It Happened Here Reports of race and religious hate crime in New Zealand 2004-2012 - Human Rights Commission
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It Happened Here
Reports of race and religious
hate crime in New Zealand
2004-2012
Human Rights Commission
Te Kahui Tika Tangata
June 2019ISSN: 978-0-478-35644-1 (Print) ISSN: 978-0-478-35645-8 (Online) Published June 2019 Wellington, Aotearoa, New Zealand
It Happened Here
Reports of race and religious hate crime
in New Zealand 2004-2012
Foreword In the present publication, the Commission
The Christchurch shootings have re-ignited brings together, for the first time, its annual
public debate about hate crime and hate summaries of the media reports on racially
speech, but there is little information available and religiously motivated crime between
about the extent of racially and religiously 2004 and 2012. We hope this compilation will
motivated crime in New Zealand. Police do deepen understanding and inform discussion.
not collect this data, despite calls from the Around 100 incidents are included, ranging
New Zealand Human Rights Commission from murder and kidnapping to serious
since 2004, recommendations from the assault, threatening and disorderly behaviour,
United Nations Committee on the Elimination abuse, deliberate damage to property and
of Racial Discrimination in 2007 and 2017, desecration of sacred sites. Where the police
and from the United Nations Human Rights have taken prosecutions, the courts have
Council in 2009. Shortly after the Council treated the cases very seriously.
made its recommendation in 2009, the
Government of the day agreed with the As it has done for many years, the
recommendation but said it was not a priority. Commission continues to argue that the
The recommendation has never been authorities should gather this information on
actioned. a systematic basis, including the number of
complaints, prosecutions and convictions for
The absence of systematically collected data race, religious and other forms of hate crime.
and information on racially and religiously This will enable Government to monitor the
motivated crime in New Zealand makes it extent of the problem and develop effective
very difficult to have an informed discussion evidence-based measures to reduce hate
about their prevalence and design effective crime in New Zealand. It may also give
measures to counter them. people and communities more confidence to
speak out.
Between 2004-2012, the Human Rights
Commission brought together media The summaries below are taken from
reports of racially and religiously motivated the annual reports of Race Relations
crime as part of its annual Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres (2002-2013). He
Reports. Publication of these annual media was succeeded by Dame Susan Devoy (2013-
reports ceased in 2013, influenced by the 2018). During her term as Commissioner,
Commission’s chronic lack of resources Dame Susan strongly advocated that the
caused by the Government’s long-term police should systematically collect data on
cap on funding. However, the nine years hate crime. I would like to thank Joris and
of information provides a snapshot of the Dame Susan for their contribution to tackling
kinds of crimes that have been committed in the issues raised in this publication.
recent years. It is reasonable to assume that
these reported incidents are just the tip of the Paul Hunt
iceberg, particularly in relation to abusive and Chief Commissioner
threatening behaviour, since these are an New Zealand Human Rights Commission
extremely common complaint of ethnic and Wellington
religious minorities. 1 June 2019
Reports of race and religious hate crime in New Zealand 2004-2012 1Māori youth with trespass notices in a
2004 Hamilton mall. (Waikato Times, 18 May)
Desecration of Jewish cemeteries • Attacks on migrants in Palmerston North
Following the desecration of two Jewish by suspected National Front members.
cemeteries in Wellington in July and August, (Manawatu Standard, 30 June)
Parliament took the unprecedented action of • Desecration of Jewish graves in the
unanimously passing a resolution deploring Bolton Street and Makara cemeteries
these acts. Recalling the terrible history of in Wellington, and Whanganui. (July/
anti-Semitism culminating in the Holocaust, August)
Parliament expressed unequivocal
• Racist taunts against a Fijian Indian
condemnation of anti-Semitism and all forms
owner driver by staff at a rail depot in
of racial and ethnic hatred, persecution and
Hamilton. (Waikato Times, 7 August)
discrimination.
• Letters, including pieces of pork,
A statement signed by Maori, Pākehā, sent to Muslim families in Wellington.
Pacific, Asian and other ethnic community (September)
leaders, religious leaders, mayors and
councillors, business and trade union • An attack on three Asian students in New
leaders, and community groups was tabled Plymouth and on the Māori community
in the House supporting the resolution. leader who sought to intervene. (Taranaki
Daily News, 1 October)
The Speaker also invited community
• An attack on Asian students at Mission
representatives to a forum at Parliament
Bay in Auckland. (East Bays Courier, 6
on the way forward for racial harmony.
