Senior Mongrel Mob Barbarians’ president Steven Taiatini was killed last Friday. Video / Māori Television
Award-winning Māori film-maker and director Kim Webby says the picture painted of her hometown being held to ransom by gang members was point-scoring by Opposition MPs using Ōpōtiki as a political football and a gang tangi as the cue for outrage.
Webby, who has lived back in her home town for over a decade, took a quick trip around Ōpōtiki this morning and saw 10 Mongrel Mob members with black bags cleaning up rubbish from the road outside the whare where Steve Taiatini, 45, had lain.
“There was a big skip and the guys were collecting the rubbish from the streets,” Webby told the Herald.
“What I also didn’t see in any of the media coverage was a bouncy castle and pony rides the gang had set up for the tamariki.”
The police in action in the Ureweras during the so-called 'terror raids'. Photo / NZ Herald
She said the last time police arrived in Ōpōtiki in similar big numbers was the ill-fated Te Urewera raids “which many of us still remember”.
“This time police have been reassuring and not heavy-handed and that has been good because at the centre of this is a whānau in the early stages of grieving and emotions are running high.”
The funeral procession for Mongrel Mob leader Steven Taiatini. Photo / Andrew Warner
Yesterday, National MP Mark Mitchell, a former police officer and dog handler, regaled the days when as a young cop, he would arrive in town’s like Ōpōtiki ready for action and willing to mix it with the gangs.
He said the police response allowing the gang to proceed with their tangi and the hands-off approach was weak and portrayed the Government’s soft-on-crime attitude - which was flatly denied this morning by area commander Tim Anderson.
“I know it is election year and law and order is an important issue but we see things a little differently,” Webby said.
“I have been back in Ōpōtiki for 10 years and most of my whānau is here. Yes, Ōpōtiki is a gang town, always has been a Mob town but we have a different perspective of gang members.
“Their kids go to school with our kids. We see them in the supermarkets, just like us comparing prices of different brands of food.
“Life is so much more nuanced than a headline when you live in a community full of all kinds of people.”
Kim Webby. Photo / Supplied
The Herald understands at least five chapters of the Mongrel Mobster headed to Ōpōtiki following the death of Taiatini. Police have found a burnt-out vehicle they believe was involved with Taiatini’s death.
Webby agreed with Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson who wondered why schools closed.
“Gangs aren’t going to attack schools or anything. Obviously they’re thinking safety so obviously I’m disappointed the town has shut down. It’s unnecessary,” Jackson said.
“It is more a comfort to have our children around in difficult times and the schools’ closure was part of a wider community response, not one of fear of the gang members.”
Webby said Taiatini had been working hard over the past few years to make the Mongrel Mob Barbarians more community-friendly.
“This has been a sad and upsetting thing in any community. Any homicide is distressing because there aren’t too many degrees of separation in towns like Ōpōtiki.
“I didn’t know Tiwana [Steve] but my daughter was part of a student group who made a story about the Barbarians doing a foodbank run alongside the police and fire service.
“Tiwana was interviewed and he spoke about trying to become more community social. He had for many years worked on himself and the gang to become more pro social.
“We now have a vacuum in the gang’s leadership and I hope whoever steps into that role as president has the same aspirations Tiwana had for the community.”
“People didn’t come to Ōpōtiki for the funeral of a Boy Scout. It was for a funeral of a prominent gang member.
“I hope the work Tiawana was doing can be continued. There will always be setbacks and failure and mistakes because it’s gangs and not easy but at least people were having a go.”
