Treaty experts sceptical over Kahu kidnap link

By ANGELA GREGORY

Maori leaders and Treaty of Waitangi experts have reacted with shock and disbelief to suggestions that the kidnapping of high-profile lawyer Donna Hall's baby could be linked to her work.

An associate professor of law at Auckland University, David Williams, said he was surprised that Donna Hall had obliquely referred to cases she had been working on.

"I would have spent 20 years working on Maori legal issues and have lots of experience with people disagreeing with each other strongly.

"But I have never seen any indication of where it would spill over into a personal vendetta."

The police hunt for Kahu Durie, the child of Donna Hall and High Court judge Eddie Durie, continued yesterday after the 8-month-old was snatched at gunpoint from a Lower Hutt street on Saturday.

On Mon-day, Donna Hall said she had been advised to heighten security at her home and office last October, saying only it was in relation to a "large public-law issue".

She has been involved in several high-profile Maori cases such as the Volcanic Interior Plateau claim for much of the central North Island and criticism of the fisheries allocation system of the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission.

An independent researcher on Waitangi Tribunal issues, Mr Williams said babies were taonga (treasures) to Maori, and he could not see how the abduction would relate to Maori litigation.

Te Tai Tokerau leader Sir Graham Latimer said he had heard of threats against Maori but would not elaborate.

But he did not think the abduction was racially motivated.

"No one has worked so hard for race relations than Ed Durie."

Ngai Tahu leader Sir Tipene O'Regan, former fisheries commission chairman, said he had no theories but he found the taking of a baby appalling.

The present chairman, Shane Jones, was also shocked by the abduction, which he said was of huge proportions compared with any backlash over internal Maori disputes.

Historian Michael Belgrave did not think what happened could be explained in light of arguments about Maori rights.

Full coverage: Baby Kahu kidnapping

Picture: Kahurautete Durie

Picture: Kahurautete's clothing

Picture: the car being sought by police

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