October)
The forum of 250 people heard the ideas
that had been put forward by participants The emergence of a small National Front
beforehand, raised further suggestions, and group in Christchurch and Wellington led
unanimously adopted the outline of the New to pro-harmony demonstrations by ethnic
Zealand Diversity Action Programme. groups and other concerned citizens in
Christchurch in May and Wellington in
Reported incidents September. Police made an arrest in the
Anecdotal evidence and newspaper reports case of the hate mail to Muslim families
continue to indicate that some ethnic groups and the attack on Somali youth, but many
suffer harassment and abuse in the streets other incidents were either not formally
and elsewhere, ranging from derogatory reported to the Police or investigations
remarks to verbal and physical abuse. have been unsuccessful. The Police do not
Among reported incidents in 2004 were: keep separate statistics relating to ethnicity
for reported racial offences, treating them
• Asian students being attacked in as complaints alongside others relating to
Christchurch. (The Press, 3 April) offences under the Summary Offences and
• Skinheads taunting and attacking a group Crimes Acts.
of Somali youth in Wellington. (Dominion
Post,12 May)
• Security guards threatening groups of
2 Human Rights CommissionCourt in Auckland to seven charges of
2005 intentional damage to places of Muslim
In the absence of Police recording of worship around Auckland. They were
complaints and prosecutions relating sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment
to racially motivated crime it is difficult and ordered to pay reparations of $5000
to assess the extent of the problem. each.
Newspaper reports seem to indicate that • A 28-year-old Dunedin man was
there were significantly more prosecutions convicted in the Dunedin District Court
than usual in 2005. in November of abusing a 28-year-old
Cases of racial and religious harassment Somali woman (wearing a Muslim head-
and abuse successfully prosecuted by the dress) and assaulting a Saudi Arabian
Police included the following: Muslim man (after abusing him about
his religion). He was sentenced to 15
• A 51-year-old Christchurch man, who months’ imprisonment on the first charge
was a member of the National Front, and two months’ imprisonment on the
was convicted in the Christchurch District second.
Court in April of spitting at a 57-year-old
• A 28-year-old New Plymouth man
man of Māori and Indian descent, and
was charged in the Palmerston North
sentenced to 120 hours community work.
District Court with verbally abusing
• An 18-year-old Nelson woman pleaded and physically assaulting three Asian
guilty in the Nelson District Court in students. He was sentenced to two
July to charges of repeatedly harassing years’ imprisonment.
and assaulting a 17-year-old Asian
• A Whanganui man associated with
woman, and was sentenced to two years
the National Front was charged in the
imprisonment.
Wellington District Court with assault for
• A 53-year-old Hutt Valley man pleaded an attack on a group of Somali youth in
guilty in the Wellington District Court Wellington in 2004. The outcome was a
in September to sending 30 abusive hung jury and a retrial was scheduled for
letters to Muslims in 2004. He was 2006.
convicted and sentenced to six months’
• A 25-year-old Wairarapa woman was
imprisonment and ordered to pay $500
convicted in the Masterton District Court
each to three of the victims.
of assaulting a Chinese tourist on a train
• A 25-year-old Blenheim man was because she was speaking Chinese
convicted in the Blenheim District Court to her travelling companion. She was
in October of disorderly behaviour remanded for sentencing in 2006.
for yelling abuse at a Muslim woman
• There were media reports of racial
wearing traditional Muslim headdress,
abuse experienced by Pacific players at
accusing her of being a terrorist and
a national rugby league club match on
telling her to go home (she had lived
Auckland’s North Shore (Sunday News,
in New Zealand for 15 years). He was
8 May 2005) and by New Zealand-
sentenced to 120 hours community work.
based West Indian and Pakistani players
• Two 18-year-old Auckland men involved in Taranaki club cricket. (Herald
associated with the National Front on Sunday, 13 November 2005)
pleaded guilty in the Otahuhu District
Reports of race and religious hate crime in New Zealand 2004-2012 3Historic Reserve, South Canterbury.
2006 Permanent damage was feared. (The
There were a range of media reports of Press, 9 December)
racial harassment:
• A teen national athletic hope described 2007
frequent racial abuse and how his family
home’s windows had been smashed in There were a number of media reports of
Hamilton. (Sunday News, 19 March) racially motivated crime, harassment and
discrimination, including:
• A Korean couple were racially abused
and had eggs and stones thrown at them • A Chinese family was subjected to a
on a Hamilton street. (Waikato Times, 24 racist graffiti attack in Palmerston North.
