Monday, September 12, 2016

Human Rights Review Tribunal proposition to refer matter back to District Court:

Judge Behrens QC began one of his written decisions with the words "This case has taken some unusual turns."

Following an exchange of emails between Agent Raue and the various other parties to the proceedings in the Human Rights Review Tribunal, Office of Human Rights Proceedings (and the District Court, High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court), we received an email from the HRRT today.


Dear Ms Raue, Ms Cuncannon and Ms Shaw

Mr Mihaka (through Ms Raue) has applied variously for an extension of time for the filing of Mr Mihaka's evidence and also for an adjournment.  In case not all the correspondence has been copied to you by Ms Raue I attach in PDF:


1.    Email dated 8 September 2016 timed at 1:57pm from Ms Raue to the Office of Human Rights Proceedings (OHRP)
2.    Email dated 8 September 2016 timed at 3.53pm from Ms Raue to Ms Shaw
3.    Email dated 9 September 2016 timed at 12:48pm from Greg Robins, senior solicitor, OHRP
4.    Email dated 9 September 2016 timed at 3.57pm from me to Ms Raue requesting medical certificates
5.    Email dated 9 September 2016 timed at 4:57pm from Ms Raue to Mr Robins
6.    Email dated 12 September 2016 timed at 11.36am from Ms Raue regarding the requested medical certificates.


The Chairperson has directed that if Housing New Zealand Corporation wishes to file submissions in response to the adjournment application, those submissions be filed and served by 5pm on Friday 16 September 2016.
Now, this is the best bit:


The Chairperson would also like to hear from HNZC whether, with the benefit of hindsight, it would be better for the District Court appeal to be set down for hearing rather than adjourned pending the resolution by the Human Rights Review Tribunal of the proceedings brought by Mr Mihaka in HRRT076/2015.

Any submissions by Mr Mihaka in reply are to be filed and served by 5pm on Monday 19 September 2016.  Those submissions are to also address the question whether it would be better for the District Court appeal to be set down for hearing rather than adjourned pending resolution by the Tribunal of HRRT076/2015.
Yours sincerely
Helen
The "District Court appeal" refers not to an appeal of the dodgy conviction for the alleged assault I suspect, but to an appeal of the Tenancy Tribunal decision to evict Mr Mihaka.

We need to revisit the original conviction - it's no good saying Housing NZ Corporation didn't need a reason to evict Mr Mihaka because the fact is that they stated numerous times that there WAS a reason and that reason was the unsubstantiated, slanderous, allegations of Mr Dickie.

We also need an explanation from Ms Stephanie Smith regarding why she told a bare faced lie, and we need Naomi Davies and Kathy Furfie to identify the Police officer they allege told them the nonsense about Mr Mihaka living in a "suspected P house" etc.
9 September 2016 at 16:57
Tena koe Mr Robins,
Thank you for your response regarding this matter.
Please explain why your Office has been unable to 'retrieve' the email we sent since 12 August, you mentioned an 'IT' issue, please obtain a full explanation as to why you remain unable to access this email and all information regarding the IT provider(s) involved, how many other emails are affected?  Over what time period has this problem affected emails sent to your Office?
I will endeavor to print the application form again and resubmit it as soon as possible, but urgently request an extension of time to submit Mr Mihaka's evidence which was required to be in today on the grounds that, respectfully, the inability of the Office of Human Rights Proceedings to access their emails is not Mr Mihaka's fault, there has been a serious miscarriage of justice which occurred because Mr Mihaka did not have legal representation because he could not afford to pay to defend a charge he was innocent of and being forced to do so, particularly repeatedly, is an injustice in itself.
We request an extension of time to submit Mr Mihaka's evidence - at least until Monday, and preferably until the Office of Human Rights Proceedings is able to access and consider the application we emailed on 12 August and posted shortly thereafter.
There is no urgency regarding this matter, Mr Dickie touched Mr Mihaka inappropriately and admitted it.  Contrary to the email from Karaka Tuhakaraina - crucial to the discriminatory decision to evict Mr Mihaka - Mr Mihaka has never ever admitted to assaulting or threatening Mr Dickie Mr Dickie has admitted touching Mr Mihaka inappropriately and then having a panic attack.  Mr Mihaka was denied any proper legal advice during the trial process, was completely unaware that he was entitled to Disclosure according to the Criminal Disclosures Act, and Judge Hastings' wise suggestion that an amicus curiae be appointed was ignored by the trial Judge.
Contrary to the information we have received Mr Mihaka NEVER agreed to this matter being fast tracked under urgency in the first place - there was never any need for urgency, Housing New Zealand Corporation and their representatives are not being honest in claiming that there is!  They suggest that there have been complaints from other tenants and evidence of assault against other tenants - none of which is supported by any actual EVIDENCE whatsoever!
We requested the information referred to in the ASBG on pages 20 and 21 - the T463 form, statement, etc, this information has not been provided and it is crucial to Mr Mihaka's evidence, being the allegation against him.  We also requested the HNZC Guide to the Privacy Act referred to in the ASBG and are making a formal complaint to the Privacy Commissioner regarding the serious discrepancies in the so called evidence regarding these matters and the clear and indisputable serious miscarriage of justice and blatant discrimination of the very kind referred to by the recent Henry Harkness lecture given by Justice Ron Young (attached).
Housing New Zealand's policies don't apparently consider the possibility that the complaint may not be justified, the complainant may be mistaken, or wrong, or confused, all of which should be considered when dealing with older people.  The policy appears to assume the complainant is always right and there is no possibility that the accused may be innocent - this is borne out by the fact that HNZC breached Mr Mihaka and made the decision to evict him prior to his conviction purely on the basis of information provided by the complainant. 

The refusal of HNZC to reveal the identity of the Police officer who allegedly told them that Mr Mihaka lives in a suspected P house, uses methamphetamine and is a serious cannabis smoker is extremely disingenuous in the face of the very recently obtained evidence that the information originated from Mr Dickie, not the Police.  The allegations are contained in Mr Dickie's statement to Police.
Mr Mihaka apparently received one letter from HNZC dated 12 August 2014 which is that on page 63 of the bundle of documents provided by Meredith Connell.  Mr Mihaka fully complied with this letter.  We dispute the allegation of HNZC that Mr Mihaka refused to engage with them - he endeavored to engage, but according to the evidence HNZC had already made up their mind.  HNZC are refusing to engage in their refusal to provide the identity of the Police office alleged to have provided the information which is coincidentally identical to that provided by the complainant and not independent corroboration at all, and other information, falsely claiming that the decision to issue the 90 day notice preceded the breach for the assault as claimed in the transcript of the Tenancy Tribunal hearing.

