering in public places.
The Prime Minister criticised the ideas as "reactionary" and sociologist Dr Jarrod Gilbert said he didn't think the policies had any evidential basis, and rather what was needed was "good, hard policing".