May) They said windows in their grocery
store had also been smashed on about
• Several Pacific Island players were
four occasions in the past 12 months.
subject to racial taunts from the side
(Manawatu Standard, 6 January)
line at a senior club game in Taranaki.
(Taranaki Daily News, 29 July) • A woman was convicted in the Gisborne
District Court of a racial attack on a
• A Lower Hutt Islamic Centre was spray
group of Somalis and damage to their
painted with swastikas, and windows
vehicle in 2004. (Gisborne Herald, 6
were smashed. (Dominion Post, 31 July)
March)
• Vandals targeted a Christchurch
• Three Korean students in Nelson
synagogue with anti-Semitic graffiti. (New
were attacked by two men described
Zealand Herald, 2 August)
by the Police as skinheads with white
• Racial insults were described as “a fact supremacist views. The men were
of life” for Fiji Indian soccer players in subsequently sentenced to jail terms
Auckland. (Manukau Courier, 10 August) for assault with intent to injure. (Nelson
• A website targeted New Zealand Jews. Mail, 28 March)
(Sunday News, 13 August) • An Indian man was forced to disembark
• An Indian man had racial comments from a Qantas place due to fly from
yelled at him on the street in Motueka Queenstown to Auckland. The crew
and he was kicked. (The Nelson Mail, 12 said it was because other passengers
September) were uncomfortable flying with him,
apparently because he was wearing a
• West Auckland Muslim women at a bus turban. (Mountain Scene, 15 March)
stop were shot at from a passing car.
(One News, 5 December) • A Nelson man was arrested and two
youths were referred to Youth Aid after
• A New Zealand born Chinese man was what Police described as two racially
taunted and attacked by eight people motivated attacks on Asians in the city.
in Wellington. Members of the group The man attacked a South East Asian
yelled “bloody Asian”. (Dominion Post, 5 woman in her garage, and later the
December) same evening, with the two youths,
• Racist insults were spray painted on a verbally abused an Indian man. (Nelson
pre-European rock art site at Raincliff Mail, 26 April)
4 Human Rights Commission• A group of Asian teenagers contacted would have had to consult New Zealand
the Northern Advocate saying they Football. (New Zealand Herald, 10
were often harassed and many of their September)
peers had “experienced aggression • Two players from the Chinese United
from a very small but disturbing minority football team were arrested after the
in Whangarei”. They said that despite referee was assaulted during a match at
having spent most of their lives in New Elmwood Park in Christchurch. Players
Zealand, they were still made to feel like from the Chinese United team say
foreigners in a country they called home. they thought there was ”a little” racial
(Northern Advocate, 27 April) motivation to the fight. They were being
• The captain of the Hamilton Wanderers call “Chinese f…….” during the match.
soccer team resigned after his Somali (The Press, 3 September)
team-mates were subject to a number of • Six Jewish graves in Wellington’s Karori
racist remarks by officials from Auckland cemetery were painted with anti-Semitic
teams in April. The four Somali players graffiti following the publication of an
also quit the team after the incidents, interview with the Israeli Ambassador in
saying they felt ostracised by the team as the Dominion Post. (Dominion Post, 1
well. (Waikato News, 14 April ) November)
• Foreign doctors at Whanganui Hospital • A Taiwanese born teenager and her two
said they had been targets of racial younger brothers were assaulted and
abuse and some operations had been told to ‘go back to China’ by five young
cancelled when patients learned that a girls in Tauranga. (Bay of Plenty Times,
foreign doctor was the operating surgeon. 14 November)
(3 News, 20 June)
• An Indian man was racially abused as a
• Asian students said that being the target ”terrorist” and a “Paki” and was punched
of flying missiles from cars and verbal in the face by a group of five or six men
abuse was becoming a fact of life for while getting into a taxi in Queenstown.
more Asian people in Christchurch. (The (Mountain Scene, 15 November)
Press, 2 August)
• A Taupo man appeared in court for
• Three men with shaven heads and verbally abusing a group of boys in Napier
wearing masks acted like ‘crazed for “hanging around” with an Asian boy
animals’, bashing a Chinese student and then racially abusing the Asian boy,
with beer bottles and yelling racial taunts spitting at him and hitting him in the face.
during an early morning home invasion in (New Zealand Herald, 22 November)
Christchurch. (The Press, 2 August)
• An Invercargill man was arrested in
• A teenager was told to remove his Queenstown for offensive behaviour
painted moko at a soccer game after the for allegedly yelling racist slurs such
opposition complained about it being as “white power” from the passenger
intimidating. The referee confirmed that window of a vehicle. (Mountain Scene,
he had asked the player to wash off 13 December)
the paint because two players on the
opposing team had complained. Asked • A Dunedin academic said his Chinese
what would have happened if the moko family members were abused at a
had been a tattoo, (the referee) said he
Reports of race and religious hate crime in New Zealand 2004-2012 5children’s playground by teenagers The man, who pleaded guilty to the murder
driving by. He said his wife, a New charge, was sentenced to 21 years without
Zealand citizen who had lived in parole in December 2008. An appeal against
the country for ten years, dealt with the sentence was lodged.
racism on a daily basis in Dunedin.