It is a basic human right to be tried by one's peers and the manner of the recusal of the one Maori member of the panel and the refusal of the suggested recusal of another member who previously worked with Housing NZ Corporation combined with the denial of affordable legal aid, the apparent incompetence of the two appeal lawyers in not even noticing that Mr Mihaka had never been provided with Disclosure let alone the serious discrepancies therein, are particularly relevant in reference to the decision of the Waitangi Tribunal that Maori never ceded sovereignty and never agreed to be 'governed' like this - if the British Crown legal system is going to impose its will on tangata whenua they need to act fairly!  Mr Mihaka has clearly and indisputably been the victim of a serious miscarriage of justice and it is imperative that he has legal representation in these proceedings because the very fact that he didn't have legal representation earlier is the cause of a huge waste of time and resources and the very reason for this outrageous state of affairs.
We have only today received a response from the High Court to our application for a recall of the decision of France J on the grounds of the serious discrepancies which have suddenly become apparent upon the application of Mr Mihaka's Agent for the information he was entitled to under the Criminal Disclosures Act.  This response dismisses our application on a technicality and recommends we seek legal advice - the situation is truly Kafka-esque - we have done our very best to obtain legal assistance as the correspondence with Mr Gwilliam, Mr Bourke, etc, document very well!  We pay taxes to a government which can't access their emails because they moved to the cloud, while we can't afford basic resources ourselves and the government wants to spy on us and talk about information sharing but can't access the emails for this length of time?

We do not intend any disrespect to the Tribunal, but cannot believe the recent decision to cram the hearing into one day and now to find that our application still can't be accessed by the Office of Human Rights Proceedings because of an 'IT issue'.  This is not justice, and Maori never ceded sovereignty or ever agreed to be 'governed' like this, and Mr Mihaka strongly believes that the mana of te taonga a o tatou matua tupuna, te reo Maori, is being dishonoured by these proceedings - there should have been an amicus in the District Court and the issue of the discrepancies in the evidence need addressing!
We are compiling Mr Mihaka's evidence on a website at this link in the hope that some of our evidence will meet the required standards in respect of the instructions issued by the Human Rights Review Tribunal and comply with the narrow jurisdictions and arcane intricacies New Zealand legal system in which access to justice is increasingly unattainable and inaccessible, as confirmed by Justice Young, Criminal Bar Association v Attorney General and the correspondence between Mr Mihaka, his lawyers and the Courts and Tribunals regarding these related matters - Housing NZ Corporation is being disingenuous in pretending that the eviction of Mr Mihaka had nothing to do with Mr Dickie's wild, fanciful, embellished, contradictory allegations - their claims are totally contradicted by the evidence. 

Housing NZ Corporation clearly discriminated against Mr Mihaka by simply taking the word of Mr Dickie and giving undue credibility to Mr Dickie despite the indisputable discrepancies in his evidence and the ongoing refusal to be honest about the fact that the slanderous information about Mr Mihaka which is referred to in Mr Bourke's correspondence with Police and Housing NZ Corporation is clearly lifted verbatim from the statement of Mr Dickie, who is the source of the information, not the Police as Housing NZ are disingenuously suggesting if not deliberately and knowingly claiming to be true when they know perfectly well it is not true, along with several other claims including those referred to in this and other recent emails.
Housing NZ Corporation are also disingenuous in falsely claiming that a statement was taken from Mr Dickie in accordance with their policies as is clearly evident in the transcript of the hearing beginning on 3 August 2016 - no such statement as required by the policy was recorded as evident by the response of Meredith Connell to our request for a copy of the statement of the complainant as required by HNZC policy.  It doesn't exist and HNZC continue to try and make out it does but it just wasn't "put to paper" as it were.  It's nothing but Chinese Whispers and common gossip, and the evidence of the complainant does not stand up to scrutiny, and Mr Mihaka has not been given any reasonable opportunity to be heard, or even properly informed regarding the allegations against him, and he has been further ripped off by the two lawyers conducting the appeals who did not even notice Mr Mihaka never even received Disclosure and thus seriously limiting his ability to prepare or present a defence, in addition to the arresting officer telling him the alleged offence happened on a different day to the complainant's allegations, and the other discrepancies.

Nga mihi
Katherine Raue
Maori Agent for Te Ringa Mangu Mihaka 
We will be suggesting to the Human Rights Review Tribunal that the decision of France J be revisited as there is clearly fresh evidence that was not available to the Court before now, being the contradictory information recently released by NZ Police, Housing NZ Corporation, the complainant, lawyers, and others involved in these matters. 

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Transcript of Human Rights Review Tribunal hearing on 3 August 2016, Office of Human Rights Proceedings:

Dear Ms Raue
Thank you for your email message and attached letter received today.
As discussed with you in our telephone conversation on Wednesday 17 August, the Commission recently undertook an electronic migration to the ‘cloud’. 
Regrettably, during that process our OHRP mailbox went offline for two weeks due to matters completely beyond our control.  The contractors have still not been able to restore emails sent to our OHRP mailbox during that time.  Consequently we have not been able to access the Application for Legal Representation which you indicated you sent by email to the OHRP mailbox on Friday 12 August.  However, as the mailbox is now working again it would be appreciated if you would re-send the application to ohrp@ohrp.org.nz.
We very much apologise for this considerable inconvenience.
Thank you.
Pam Rowe

The link to the transcript of the first part of the hearing held in the Human Rights Review Tribunal on 3 August 2016 is at this link, click to view.

The transcript of the second part of the hearing is at this link.

Readers will note that an adjournment was granted for the purposes of Mr Mihaka making application to the Office of Human Rights Proceedings for representation in the proceedings before the Human Rights Review Tribunal.

Mr Mihaka's Maori Agent emailed the application form as instructed promptly, however the response from the Office of Human Rights Proceedings was less than inspiring, and is copied below, apparently, since they 'moved to the cloud' they've been - and still are - unable to access ten days worth of emails, which is a very unfortunate state of affairs, but par for the course as far as government agencies information sharing policies and procedures, such as the information sharing between Housing NZ Corporation and NZ Police:

 26 August 2016:
Tena koutou katoa

Attached is the letter referred to in our application for assistance and supporting correspondence regarding Mr Mihaka's medical appointment in support of his application for an adjournment because the nominated dates are unsuitable as he cannot reschedule his appointment and the stress of having a two day hearing condensed into one day, starting earlier is not conducive to Mr Mihaka's health or the concept of fair justice.  Housing NZ Corporation was granted an adjournment when their witness requested one on medical grounds and it is only fair that Mr Mihaka is treated in the same manner - HNZC were not simply told to attend on the other day and we'd squeeze it in, and it is not fair on Mr Mihaka, whose health was already compromised by Police who are also a party to these proceedings, a letter from Mr Mihaka's doctor regarding that recent incident, which is relevant to this matter, contains the following statement:
    "This gentleman is seventy four years old and had a number of medical problems.
    I am unclear of the recent circumstances surrounding the night he spent on a road in his car near National Park village, but regard it as inappropriate that any person of seventy four years old should, of necessity, sleep in a car on that stretch of road at that time of year."
Nga mihi
Katherine Raue
Maori Agent for Te Ringa Mangu Mihaka
. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 "Dear Ms Raue
Thank you for your email message and attached letter received today.

