Iti says gun law drivel to Tuhoe

Maori activist Tame Iti says New Zealand firearms laws do not apply to him when he is in Tuhoe territory.

Iti told the Rotorua District Court yesterday he had been victimised and the decision to lay charges against him was politically motivated.

He is on trial after pleading not guilty to two charges of unlawful possession of a firearm in a public place on January 16 last year.

Iti brandished and discharged a firearm on Reids Rd during Tuhoe's procession to Tauaarua Marae for a meeting with members of the Waitangi Tribunal.

He also fired the shotgun at the New Zealand flag while on the marae.

Iti says he has been treated differently to others.

"People do look at me differently.

"Perhaps it's the way I have my face," he told the court.

Following that comment, Iti switched from speaking in Maori to English for a brief time, saying he was not satisfied with how the Maori language was being interpreted.

He told the court people only saw split-second images of him on television.

"They don't know anything about me as a person.

"I feel I have been victimised, the way I've been treated.

"It's really strange that I'm here today."

Iti said there was an election last year and a Mr Stephens laid a complaint asking why Iti had not been charged. "Why just charge Tame Iti? There were many others with firearms," Iti said.

He said his actions were not about threatening anybody. The group organising the powhiri, himself included, wanted to make sure people got to the marae safely.

He said the way Tuhoe had been treated 100 years ago was not much different to how people were being treated in Iran and Iraq except the world can see what is happening in those countries.

Iti said he had never had a firearms licence.

He said he had shot both blanks and ammunition.

Under cross-examination by Tauranga Crown Solicitor Greg Hollister-Jones, Iti was asked if the New Zealand Arms Act applied to him when he was in Tuhoe territory and he said no.

"We don't have permits, it's about genealogy and rights."

Asked what would have happened if he had been outside Tuhoe territory, Iti said he would not have carried a firearm.

He acknowledged he had previously been convicted of recklessly discharging a firearm following an incident at Ruatoki in 1997.

He said the background to that incident was the vandalism of a kohanga reo and some homes in Ruatoki.

At least another nine witnesses are expected to give evidence for the defence in the judge-alone trial being heard by Judge Chris McGuire.