Supermarket assistants spoke down Jae Hyeon’s mother and brother travelled
to her because of her accent or spoke to New Zealand to visit the site of the
very slowly despite the fact his wife had murder and attend the sentencing. They
three university degrees and was about also attended a funeral at Nelson’s Marsden
to complete her PhD. Other people House, where they were joined by members
sounded their car horns while she was of the Nelson Multi-Ethnic Council, a
driving, even though she had not made representative of the Race Relations
a mistake. (Otago Daily Times, 24 Commissioner and other concerned citizens.
December) Reverend Taeil Choi of the Nelson Full
Gospel Korean Church paid tribute to a
bright student whose life was too short. He
2008 said Jae Hyeon Kim had been drawn to
Race hate murder New Zealand because he, like many other
young Koreans, believed it was a peaceful
A 2008 Police inquiry indicated that a country, free of violence and aggression. He
25-year-old Korean economics student Jae said those responsible for Mr Kim’s death
Hyeon Kim was murdered because of his had carried the disease of racial hatred:
race in 2003. “For the sake of Jae Hyeon Kim, we should
Jae Hyeon Kim was on a 12-month all commit ourselves to making this city
backpacking holiday in New Zealand when of Nelson, and our country as a whole, a
he disappeared en route from Westport to place where people are welcomed, and a
Greymouth in September-October 2003. A place where all cultures and all people are
missing person inquiry in 2004 failed to find tolerated equally.”
anything, but when the Police re-opened Media reports of race-related incidents
the inquiry in May 2008 they received two
anonymous letters. There were a number of media reports of
racially motivated crime, harassment, assault
This led to the arrest in June 2008 of a and discrimination, including the following:
28-year-old Nelson fisherman and two other
men, whose details were suppressed. A • A Nelson man was charged with
number of skinhead supporters attended disorderly and threatening behaviour
when the defendants first appeared in court after verbally abusing two Chinese
people as they walked down the street,
At a depositions hearing in the Greymouth calling them “Asian monkeys”. He later
District Court in October 2008, one of the admitted to abusing them, saying that “he
men pleaded guilty to the murder. The other had a right to”. The judge sentenced him
two were committed to a trial scheduled to 200 hours of community service and
for June 2009 in Greymouth. During the warned him “racist taunts are strongly
depositions hearing the Police located Jae disapproved of”. (Nelson Mail, 23
Hyeon Kim’s body near Charleston, south January)
of Westport.
6 Human Rights Commission• Members of Christchurch’s Somali with an accent”. One man was fined $250
community reported an increase in for disorderly behaviour and the other
incidences of abuse after an alleged sentenced to 200 hours of community
hijacking attempt by a Somali woman in work, ordered to pay $4000 reparations
February. A woman was verbally abused and required to undertake drug addiction
by a group of young men in a car and counselling and treatment. (The Press,
was called a “terrorist”. (The Press, 11 23 April)
February) • A Hamilton gaming shop was reportedly
• Two men were arrested and charged with vandalised in what the manager said
intimidation in New Plymouth in February could be racially motivated attacks.
after racially abusing a group of Asian One such attack was targeted at the
people at a playground. At their court manager’s friend, who was assaulted as
hearing, the defence said there was no he left the shop by a man who had been
neo-Nazi motivation behind the abuse. making Nazi salutes at the windows and
They were sentenced to two months’ yelling white power slogans. (Waikato
imprisonment. (Taranaki Daily News, 15 Times, 3 May)
February) • A man pleaded guilty in the Wellington
• A Taupo man was sentenced in February District Court to assaulting his daughter,
to six months’ home detention and saying it was for religious reasons. He
ordered to pay $350 reparation for racial is an Assyrian Christian and said that he
abuse and assault of an Asian teenager had assaulted his daughter because she
in Napier in July 2007. (New Zealand was going out with a Muslim. He was
Herald, 16 February) given a 12 month suspended sentence.