As discussed with you in our telephone conversation on Wednesday 17 August, the Commission recently undertook an electronic migration to the ‘cloud’. Regrettably, during that process our OHRP mailbox went offline for two weeks due to matters completely beyond our control. The contractors have still not been able to restore emails sent to our OHRP mailbox during that time. Consequently we have not been able to access the Application for Legal Representation which you indicated you sent by email to the OHRP mailbox on Friday 12 August. However, as the mailbox is now working again it would be appreciated if you would re-send the application to ohrp@ohrp.org.nz.

We very much apologise for this considerable inconvenience.

Thank you.

Pam Rowe
Registered Legal Executive/EA to the Director
Office of Human Rights Proceedings
PO Box 6751
Wellesley Street
AUCKLAND"

The application was mailed through NZ Post immediately we became aware of the inability of the Office of Human Rights Proceedings to access their emails, there has been no response to date, or any acknowledgement of receipt of the application.

The following email was sent to the Human Rights Review Tribunal and Meredith Connell (Housing NZ Corporation's taxpayer funded legal team) today:
Tena koutou katoa,
Regarding the transcript of the Tenancy Tribunal hearing on 24 September 2014 before Adjudicator Janet Robertshawe.  On page 9 of the transcript of proceedings the Adjudicator questions Meredith Connell representative, saying "there's a feeling . . . that there's been something unjustified about that decision [to evict Mr Mihaka], . . . Are you aware of that?"
Ms Smith responded "I am, the 90-day notice was issued prior to us breaching the tenant for the alleged assault."  This would appear to be blatantly untrue and Ms Smith should have been well aware that it was untrue.
This untruth certainly influenced the Tribunal, and it is a serious matter to which we would appreciate an immediate response.
Secondly, the information provided by HNZC contains an email exchange involving Karaka Tuhakaraina of Housing NZ Corporation, in which Karaka Tuhakaraina claims that "Mr Mihaka has assaulted another resident, admits it and continues to antagonise others."
This is outrageous - Mr Mihaka has NEVER admitted assaulting another resident - the 'other resident', presumably Mr Dickie - has admitted assaulting Mr Mihaka - several times!  There is NO information to suggest that Mr Mihaka"continues to antagonise others" whatsoever!  In fact here is no evidence that there were any complaints against Mr Mihaka from any resident other than Mr Dickie!
Thirdly, NZ Police have now confirmed in writing that they hold no information such as that allegedly told to Housing NZ Corporation staff regarding Mr Mihaka's alleged drug use, etc, we have provided a copy of the letter from Police saying so and we insist that either Housing NZ reveal the identity of the Police office who allegedly told staff that, or correct the information in the face of the EVIDENCE provided by NZ Police!

We insist that this information is corrected immediately, and an explanation provided regarding the statements of Ms Smith - evidence shows that Housing New Zealand Corporation wrote to Mr Mihaka informing him of the breach WELL PRIOR to the issuing of the 90 day notice!
Fourtlhy, regarding the claim that Mr Mihaka's previous lawyer agreed to this matter being heard under urgency - Mr Mihaka states that he most certainly never agreed to any such thing, the need to evict him was certainly NOT urgent - Mr Dickie was relocated thereby ending the problem created by his unwanted and uninvited touching of Mr Mihaka!  We strongly oppose the decision to limit the hearing to one day starting earlier instead of a two day hearing as originally set down - Housing NZ Corporation was granted an adjournment to another 2 day hearing on their application regarding a medical appointment for their witness and we insist on equal treatment!
Furthermore, we received advice from the Office of Human Rights Proceedings that they have "recently moved to the cloud" or something and as a result of this they are still unable to access their emails for a certain period of time, including the email we sent.  This is not Mr Mihaka's fault!  We mailed the application as well as emailed it, but have to date received no response - this also is NOT Mr Mihaka's fault!  We request an adjournment pending the Office of Human Rights Proceedings finding a way to access their emails, as well as Mr Mihaka's medical appointment - his doctors have expressed disquiet regarding the proximity of the dates of the hearing and Mr Mihaka's medical procedure and this rush is unnecessary, unseemly and totally unwarranted!
Nga mihi
Katherine Raue
Maori Agent for Te Ringa Mangu Mihaka



Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Application for recall of judgement of France J - updated correspondence with the Court:

Tangata whenua v the Crown Police State


IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND
WELLINGTON REGISTRY

                                    CRI 2015-485-21                                         [2015] NZHC 1318




    BETWEEN        TE RINGA MANGU MIHAKA

    AND            NEW ZEALAND POLICE

______________________________________________________________________________

APPLICATION FOR RECALL OF JUDGMENT
______________________________________________________________________________


May it please the Court:

[1]        The Applicant hereby respectfully applies for a recall of the judgment of France J dated 11 June 2015, CRI 2015-485-21 [2015] NZHC 1318.  Mr Mihaka appeals against conviction on a charge of assault brought against him by New Zealand Police, on the grounds that there was a substantial miscarriage of justice because fresh evidence has become available which was not previously considered by the Court.  Mr Mihaka never received any Criminal Disclosure from Police prior to the trial and was therefore unaware of the serious discrepancies and direct contradictions between the evidence given on oath at the trial and the alleged facts contained in the statement the complainant gave to Police on 2 June 2014, the Police Summary of Facts, arresting officer's notebook, and other information which directly contradicts the complainant's 'evidence'.

[2]    The alleged assault which is the subject of these proceedings is also the reason for proceedings currently before the Human Rights Review Tribunal, as the allegation was the reason for proceedings in the Tenancy Tribunal to evict Mr Mihaka from his home, which is owned by Housing New Zealand Corporation.  There are a number of serious discrepancies in the information Mr Mihaka has recently received, information which has not been considered by the Court, and information which is directly relevant to the credibility of the complainant and the findings of the Court.  With respect, it seems that his honour France J was totally unaware of any of these discrepancies, because none of them have apparently been brought to his attention, it seems that the appeal Courts did not address this evidence because either it was not available to them or they did not give it any (let alone sufficient) weight.  District Court Judge Kelly had a fiduciary duty to note the discrepancies in her judgment, and to appoint an amicus, as a Judge Hastings had advised, to assist the Court in what was clearly going to be a challenging trial, in which Mr Mihaka was a self represented defendant, conducting his own defence in Te Reo a o tatou matua tupuna o nga tangata whenua according to the Maori Language Act.

