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Maori must step up and turn the tides on violent crimes

Monday 13 June 2011, 7:32AM

By Pita Sharples

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HASTINGS

Dr. Pita Sharples, Co-Leader of the Maori Party is outraged by an attack on a whanau in Hastings on Saturday night, by a group of young people.

“It really gets under my skin what happened to this whanau in Hastings. A whole whanau was beaten – that is just not on, we must do something to prevent this sort of thing from happening.” Said Dr. Sharples

“These violent assaults and thuggery by youths cannot be tolerated.”

“The initial reports on this incident indicated that the youths could possibly be Maori, but we don’t know that for sure. If that’s the case then we must take the lead as Maori families and communities to turn our kids around from behaviour like this.” Said Dr. Pita Sharples

“The consequences of offences such as this will last for the rest of their lives - for offenders and victims. We need our kids to be role models, to be leaders in the next generation. We must focus on preventing this behaviour.”

“I have always advocated for rehabilitative programmes, community and marae youth courts etc, but the reality is that we must stop these offences from occurring through early prevention and intervention.”

“I am asking that as whanau, and as a community, we take a lead on steering our kids away from crime, particularly violent crimes. What we need to do is stand up and start taking responsibility for what’s happening within our wider whanau”

“We need to stop the silence on violence. Somebody must know what happened in this instance, and I am urging them to come forward.”