(NZPA, 14 May)
• A skinhead was found guilty by a High
Court jury for trying to corrupt a juror • A man involved in the white supremacist
during a white supremacist trial. He kidnapping of a Canadian Indian tourist
allegedly left a note on the juror’s doorstep two years ago was sent to jail after
with a swastika on it and the words “not ignoring the directives of the court. The
guilty” during the trial of four men charged man refused to complete his community
with the kidnapping of a Canadian Indian service because he had received death
tourist. He was sentenced to two years’ threats while carrying out his sentence
imprisonment for seeking to influence the at the community work centre. The judge
jury. (Stuff, 9 April) said the failure to complete community
service had made a mockery of what
• Eight Danish and English tourists were
was a very generous sentence. The man
attacked in central Christchurch in April
was sentenced to 10 months in prison.
because they “spoke funny”. Six were
(NZPA, 6 June)
taken to Christchurch Hospital, including
two with knife wounds. (The Press, 14 • Racists threats were made in an
April) anonymous letter to the principal of a
kura kaupapa in Rotorua. He had been
• Police in Westport charged two men
outspoken about Māori issues, including
in relation to an attack on an Irish
the use of te reo Māori. He contributed
tourist in April. The attack was, “without
to a policy change by Land Transport
provocation and appears to have
New Zealand in regard to Māori signs on
occurred only because the victim spoke
Reports of race and religious hate crime in New Zealand 2004-2012 7school buses and advocated for Māori • A 32-year-old unemployed Nelson man
wards to be established in Rotorua. was convicted of a range of offences,
(NZPA, 18 June) including careless use of a motor vehicle,
• A 19-year-old Nelson fisherman who assault and threatening behaviour
chanted “white power” at two Māori for two incidents on the same day in
women was sentenced in the Nelson Nelson in June. He had abused and
District Court to 100 hours of community threatened an Asian man pumping up
service. He admitted one charge of his car tyres at a service station. In the
disorderly behaviour and one charge of afternoon he abused another Asian man
possessing a pipe to smoke cannabis. and two friends from his car outside a
(Nelson Mail, 9 July) supermarket. He swerved towards them,
struck the victim and attempted to pin
• Swastikas and obscenities were written him against a fence then threw a bottle
on a Burmese family’s car in Lower Hutt. of bourbon at him. A member of the
This was the third attack on the family public stopped to help the victim and his
who said that they no longer felt safe at friends. The man was sentenced to nine
their home. (Dominion Post, 15 July) months’ imprisonment for what the judge
• Southern Institute of Technology Chief called “disgraceful behaviour”, and said
Executive Penny Simmonds told a it was essential the court denounced
meeting of Venture Southland that two the offending because of its racial
Indian students had decided to return undertones. Another man was sentenced
home after they were abused by a to 300 hours’ community work for his
carload of youths for wearing turbans. involvement in one of the incidents.
(Southland Times, 7 October) (Nelson Mail, 22 November)
• A 19-year-old Nelson man was convicted • The Manawatu Chinese Trust reported
in the Nelson District Court of using that racism was on the rise in Palmerston
offensive language in public. He swore North, with taunts and food being thrown
at a Saudi Arabian student, called him a at members of the Chinese community.
terrorist and told him to go home. (Nelson A helpline set up by the trust was getting
Mail, 18 November) up to 60 calls a week, with a third relating
to racism. This compared with a couple
• A Filipino schoolgirl had stones thrown at
of calls a day when the helpline was first
her on a bus in Christchurch, was called
set up in 2007. A Trust member who had
a “bloody Asian” and told to go back to
moved to Palmerston North nine years
her own country by three teenage boys.
previously with her husband and children
(The Press, 29 November)
said she had noticed a big change. “Last
• An African-American migrant left year I was walking along Milverton Park
Christchurch after being attacked in a with my husband when a group of men
Lyttelton street in October. She was strode towards us yelling “white is good,
surrounded by six people, who started yellow is bad”. They followed us for a
shouting abuse and threatening her. The few blocks home, jumping in front of us,
group of men and women used such pulling the Nazi salute. Several times
words as “nigger” and “blackie” and told when we go walking, people have yelled
her to “go home”. A man was charged at us.” Another Trust member said he had
by the Police with threatening behaviour. reached the point where he will soon call
(The Press, 19 December) the Police. He believed constant attacks
8 Human Rights Commissionon his car over the past three years are his open driver’s window, and when he
racially motivated. “Every few months we got out of the taxi was punched and
come out in the morning to find rubbish kicked to the ground. (Western Leader,
on our car – one day they painted a black 23 April)
skull on the window. I don’t know who did • The Court of Appeal rejected an appeal
it, but we are the only Asian people in our by a Nelson man against his minimum
area and no-one else in the street has 21-year-jail sentence for the race-
had any problem. Whoever did it knows hate murder of Korean backpacker
what we are and where we are from.” Jae Hyeon Kim in 2003. The court
(Manawatu Standard, 10 January 2009) said, “It is impossible to view the total
circumstances without real concern
2009 that this man demonstrates a wanton
disregard for humanity, as he has
Compared to previous years, there were embraced extreme bigotry and racism.”