[3]      Mr Mihaka is absolutely adamant that he never received Disclosure regarding the assault charge, according to the Criminal Disclosure Act 2008.  It is evident that Mr Mihaka never saw the statement made to Police by the complainant, or the Summary of Facts, or he would have alluded to them in his cross examination of the complainant and witnesses during the trial.  The reason that these serious discrepancies have not been addressed by the Court is that Mr Mihaka was unaware of them because he never received the information from NZ Police or anyone else, and Judge Kelly clearly either did not notice the discrepancies, or did not accord them due weight in regard to the credibility of the complainant.  Then they were not noticed by either of the two appeal lawyers.  These discrepancies are serious.  They are directly relevant to the lack of credibility of the complainant - the onus is on the prosecution to prove the charge, the charge is specific, and the so called evidence is totally contradictory - it shows that the complainant actually deliberately applied force to Mr Mihaka, touching him inappropriately, twice accordig to the complainant, while Mr Mihaka was asleep - Mr Dickie assaulted Mr Mihaka, not the other way around.

If what Mr Dickie, the complainant, said in his sworn evidence is true, then what the Police allege could not have happened because it would be impossible.  Mr Dickie admits applying force inappropriately to Mr Mihaka, Mr Mihaka - contrary to HNZC records - has NEVER stated that he assaulted Mr Dickie, he never would state that, because he has always denied assaulting Mr Dickie.  Mr Dickie was the assailant and he has been moved to another address, end of problem.  There is no evidence of any complaints about Mr Mihaka from other tenants, either prior to or since Mr Dickie's complaint, but there is strong evidence of an extremely dysfunctional system of 'information sharing' between Police and Housing New Zealand Corporation, and strong evidence that this 'information sharing' has resulted in a series of serious miscarriages of justice, and that the mechanisms for addressing miscarriages of justice, such as appeals to the Court, have failed in this instance, and that the failures in this case are systemic, serious, and linked.

The copy of the complainant's statement was recently obtained  by Mr Mihaka from Police - with the last four lines of it blacked out - despite the fact that the request stipulated that it was required under the Criminal Disclosure Act 2008 as well as the Official Information Act and the Privacy Act.  A complaint resulted in the statement being provided in full very recently, and the last four lines of the complainant's statement raise serious questions indeed regarding the actions and integrity of Housing New Zealand Corporation, and NZ Police.  The last four lines of the complainant's statement to Police on 2 June 2014, which Police have only just disclosed, are almost verbatim what Housing NZ Corporation alleges that NZ Police told them, despite NZ Police denying telling HCNZ any such thing.  It is obvious that the information was obtained from the complainant and not NZ Police.

Mr Mihaka asserts that his tupuna did not cede sovereignty to the Crown, or agree to be governed in this manner.  He has not been treated fairly by the Courts, lawyers, legal system, or government.  The Court process was not explained to him and while he has appeared in Court before he is certainly not familiar with the latest legislation regarding criminal Court procedure, criminal disclosure requirements, etc.  Maori are over represented in the criminal justice system and we submit that the reasons for this over representation are the same reasons Mr Mihaka didn't receive a fair trial, Police and the Court ignored strong evidence of lack of credibility of the complainant, questions regarding the credibility of Police in relation to information allegedly shared with Housing NZ Corporation are also very relevant to this judgment - Housing NZ allege Police told them several very serious allegations and Police deny it, someone is not telling the truth and Reasonable Doubt clearly exists.  It is not Mr Mihaka's fault that he did not know he was entitled to Disclosure before he even entered a plea and certainly well before the trial.  It is not his fault that he is not a lawyer, if he was there is no doubt that this charge would have been withdrawn or dismissed as Reasonable Doubt is the only thing that is clearly established by an examination of the Evidence.

There are very serious discrepancies between the statement given to Police by the complainant, Mr Dickie, and the evidence given by Mr Dickie on oath in Court.  This discrepancy is vitally relevant to the credibility of the complainant, and was never addressed in the District Court, the High Court, the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court.  In the statement to Police on 2 June 2014, and also in the Police Summary of Facts [sic] presented to the Court by NZ Police prosecutors, it is stated that the alleged incident occured at around 9 - 9:30 at night as the complainant was getting ready to go to bed.  The complainant admits to striking, tapping, stroking or otherwise touching Mr Mihaka first - a fact which NZ Police decided to leave out of their account of The Facts, indicating bias on their part.
This contact which was unquestionably deliberate and it inexplicably occured when Mr Mihaka was asleep, this physical contact by the complainant was uninvited and unwelcome.

In his evidence on oath however, the complainant stated that the alleged incident occurred at around 7 - 7:30 in the morning after he awoke and made coffee.  The complainant is clearly confused, and there is clearly reasonable doubt regarding his version of events.  His evidence repeatedly refers to his regular panic attacks, the amount of medication he takes, his poor memory, etc, and it is unbelievable that this conviction should stand on the basis of evidence that is so blatantly contradictory - if what the complainant said on oath happened then what he claims in his statement to Police, and what Police claim happened, is impossible and simply could not have occured.  This serious discrepancy has never been addressed by the Court, and it is crucial to the issue of the complainant's credibility.  It clearly establishes Reasonable Doubt.  Mr Dickie repeats many times that he has a history of serious panic attacks.  He panicked, hyperventilated, and as he said "All I could see was me being a dead body on the floor" - he had a panic attack and imagined that an assault occured when it is likely that the only assault committed was when Mr Dickie touched Mr Mihaka inappropriately when he was asleep, then panicked when Mr Mihaka awoke in response to the inappropriate touching.

The notebook of the arresting officer shows clearly that NZ Police had decided to arrest Mr Mihaka before they even knocked on his door that day.  The officer has written that he read Mr Mihaka his rights twice before saying anything else, and that apparently half an hour elapsed between these utterances.  It also shows that at the time of his arrest, Constable Saunders told Mr Mihaka he was charged with an alleged offence that allegedly happened on 1 July - NOT 30 June.

[4]    It also appears that no lawyer acting for Mr Mihaka ever received or even asked for the Criminal Disclosure that Mr Mihaka was entitled to, as it wasn't on either of the lawyers' files when Mr Mihaka's Maori Agent collected them, and none of them had ever seen the complainant's statement prior to it being obtained by Mr Mihaka's Maori Agent very recently.

This information, and these serious discrepancies, have never been addressed by the Courts because both of Mr Mihaka's appeal lawyers failed to even notice that Mr Mihaka had never received Disclosure, and neither of them had ever seen the Disclosure let alone point out the relevant and vitally important discrepancies therein, and the obvious weight that should have been accorded as to the credibility of the complainant - and Police - on the evidence of the discrepancies, in addition to the several other errors which were found to exist in the judgment of DC Judge Kelly, and the relevance of these recently identified discrepancies to the errors already identified in the District Court judgment.

[5]    Mr Mihaka was a self represented Defendant, who elected to conduct his own defence, in his native language, his first and primary language, one of our official languages, because he did not wish to be forced to repay a legal aid loan to defend a charge he was innocent of.  Being innocent, he expected to be acquitted and did not wish to incur further legal bills for things he didn't do.   His appeal lawyers had a fiduciary duty to undertake  due diligence, discover that Disclosure had never been provided to Mr Mihaka, obtain it, and address the serious discrepancies therein, and Judge Kelly should have ensured that Mr Mihaka had received Disclosure in the first place.

