AUCKLAND-Tuhoe activist Te Kaha has been sentenced to 200 hours' community service in the Auckland Art Gallery where the painting he stole as a political protest now hangs.
In the Auckland District Court yesterday, Te Kaha received a 15-month suspended prison sentence and was ordered to do community work afterpreviously admitting the burglary of the Aniwaniwa Visitors Centre at Lake Waikaremoana in June last year and the theft of the Colin McCahon painting Urewera Mural.
The painting was damaged when Te Kaha returned it in August through millionaire art collector Jenny Gibbs, whom he befriended during negotiations to get it back. It has been at the Auckland gallery, where restoration work was done, since then. Gallery director Chris Saines later said he could see the irony of Te Kaha's sentence but added it could also be seen as restitution to the art world.
What he will do at the gallery was not made clear, but art lovers were told they need not fear for the restored painting. His lawyer, Alan Webb, told the court that Te Kaha was feeling too old to continue breaking the law for political protests and this was a chance "to further his interest in the art world."
Mrs Gibbs, who travelled first-class to France with Te Kaha while he was on bail, was one of about a dozen supporters at court.
Afterwards, she and Te Kaha joined his fellow Tuhoe activist Tame Iti for lunch at a nearby coffee shop on Albert St.
Mrs Gibbs was not with Te Kaha when he later paid off more than $15,000 in costs and reparation. After Judge Stan Thorburn turned down Te Kaha's request to address him, Mr Webb said the painting was taken from the Department of Conservation in protest over grievances about the "removal of the lakes and mountains from the Tuhoe people."
Outside court, Mr Webb said Te Kaha felt the sentence was severe, before adding: "I don't think you can expect any more protests from Te Kaha like that."
But Te Kaha said he would always stand up for the ideals and principles of his people. "I have always maintained I did not steal the McCahon," he said. "I took it for a while, but I did not steal it."