fewer media reports of incidents of racially (The Press, 6 May)
motivated crime, harassment and assault.
• An Indo-Fijian student was attacked at
Reports this year included:
Linwood College in Christchurch. He
• Five Indian students in Invercargill suffered a cracked cheekbone, chipped
said they had been repeatedly labelled tooth, a cut to the head and extensive
terrorists, told to “leave our country” and bruising. (The Press, 7 August)
been racially abused. There had been • A 25-year-old Korean homestay student
16 separate incidents in the previous 12 was attacked at a bus stop in Papanui,
days. (Southland Times, 3 March) Christchurch. He was racially abused,
• “White supremacists” terrorised people in had a knife held to his throat, was bitten
an Invercargill street, painted swastikas on the arm and hit and kicked to the
on the road outside their house and ground by a heavily intoxicated man and
drove their neighbours to move away two women. (The Press, 1 September)
after thefts of property and vandalism to • A 13-year-old Thai homestay student
their house. (Southland Times, 27 March) was told to “f..k off back to your own
• Two men who bombed a South Auckland country” and punched in the head by two
temple and defaced it with racist fellow pupils from Avonside High School,
messages failed to get their sentence Christchurch. Her homestay parent said
reduced at the High Court in Auckland her other Thai homestay student had
(New Zealand Herald, 4 April) been punched at a shopping centre
in June and had a tooth broken. (The
• An Indian taxi driver in Auckland was
Press, 3 September)
beaten and humiliated by four male
passengers. When he asked them for the • A Japanese teahouse in Nelson’s Myazu
fare, the men punched him to the ground, Gardens was firebombed on the eve of
racially abused him and removed his the Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival.
turban. (New Zealand Herald, 14 April) (Nelson Mail, 14 September)
• A 44-year-old Pacific Island taxi driver While a reduction in incidents reported in
in Waitakere City received head injuries the media is welcome, the actual number of
and bruised ribs in an attack by three complaints, prosecutions and convictions
assailants. He was hit with a rock through
Reports of race and religious hate crime in New Zealand 2004-2012 9are still not recorded by the Police. In
the course of the United Nations Human
2010
Rights Council review of New Zealand’s The media continue to report sporadic
human rights performance in May, the incidents of racially motivated violence,
issue of recording Police complaints was ranging from verbal abuse to severe physical
raised again. The government accepted the assault. There is no way to establish the
recommendation that this data be collected, actual extent of racially motivated crime.
but said it was not a priority. This is because the government has not
yet honoured its commitment to the United
Courts take dim view of attack on Manurewa
Nations Human Rights Council to introduce
Gurdwara
a system of data collection to capture this
In a case not widely reported by the media, information. Media reports reflect that most
two 20-year-old men were sentenced in the incidents are directed at Asians and occur in
Manukau District Court in February to two the South Island. Some noteworthy media
years and nine months imprisonment. They reports are mentioned or discussed below:
were accused of throwing pipe bombs at the
• A refugee family from Bhutan claimed they
Narskar Thath Isher Dabar Sikh Temple in
had been driven out of their state house
Manurewa, engaging in threatening acts and
in Christchurch because their neighbours’
painting obscenities on the temple walls. In
children abused them, urinated on their
addition to sexual obscenities, they painted
lawn, threw dog food at their house and
a swastika, the letters KKK and the words
water bombs at their children.