[6]    Mr Mihaka has incurred legal aid bills of over $4000 now in relation to this matter, following two appeals, which were partially successful.  He respectfully applies for a waiver of fees regarding this matter, on the grounds that there has been a serious miscarriage of justice and he is impecunious, has no funds or assets and no income apart from basic superannuation payments, and ongoing debts to New Zealand Police due to their "unconscious bias against Maori" in general, and Mr Mihaka in particular, Police actions such as recently taking his car keys at National Park and leaving Mr Mihaka on the side of the road without a working phone or any way of heating his car, in the middle of winter, over a minor administrative matter when the officer should have exercised her discretion and granted compliance and allowed Mr Mihaka to continue the short distance to his home where he planned to attend to the minor administrative matter forthwith, as the previous officer had done.  Mr Mihaka's doctor has written two letters about these matters.  Mr Mihaka incurred major unforseen expenses recently, after this Police officer made the inhumane and unreasonable decision to take Mr Mihaka's keys, instead of accepting Mr Mihaka's reasonable explanation as to the "reinstatement" of his license, a minor administrative matter which he was on his way to attend to after being only made aware of it two days previously.  After leaving Mr Mihaka at serious risk of harm on the side of the road in the freezing cold all night with no phone or heating, and forcing him to incur these significant and unnecessary costs, New Zealand Police now expect him to pay $800 in fines regarding this matter.  There is evidence to strongly suggest bias on the part of Police exists and has a direct bearing on the charge laid against Mr Mihaka.

[7]    Mr Mihaka applies for a recall of the judgment of France J on the grounds that the Criminal Disclosure, and other relevant information, recently partially obtained from New Zealand Police by way of requests under the Official Information Act and the Privacy Act, is new evidence which was clearly not addressed previously by the Court, and is vitally relevant to the credibility of the Police as well as the credibility of the Complainant.

[8]    One example of this is the statement the Complainant made to Police on 2 June 2014 which states that the alleged assault occurred at around 9 - 9:30 in the evening, as the Complainant was getting ready to go to bed.  Mr Mihaka first saw this statement only about a week ago, and is still waiting for an unredacted copy of it - four lines have been redacted by NZ Police acccording to the OIA and Privacy Acts - due diligence requires Police to provide Mr Mihaka with Disclosure in a timely manner.  This did not happen.  Likewise, when Mr Mihaka recently requested all information regarding this matter according to the Official Information Act, the Privacy Act and the Criminal Disclosure Act, Police overlooked the fact that the request included information Mr Mihaka was entitled to under the Criminal Dislosure Act, and they blacked out the last few lines of the statement that the Complainant made to Police, which Mr Mihaka was entitled to in its entirety.  Mr Mihaka was entitled to receive Disclosure at the time of his trial - well prior to the trial, prior to him even entering a plea in fact.  Mr Mihaka didn't know about the Criminal Disclosure Act 2008, or the Criminal Proceedings Act 2011, he hasn't appeared in Court since 2008, he just knew he was Not Guilty so he said so.   He couldn't afford a lawyer and he couldn't afford to repay an expensive legal aid bill - especially after two appeal lawyers failed to notice ANY of these discrepancies which have such a direct relevance to the credibility of the complainant and the findings of District Court Judge Kelly.

[9]    The New Zealand Police Summary of Facts also states that the alleged assault occurred at around 9 - 9:30 pm as the Complainant was getting ready to go to bed.  Mr Mihaka first saw this Summary of 'Facts' only about a week ago.

[10]    Mr Mihaka has also recently received information from Housing New Zealand Corporation regarding the allegations of the Complainant, and this information also states that the Complainant also told Housing NZ Corporation that the alleged assault occured in the evening as he was going to bed, not in the morning as he was arising, as he stated in Court.  Mr Mihaka first saw this information only about a week ago when it was obtained and brought to his attention by his Maori Agent.  Housing NZ Corporation claims to have received information regarding Mr Mihaka's alleged drug use from NZ Police - it is evident from the information received in the last few days that the information was not received from Police at all - it was received from the complainant - it is almost verbatim what the last four lines of the complainant's statement says.  There is a clear degree of artificiality in the claim of HNZC that the information was received from Police - and Police vehemently deny providing any such information to HNZC.  It is well known that Mr Mihaka stood as a candidate for the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party in the past and it seems that Police and HNZC are further discriminating against him on the basis of his political opinion in recording that he is allegedly a "serious cannabis smoker" - the allegations that he uses methamphetamine and lives in a "suspected P house" etc are simply slander, they are totally untrue, and Housing NZ Corporation clearly aren't the slightest bit worried about Mr Mihaka's neighbours living right next door to a "suspected P lab" or they would have done something about testing the allegation and testing Mr Mihaka's abode.

[11]    In his evidence on oath in the Court, the Complainant stated that the alleged assault occured at around 7 - 7:30 in the morning, after the Complainant awoke and made two cups of coffee.   On oath he said this alleged incident happened at around 9 or 9:30 in the morning after he woke up and made a cup of coffee.  In the arresting officers notebook it states that the officer believed the alleged incident happened on a completely different day and told Mr Mihaka he was accused of committing this alleged offence on some other day.  The onus is on the prosecution and there is clearly reasonable doubt regarding the conflicting 'evidence' put forward by the complainant and the prosecution, and the further correspondence between Housing NZ Corporation and Police and Mr Mihaka's lawyer Nathan Bourke regarding the allegations of HNZC that Police told them Mr Mihaka uses methamphetamine and is a serious cannabis smoker and lives in a P house, and the denial of saying any such thing by Police, clearly raises other very relevant issues regarding credibility and the actual facts of the case.  The only fact is that Mr Dickie touched Mr Mihaka inappropriately and unnecessarily while he was asleep and then Mr Dickie had a panic attack.  The evidence regarding alleged injury is inconclusive, particularly in light of the credibility issues regarding the complainant and Police  - the photographs provided to Mr Mihaka do not show any injury and there is no supporting evidence from Mr Dickie's doctor.

[12]    Mr Mihaka only received a copy of the trial transcript very recently when it was obtained from his lawyer and the discrepancies were finally noticed.  These are serious discrepancies and there are a considerable number of them.

The discrepancies regarding date and time are not minor typographic errors, and the allegations made by Housing NZ Corporation that they received information from Police which Police deny are directly relevant to the questions of the credibility of the complainant, and of the Police, not to mention the credibility of Housing NZ Corporation staff who are not a party to these proceedings directly, but are clearly involved in the directly linked issues of the charge against Mr Mihaka and his eviction.   Housing NZ Corporation records show that Dickie claimed that the alleged incident happened in the evening, not in the morning as he claimed on oath, and near enough isn't good enough, there is clearly reasonable doubt regarding the allegations of Police, and Mr Dickie, and the information shared between Mr Dickie, Police and Housing NZ Corporation.

