Te Maioha o Parekarangi (Youth Justice Residence). Photo / NZME
Some teens involved in a major riot in which they trashed a youth justice facility near Rotorua have admitted their roles in the offending.
Oranga Tamariki says some of the damage caused to Te Maioha o Parekarangi (Youth Justice Residence) south of Rotorua is still to be fixed and resulted in some of the youths being forced to stay elsewhere.
The incident has sparked comment from a Rotorua rehabilitation programme leader, who says the youths were clearly mixed up while they were there to be inflicting that kind of damage. They also believe Oranga Tamariki should use the incident to look at how it operated.
Oranga Tamariki has defended its model, saying it was widely recognised, and the youth justice facility had a focus on a preventative, restorative and rehabilitative service with strong whānau and victim-centred practices.
The riot took place shortly before midnight on November 6 and resulted in 14 youths who tried to escape being charged. Nine wielded weapons, including shanks (homemade prison knives), mops and shovels.
Police previously confirmed the youths managed to escape from a secure area and climbed onto a roof and tried to break into a "control hub" so that they could get out of the facility.
Police from across the Bay of Plenty were called in to bring the riot under control. No one was hurt.
The youths faced up to two charges each of rioting and wilful damage. The rioting charge specified the youths took part as a member of a group using violence against property.
Thirteen of the 14 charged appeared in the Rotorua Youth Court on Tuesday before Judge Alayne Wills and 10 entered "non-denial" pleas.
They were all remanded back into the custody of Oranga Tamariki for court-ordered family group conferences to be held.
Once those were held, they would reappear before a youth court judge when penalties would be decided.
Judge Wills noted that none of the 13 youths who appeared before her on Tuesday were from Rotorua.
For those who didn't deny the charges, Judge Wills told them that between now and their family group conferences they needed to take time to think about how they could put right what they had done.
She told the youths individually to think about a plan to ensure they were not in a youth residence in two years' time.
"How will you make things right for the people you have affected, and how can you make sure you're not coming back again?"
She told them the family group conference process only worked if they were involved in putting the plans in place.
Billy Macfarlane, who runs the Pūwhakamua programme which aims to turn around the criminal thinking of Rotorua's most notorious criminals using tikanga Māori practices, told the Rotorua Daily Post he had been to the facility and in his opinion it was a ''little mini borstal''.
He said he would change the youth justice model completely, ensure youths weren't "locked" up and instead show them love and kindness and do activities like taking them fishing for kai and teaching them through te reo and tikanga Māori practices.
He said too many young people were imitating the American gangsters of blue and red, east and west and not recognising who they were as Māori.
"We know that our kids will do what we teach them ... what goes into their ears and eyes goes into their heads."
He said a lot of youth offenders came from parents who were still "up to mischief".
"It's monkey see, monkey do ... they just want someone to care for them."
Oranga Tamariki youth justice services general manager Peter Whitcombe would not comment to the Rotorua Daily Post on the extent of the damage, or how much it would cost to fix it until the court process was completed.
He confirmed there was still repair work to be done, and although the day-to-day running of the facility had continued, the agency had temporarily reduced maximum capacity so that the repairs could be carried out.
Youths had been moved to other facilities while the damage was being fixed, he said.
In response to Macfarlane, he said the focus was on getting to know the young people and building a relationship with them.
"Our youth residences are not prisons or borstals. The goal of our youth justice facilities is to have focus on a preventative, restorative and rehabilitative service with strong whānau and victim-centred practice. Our staff share a vision of providing opportunities for rangatahi to learn cultural, vocational, educational and life skills."
Whitcombe said the number of young people in prison was now the lowest on record.
He said the success of the youth justice model had been widely recognised to such a degree that the Government raised the age of the system to 17 in 2019 and courts were adopting the principles of the system to work with young adults.
He said Te Maioha o Parekarangi used a restorative Maori-centric practice model called Whakamana Tangata, which broadened and taught their understanding of traditional Māori values and concepts.
"Our rangatahi have had complex trauma in their short lives and our staff work consciously with rangatahi so that no unnecessary harm is caused to their mana, tapu and mauri ora. Rangatahi are supported to connect back with their cultural identity, including learning their pepeha and traditional Te Ao practices.
"We want these youth to realise they have the potential to be something different, and Te Maioha o Parekarangi can provide the support to achieve that and then to go on to live successful lives in the community."
Rotorua police area commander Inspector Phil Taikato told the Rotorua Daily Post the riot put extra pressure on local police resources.
"In this particular case, staff from outside the Rotorua area had to be called in to help Rotorua staff negotiate a peaceful resolution. This was achieved - the staff involved provided a very professional and effective response, leaving no other option to the perpetrators other than to give up."