“fukin rag heads” on the walls. The offences
(TV3 News, 7 January)
took place from April to August 2008. Judge
Blackie imposed a deterrent sentence, • In February 2010, an Asian student was
to make clear to all New Zealanders this left beaten and bloodied after an assault
type of conduct would not be tolerated. by four skinhead youths at a bus stop
He described their actions as, “racist, outside the Palms Mall in Christchurch.
abusive and demeaning” and expressed Witnesses believed the attack was racially
abhorrence on behalf of the community at motivated. (The Press, 23 February)
what had occurred. The men appealed the • In April, an African American basketball
length of their sentence to the High Court. player was subjected to racial taunts by a
Judge Heath dismissed the appeal, citing group of youths while he was socialising
other cases in which racial hostility had with fellow Otago team members in
been considered an aggravating factor in Dunedin. He received a massive hit from
sentencing. He said, “The attack on the behind and suffered a serious concussion.
temple involved violent conduct … It was He also had a black eye and a cut to the
a persistent attack, through physical and back of his head. (Newstalk ZB, 13 April)
psychological means, on those who used
the temple. Targeting the temple on four • In April, a man who had admitted
separate occasions over a period of more murdering a South Korean tourist on
than three months makes it implausible to the West Coast in 2003 was sentenced
suggest that [the men] were not motivated in the Christchurch High Court to life
by racial, religious, colour or ethnic hostility.” imprisonment, with a minimum-parole
period of 16 years and three months. The
judge told him the murder was committed
“with a high degree of callousness” and
was clearly a racist killing. “It was very
10 Human Rights Commissionsignificant that Mr Kim was Asian. You the man, and the other walked round
have white supremacist, neo-Nazi beliefs. behind and punched him in the head.
You regarded him (Kim) as not deserving When hotel staff were called, the pair ran
of the same dignity and respect as a white to the car, telling the victim to “get out of
person.” (The Press, 29 April) the country”. The judge said they were,
• A 21-year-old man, was sentenced in the “a disgrace to Christchurch. This was a
Hastings District Court to two years and completely unprovoked attack on a visitor
three months jail for terrorising a 71-year- to the city, which had racial overtones.”
old Indian man, knocking off his turban (NZPA, 24 September)
and punching out his false teeth. The • A Chinese student from Lynfield College,
judge noted that the man had continued to Auckland, claimed he was racially
use racist terms and showed no remorse abused in August by the manager of a
to his victim. He said he was allowed supermarket. (New Zealand Herald, 17
to hold whatever views he liked, but he September)
could not act on them. “It is what you do • A 15-year-old Māori youth was repeatedly
that makes the difference and of course stabbed in the face and body on a
we don’t condone this kind of conduct riverbank after a Christmas concert in
in our society. Quite frankly, this was a Christchurch’s Hagley Park. Witnesses
disgraceful race-based attack. Not the told Police the attackers, who appeared
kind we’re used to in New Zealand and to be skinheads, were using racial
we certainly don’t tolerate that kind of slurs against the victim. (The Press, 29
behaviour.” (Dominion Post, 6 August) November)
• In Christchurch, a Filipino woman had a
four-litre tin of paint thrown over her as
she was putting her children into her car. 2011
The paint went all over her and her car, There were sporadic media reports of
and some splattered on her two-year-old racially motivated crime, although less than
daughter. The offenders, described as in previous years. They were:
two European teenagers, laughed as they
drove away. (The Press, 9 August) • Three-metre wide swastikas were
sprayed on the field and buildings at
• A Zimbabwean teenager was set upon
Okara Park in Whangarei before a
by a skinhead as he left a bottle store in
Warriors pre-season rugby league match
Christchurch. He was shoved and hit in
in February. (Newstalk ZB, 19 February)
the face by the man, who appeared to be
intoxicated. (The Press, 9 August) • Two Thai women were verbally abused
and one was punched in the face by two
• Two men were convicted in the
young women in central Nelson in May.
Christchurch District Court for head-
The offenders were dealt with by Youth
butting and punching an Indian man in
Aid and wrote letters to the Thai women
Cathedral Square. The man had been
to apologise. (The Nelson Mail, 6 May)
waiting outside a tourist hotel when the
pair got out of a car and approached him, • A 34-year-old man from New Plymouth
asking what he was up to and what he was sentenced to 225 hours of
was doing in this country (he was a New community work and ordered to pay
Zealand resident). Both offenders were $3407 to his Indian neighbours after
drunk. One walked up and head-butted he yelled at them and used a machete
Reports of race and religious hate crime in New Zealand 2004-2012 11to scratch the panel work on their two The offender was sentenced to six months
cars. He told the court he was angry that home detention, 200 hours community work
they were speaking a foreign language and ordered to pay $1000 reparation.
and that he acted in the way that he did
because he wanted to get the message
across in a way they would understand. 2012
(Taranaki Daily News, 3 September)
Flurry of racial vandalism in Auckland
• A man and a woman were charged
with encouraging their dogs to attack There were three separate incidents of
a Filipino man and a Japanese racial vandalism in the course of a week in
student in Christchurch at Easter. The Auckland in October.
woman pleaded guilty to assault in the
Twenty gravestones in the historic Jewish
Christchurch District Court, saying she
quarter of a cemetery in central Auckland
was “trying to make a statement about
were vandalised and spray painted with
immigrants” who she claimed were taking
Nazi insignia and slogans. Police arrested
the jobs of New Zealanders. She was
three youths and charged them with
remanded for sentencing in March 2012.
wilful damage. Charges against one were
The man pleaded not guilty and was
subsequently withdrawn for lack of evidence.
remanded to reappear at a later date.