[13]    If Mr Mihaka had been aware of the major discrepancies between the Complainant's statement given to NZ Police and the evidence he gave in Court on oath he would certainly have cross examined Police and Mr Dickie regarding the discrepancies.  If he could afford a good lawyer he would sue Housing NZ Corporation and Police for slander as well as have been able to successfully challenge these discrepancies at the original trial, and establish Reasonable Doubt regarding the allegations of Mr Dickie and NZ Police.  Persons who cannot afford lawyers are being discriminated against in the Courts, the decision Criminal Bar Association v Attorney General establishes this.  People on low incomes such as Mr Mihaka can not afford lawyers, and Mr Mihaka was clearly let down by the two lawyers who filed the appeals because neither one of them alluded to any of these discrepancies or even noticed that no Disclosure had been provided.

[14]    Mr Mihaka was not aware of these major discrepancies because the New Zealand Police never gave him ANY Disclosure, either initial Disclosure or full Disclosure, and unlike the other parties and the Court, he was unaware of the provisions of the legislation such as the Criminal Disclosure Act.  Mr Mihaka was not familiar with the current enactment of the Criminal Disclosure Act, but Police were, and his appeal lawyers were, however neither the Court or either of the appeal lawyers appear to have addressed either the fact that Mr Mihaka had never received Disclosure, or the fact that the Complainant's statements to New Zealand Police and Housing New Zealand Corporation (HNZC) directly contradicted the evidence he gave on oath.  Despite the obvious need for an amicus, and the recommendation of Judge Hastings that an amicus be appointed, one was not appointed and nobody explained to Mr Mihaka that he was entitled to Disclosure.

[15]    Mr Mihaka has also recently received information showing ongoing prejudice and bias on the part of New Zealand Police and HNZC directly related to these matters in that Housing New Zealand has recorded information stating that New Zealand Police told HNZC that Mr Mihaka "is a serious cannabis smoker and also uses methamphetamine" and lives in a "suspected P house".  The eviction, the assault allegation, and 'information sharing' between New Zealand Police, the Complainant, and Housing New Zealand Corporation, are indisputably linked.  Mr Mihaka's appeal lawyer Nathan Bourke wrote to New Zealand Police, and Housing New Zealand Corporation, regarding the slanderous and defamatory nature of the allegations they have made about Mr Mihaka.

[16]    Further issues arise regarding credibility in that New Zealand Police deny telling Housing New Zealand Corporation that Mr Mihaka "is a serious cannabis smoker and also uses methamphetamine" and lives in a "suspected P house".   Mr Mihaka is not confused, the Complainant is confused, and New Zealand Police are confused, and Housing New Zealand Corporation is confused.  In light of the ongoing denials of both parties it is beginning to appear that either NZ Police or Housing NZ Corporation is deliberately lying in relation to these matters and it is clear that Mr Mihaka has not received a fair trial.  It is not clear to Mr Mihaka whether in fact any Judge presiding over these matters has ever seen the Disclosure or noticed these discrepancies, but it is clear to anyone that there has been a serious miscarriage of justice.

[17]    It is clear that the New Zealand Police Summary of Facts and the statement that the Complainant made to New Zealand Police, and the major discrepancy between these two documents and the information recorded by HNZC regarding the allegations of the complainant, directly contradicts the evidence given by the Complainant in Court, if what the complainant said on oath is true, Mr Mihaka could not have committed the alleged crime as stated by Police on the charging documents and summary of 'facts' and other information  It is also clear that these discrepancies were never explored or even mentioned by District Court Judge Kelly, and Mr Mihaka had no opportunity to mention them or explore them because firstly, he was totally unaware of the Disclosure and the other information, and secondly, because Judge Kelly directed proceedings in a manner which gave Mr Mihaka little opportunity to be heard on several matters of vital relevance.

[18]    Mr Mihaka respectfully applies for a recall of the decision of France J on the grounds that there been a serious miscarriage of justice because fresh evidence has become available since the trial,this evidence clearly shows that Mr Mihaka did not receive a fair trial.  This fresh evidence was not available at the trial because New Zealand Police may or may not have given Criminal Disclosure to a Duty Solicitor at the Porirua Court, there is certainly no evidence it was received by anyone, and  nobody ever gave (or even showed) the Disclosure to Mr Mihaka or his appeal lawyers as required by the Criminal Disclosures Act 2008, and it is clear from the Court transcript of the trial that the Court did not ever address the alleged "Facts" in the Summary of Facts, or the Complainant's statements to Police and Housing NZ Corporation, or the serious discrepancy between the information put to the Court by Police and the evidence of the Complainant, nor did the Court address the issue of bias of Police against Mr Mihaka when there is clear evidence this bias exists, or the relevance of the bias or the discrepancies in the information and the evidence to the credibility of the other parties.  This evidence was not considered by France J, it seems he was not aware of any of it because Police never provided Disclosure and the appeal lawyers never noticed it had never been provided by Police or received by Mr Mihaka.

Mr Mihaka respectfully submits that the onus is on the prosecutor or the Court to ensure that the Defendant receives Disclosure prior to the trial, particularly when the Defendant is self represented, and particularly when the Defendant is conducting his own defence in Te Reo a o tatou matua tupuna.  Mr Mihaka was not even aware of the Criminal Disclosures Act, or the Criminal Proceedings Act 2008 or most of the other legislation applicable to the matter, he hasn't appeared in Court since 2008.  He was provided with a translator, but the language of the Court is often Latin, and despite Judge Hastings noting that he felt it would be in the interests of the Court to appoint an amicus, terms like amicus curiae, mens rea, actus reus, etc, don't seem to have been explained to Mr Mihaka, and Mr Mihaka respectfully submits that in the case of a self represented defendant conducting his own defence in Te Reo a o tatou matua tupuna, Judge Hastings' wise suggestion that an amicus be appointed should have been heeded, and that in the interests of justice, and due diligence, that should have happened.  It is likely that if an amicus had been appointed Mr Mihaka would have been more likely to have received Disclosure, and more likely that the discrepancies would have been noticed before now and accorded fair weight in regard to the credibility of the Complainant.  The fact is that the discrepancies exist, they have clearly not been addressed by the Court, and there has been a serious miscarriage of justice.

Finally, please excuse any errors in the form of this submission, I am not a lawyer as will be obvious and do not intend any disrespect to the Court, and apologise for undue repetition; time constraints and lack of resources restrict the ability to edit it well, but I do believe that the substance of this application has merit and respectfully request the Court to consider it fairly and objectively and give due weight to the new evidence recently obtained by Mr Mihaka and clearly not previously considered by the Court due to his lawyers not noticing it and Mr Mihaka not being informed of his rights under the Criminal Disclosures Act and other legislation, or provided with Disclosure.

