Olive branch to kauri protester after 11th-hour sentencing delay

Johno Smith descended from the kauri after it was ring-barked by chainsaws on December 23. Photo: Jason Oxenham

The man who climbed a Titirangi kauri tree to stop it from being felled has had his sentencing delayed at the 11th hour.

Johno Smith, 32, spent two weeks up the tree in a community-led initiative in December in a bid to stop the owners cutting it down to develop the site.

He previously pleaded guilty to wilful trespass and was due to be sentenced in Waitakere District Court this morning, but Community Magistrate Lauolefale Lemalu adjourned the matter so a restorative justice meeting could be considered by both parties.

Smith only descended from the kauri after it was ring-barked by chainsaws on December 23.

Protest organiser Aprilanne Bonar at the time described their actions as "vengeful".

"It was a last ditch attempt, it was vengeful, it was without integrity. This is what we've been dealing with for the past three years," she said.

She said those wielding chainsaws were intent on delivering a fatal blow to the tree as ring-barking stopped the flow of water to the canopy.

The protesters took the dispute to the High Court last year where they were granted a judicial review of the way resource consent was granted for felling the kauri.

That hearing will take place in August.

Smith was one of four Greenpeace protesters who scaled the walls of Parliament to draw attention to the issue of climate change last year.

The quartet who had donned red overalls and carried solar panels with them were each fined $750 when sentenced in Auckland District Court in October.

Smith will be back in Waitakere District Court in three weeks.