Of the other two, one aged 19, pleaded
(The Press, 10 October)
guilty in November to a charge of intentional
• A woman was racially abused and had damage, and was due to be sentenced in
a lit firework thrown at her from a car by February 2013; the other, aged 20, pleaded
a group of European teenagers while not guilty and was due to reappear in court
jogging in a Rotorua suburb on Guy in January 2013.
Fawkes Day. (Rotorua Daily Post, 7
November) In what was assumed to be a copy-cat
incident, an unoccupied house in Grey Lynn,
Chinese student hospitalised after attack Auckland was broken into and defaced with
In August, a Chinese man was the victim similar slogans a few days later. Also that
of racist comments and an attack at an same week, a bullet was fired through the
Invercargill service station. Comments were front window of the office of an immigration
directed at the man and his passengers by consultant and former Immigration Minister,
an 18-year-old passenger in another car at causing the window to shatter. National Front
the service station. style slogans were painted on the footpath
outside.
The pair exchanged words then the offender
punched the man in the face. The force There was speculation that the cemetery
broke the man’s glasses and a shard attack was to give publicity to the annual
of glass went into his eyelid, causing a Flag Day march to Parliament on Labour
laceration. He was taken to hospital and Day by fringe national socialist and white
underwent surgery. supremacy groups, the National Front
and the Right Wing Resistance, but
The man was an international student and spokespeople for these groups, Colin Ansell
as a result of the attack could not study and Kyle Chapman, denied any connection
and failed one of his classes. He has since with the incident. Less than 40 people
returned to China. attended the national flag march, and Ansell
12 Human Rights Commissiontold 3 News that his group’s biggest problem The woman had yelled abuse at a
was maintaining its transient membership Vietnamese man, told her dog to kill him,
and getting them to pay the $15 a year punched him and tried to hit him with a beer
membership fee. bottle. When he took shelter in a shop she
stomped on the bags of groceries he had
Jail and home detention for racial attack in dropped, threw items at the shop door, and
Dunedin yelled for him to go back to his own country.
Three unemployed young people in Dunedin A few months later, the pair met a man from
were sentenced to prison or home detention the Philippines, and set their dogs on him in
for abusing and assaulting a Korean family Lincoln Road, Addington. The woman let her
in Dunedin at Easter, and for then assaulting dog off the leash to let it chase him. The dogs
a student who tried to intervene. The family, jumped up and tried to bite his shoulders,
who were visiting from Auckland, were damaging his jacket, while he took shelter
walking along Dunedin’s main street when inside a property and then inside a flat.
the drunken trio began shouting racist
remarks at them, threw a bottle and punched A Japanese woman was then confronted
one of the group in the face. nearby. The dogs were encouraged to attack
her while she huddled in a corner until help
One woman, aged 22, was sentenced to arrived. The woman was taken to hospital
six months in prison for the assault, another for treatment for a bite wound and scratches.
woman, aged18, was sentenced to three
months in prison, and a man, aged 18, In sentencing the pair, Judge Doherty said,
to two months home detention. All three “The main purpose of the sentencing is
were also convicted of other unrelated deterrence.” He noted the special provisions
offences. In sentencing one of the offenders, of the Sentencing Act for racially motivated
Judge Stephen Coyle said it was entirely crimes.
unacceptable and abhorrent that anyone
should be taunted simply because of their The judge also ordered the dog to be put
race “or looking different from you”. down, saying, “It’s not the dog’s fault, but
it seems to me it has been socialised into
Owners jailed for dog attacks on Asians in activities that could lead to greater risks in
Christchurch the future”.
A man and a woman were sentenced to
eight months in prison for setting their dog
onto Asian people in Christchurch. A woman
(18) and her former boyfriend (24) admitted
to the court that they had associated with
an extreme right wing group and that the
attacks were racially motivated.
Reports of race and religious hate crime in New Zealand 2004-2012 13You can also read