Katherine Raue
Maori Agent for Te Ringa Mangu Mihaka

Annexed:
1.    Decision of France J
2.    Legal bills x 2
3.    Doctors letters
4.    Infringement notices x 2
5.    Dickie statement to Police
6.    Constable Saunders notebook
7.    Police Summary of 'Facts'
8.    Housing NZ Corp regarding time of Dickie allegations
9.    Transcript Dickie evidence
10.    Housing NZ Corp regarding methamphetamine, cannabis, suspected P house
11.    Charging Document, "Nathan MIHAKA", Judge Hastings regarding amicus
12.    Defamation correspondence


        Address for service:    kateraue@gmail.com and dunmihaka@gmail.com
                    C/- Katherine Raue
                    [address withheld]

[ - This post will be updated - we have 30 days to submit an affidavit.  The information referred to will be uploaded, beginning with the documents below:]
2.   Direct quote from letter of Mr Mihaka's doctor regarding this incident:
"I am unclear of the recent circumstances surrounding the night he spent on a road in his car near National Park village, but regard it as inappropriate that any person of sevently four years old should, of necessity, sleep in a car on that stretch of road at that time of year."
3.   Infringement notices:


4.   Dickie statement to Police:

5.   Arresting officer's notebook:

6.   Police Summary of 'Facts' [sic]:

7.   Housing New Zealand Corporation records regarding time of alleged offence:

8.    Transcript of Warren Dickie's evidence in Court on oath:

9.    Housing NZ Corporation records regarding methamphetamine, cannabis, suspected P house:
Correspondence with the Court regarding this application is as follows:
To the Registrar of the High Court at Wellington - 7 September 2016:
1.    I emailed an urgent application for recall of a judgment of Simon France J in the matter of Te Ringa Mangu Mihaka v Police, including an application for waiver of any applicable fee, to the High Court at Wellington on 25th August 2016 but have not had any response to the application or acknowledgment of receipt, and am writing to confirm that it has been received and is being actioned.
Please acknowledge receipt of the application urgently - this matter is the subject of imminent hearing in the Human Rights Review Tribunal and it is vital that the application for recall is acknowledged prior to this hearing.  There has been a serious, substantial miscarriage of justice, there is fresh evidence, and this application is URGENT.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello Katherine

I refer to the Application for Recall of Decision referred to in your email below.

Please advise the legislation you rely on to file the application and have the judgment of Simon France J recalled as I have not been able to find any reference in the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 which allows the filing of this application some 14 months after the decision was made.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards
Sheena

Tena koe Sheena,

Alternatively, 2.3 - the miscarriage of justice is serious and the information was not made available within 5 working days - the application was made as soon as the information was made available by the other party.
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1908/0089/latest/DLM1818573.html

Nga mihi
Katherine Raue
Maori Agent for Te Ringa Mangu Mihaka
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Both rule references relate to Appeals and Reviews in the Civil jurisdiction of the High Court, not the Criminal jurisdiction, which is what your appeal relates to.  The criminal appeal process is governed by the Criminal Procedure Act not the Judicature Act.  I am therefore unable to accept the Application for Recall.

I respectfully suggest seek legal advice as to what other options might be available to you to have Mr Mihaka's conviction readdressed in the Courts.

