Around 40 protesters came in support of the four protesters. Photo / Ellen Thompson
A protester who sat in a karura tree for a day hoping to stop the felling of dozens of mature native trees has today pleaded with a judge to discharge him without conviction.
"This is not an action I took lightly, yes some of the trees needed to be removed but over 15,000 were and only 7000 were replanted," Stephen Abel told judge Grant Fraser as he tried to explain his actions in the Auckland District Court.
Abel was arrested and charged with wilful trespass in 2021, alongside Hanna Luypers, Travis Mischewski and Jackson Wedding.
His fellow protesters were granted diversions during today's sentencing - something Abel wasn't eligible for given he's already had one before.
The protestors, part of Mana Rakaū - Save Canal Road Native Trees, had been at the Avondale site on Canal Rd since July 2020 in protest of the removal of the grove of 100-year-old native trees.
There were originally about 50 mature trees on the site - including tōtara, kahikatea, karaka and pūriri - but about half of these had been felled after the section was sold to developers to build houses.
Judge Fraser started out saying that he thought "we were beyond a pure conviction and discharge" based on Abel's previous offending.
"A diversion, suspended sentence and now a discharge without conviction, how does that work," Judge Fraser said.