Kind regards
Sheena


~~~~~~~~~~~


20 September 2016
Please treat this application as an URGENT application for LEAVE TO APPEAL and JUDICIAL REVIEW of the  decision of France J on the grounds that fresh evidence has become available and it is CLEAR AND INDISPUTABLE that a serious miscarriage of justice has occured, and it is an absolute TRAVESTY that Mr Mihaka and I are being fobbed off by a registrar! - Maori did not cede sovereignty Sheena, we did not agree to be governed like this and Mr Mihaka wants a FAIR HEARING - PLEASE FORWARD THIS APPLICATION TO JUDGE FRANCE WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY - ANY FURTHER DELAY IN DOING SO WILL BE VIEWED AS AN ATTEMPT TO PERVERT THE COURSE OF JUSTICE!
Nga mihi
Katherine Raue 
Maori Agent for Te Ringa Mangu Mihaka




Please treat this application as an URGENT application for LEAVE TO APPEAL and JUDICIAL REVIEW of the  decision of France J on the grounds that fresh evidence has become available and it is CLEAR AND INDISPUTABLE that a serious miscarriage of justice has occured and it is an absolute TRAVESTY that Mr Mihaka and I are being fobbed off by a registrar! - Maori did not cede sovereignty Sheena, we did not agree to be governed like this and Mr Mihaka wants a FAIR HEARING - PLEASE FORWARD THIS APPLICATION TO JUDGE FRANCE WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY - ANY FURTHER DELAY IN DOING SO WILL BE VIEWED AS AN ATTEMPT TO PERVERT THE COURSE OF JUSTICE!



Saturday, August 6, 2016

Housing NZ Corporation - caught out making it up again:

Upon arriving at the Human Rights Review Tribunal on 3rd August 2016 it was discovered that Crown solicitors Meredith Connell had sent Mr Mihaka and his Maori Agent a large amount of information the previous day, including Housing NZ Corporation's "Anti Social Behaviour Guidelines" management plan.

While attempting to read this new information at the same time as engaging with the Tribunal Mr Mihaka and his Maori Agent noticed that there were clear policies and procedures required which had not been followed.  In particular, it was noticed that Housing NZ Corporation was required to obtain a detailed statement from the person making the allegation, in this case, Mr Warren Frederick Dickie.

It is quite clear that Housing NZ Corporation treated Mr Dickie and Mr Mihaka quite differently, and it is quite clear that Housing NZ Corporation have discriminated against Mr Mihaka, and it appears that the only real difference between the two is their ethnic background, Mr Mihaka being he uri o nga tangata whenua and Mr Dickie being a pakeha.

Police also have recently admitted to "an unconscious bias against Maori", and it is widely recognised that Maori are over represented in the justice system. 

Mr Mihaka in particular has been let down by the justice system.  Judge Kelly had a duty to view the evidence and weigh it up and assess credibility of the parties accurately.  She failed to even notice the serious discrepancy between the Police Summary of 'Facts', Mr Dickie's statement to Police, and the evidence given on oath.

Housing NZ Corporation's Guidelines clearly state that staff are required to comply with the Privacy Act when collecting, storing or using information.  It is clear and indisputable that they have deliberately ignored and flouted these "Guidelines", as well as showing an utterly arrogant disregard for the law.

The Guidelines state that Housing NZ Corporation are required to take a detailed statement from the complainant - it is clear to anyone reading the Guidelines that this statement is required to be IN WRITING, and signed by the complainant - "write everything down in an incident summary form (T-463) or on a notepad if you do not have a form with you.":

Reference to an interpreter seems to have been ignored - Mr Mihaka speaks Maori, it is his first language, it is also one of our official languages, however Housing NZ Corporation decided that an interpreter was not needed when dealing with Mr Mihaka, despite the obvious communication difficulties.

"Place a copy [of this statement] in the S drive . . .  using appropriate folder and subfolder and make sure a copy is put on the tenant hard file."

It was not until after 3pm that the Maori Agent noticed this requirement in the Guidelines and began to question Meredith Connell as to the whereabouts of this statement.

To their great discredit, after consulting with Kathie Furfie of Housing New Zealand Corporation, the Meredith Connell solicitors dishonestly tried to assert that such a statement HAD been taken, but not put to paper.  The irony of being accused of "artificiality" by the Tribunal is offensive given the blatant dishonesty and lack of good faith shown by Housing NZ Corporation and their tax payer funded Crown solicitors, Meredith Connell, - they are blatantly LYING - there was no statement recorded - Housing NZ Corporation never bothered to even take a statement from Mr Dickie prior to their decision to evict Mr Mihaka on the basis of common gossip and a pack of LIES cooked up by Mr Dickie!

Nothing whatsoever was written down - no statement was recorded.  Meredith Connell and HNZC continued trying to blatantly lie about this to the point where it is now clear that they are subsidised by the taxpayer and deliberately using those resources to discriminate against and bully tangata whenua and deliberately pervert the course of justice and continue to do so through every Crown colonial Court and Tribunal in the land, and those Courts and Tribunals simply carry on the charade - a big gravy train - a merry go round, shunting tangata whenua and M(atua) Mihaka through a series of flaming hoops, moving the goalposts, rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic - while Sir Ron Young and others raise the alarm and plead for lawyers to blow the whistle before it's too late.  Sadly, they did that a few years ago, but only in terms of how it affected the income of lawyers, not the effect on their hapless victims clients, the decision upheld the claim, and can be found at this link- Criminal Bar Association v Attorney General.

Proceedings deteriorated markedly following this revelation and Meredith Connell's strenuous assertion that a statement WAS taken, just not written down, and the hearing did not end well, it being evident to everyone that Meredith Connell were LYING and that the required statement did not exist and never did.

Maori Agent Raue and Mr Matua Mihaka also questioned the statement of Ms Stephanie Smith to the District Court Tenancy Tribunal - which appear to be clear evidence of blatant perjury:
Adjudicator:
"Obviously there's a feeling over here that there's been something unjustified about that decision.  This is an opportunity to respond to that if you wish,  Are you aware of what's behind that?"

Ms [Stephanie] Smith [for HNZC]:
"I am, the 90 day notice was issued prior to us breaching the tenant for the alleged assault."
 What utter bollocks!

Then there's the letter from Te Ringa Mangu Mihaka's lawyer Nathan Bourke to Police and NZ Police's response - which categorically DENIES the claims Housing NZ Corporation made about information ALLEGEDLY received from Police!

This is nothing but an orchestrated litany of lies which has made its way through the District Court the High Court the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court and justice has STILL not been done!

The so called New Zealand justice system is nothing but a sham - a sick joke!  A revenue gathering machine designed to fleece tangata whenua and the working classes while lining the pockets of shady bankers and financial speculators and other fellow liars in the old boys network!

Maori did not cede sovereignty and never agreed to be governed like this - FOR GOOD REASON!  This is NOT justice and will NOT be tolerated.


Police deny Housing NZ Corporation's claims:

Below is page 120 of the bundle of documents provided to Mr Mihaka and his Agent the day prior to the hearing in the Human Rights Review Tribunal.  This is one of the pages containing defamatory allegations about Mr Mihaka.  On 21 April 2015 Naomi Davies of Housing New Zealand Corporation alleged that "Police have confirmed tnt [tenant] to be a serious cannabis smoker and although they can not confirm, they have heard that the tenant is using meth".  Mr Mihaka first became aware of this notation in March 2016 whereupon he immediately requested that it be removed or corrected, a request which was refused by Kathy Furfie of HNZC.
Mr Mihaka's lawyer wrote to Police regarding this outrageous defamation, and guess what?  NZ Police deny telling Housing Corp any such thing.

The reference above to "Karaka" seems to refer to a person called Karaka Tuhakaraina, who is part of the Housing NZ Corporation's legal department apparently - and given to a bit of exaggeration and invention himself - in another piece of information recently obtained, this Karaka Tuhakaraina states that Mr Mihaka actually ADMITS assaulting Mr Dickie, which is blatantly untrue to the point of delusional - Mr Mihaka has always strenuously denied assaulting Mr Dickie.


Contrary to the claims that Mr Mihaka "continue to antagonise others", there is no evidence whatsoever of any complaints of antagonistic behaviour being received from anyone other than Mr Dickie!

The letter from Mr Mihaka's lawyer to Police regarding this matter is at this link, and the letter from Police denying HNZC's claims is at this link.  Mr Mihaka considers that there are a number of inaccuracies in this letter, including the claim that Constable Tahere was "helpful" toward Mr Mihaka.  Mr Mihaka says that in the time he has known Constable Tahere it has been apparent to Mr Mihaka that Constable Tahere was more inclined to be helpful to people such as Housing Corporation staff and Mr Dickie, and that there was a history of animosity between Constable Tahere and Mr Mihaka.  The offhand manner of this response is both ignorant and arrogant - ignoring the fact that this is a serious issue which has resulted in the imminent eviction of Mr Mihaka and the recording of outrageous false allegations against him attributed to NZ Police and Warren Frederick Dickie, and arrogant in the continued allegations of assault despite the nebulous and conflicting claims of Mr Dickie which simply do not stand up to scrutiny.  Despite all this it is perfectly clear that Police categorically deny the claims of HNZC.

When Mr Mihaka's Maori Agent collected the files from the two lawyers previously acting for Mr Mihaka, Nathan Bourke and Brett Crowley, there was no sign whatsoever of any Police statement from Mr Dickie regarding the allegation against Mr Mihaka.  There was a Summary of Facts on the files, which Mr Mihaka was unaware of.  When a person engages a lawyer, the lawyer receives all information on that person's behalf, so the lawyers had the Court transcript and other information, but Mr Mihaka had never seen the information on the lawyers' files, including the transcript and the Summary of 'Facts' (sic), let alone Mr Dickie's statement to Police, which it seems was never seen by Mr Mihaka or either of his lawyers.  Mr Mihaka's Maori Agent made enquiries with Nathan Bourke and Brett Crowley and both confirmed that they had never seen any statement made by the complainant to NZ Police, so the Maori Agent made a formal request according to the Criminal Disclosure Act 2008, the Privacy Act and the Official Information Act for all information regarding this matter, in particular any statement made to NZ Police by the complainant.

Eventually the following statement was provided:
Page 2 (above) shows that in fact Mr Dickie 'assaulted' Mr Mihaka by touching him unnecessarily, while he was asleep.  ". . . he dozed off in the early part of the evening . . . it was then that I . . . tapped him . . . it was about 9 - 9:30 at night.  That's when the assault took place I knew Dun was asleep and I tapped him."  Mr Dickie, in effect, assaulted Mr Mihaka, not the other way around.  Police left this FACT out when they wrote up their Summary of "Facts".

This is a very serious discrepancy.

In his sworn evidence Mr Dickie states the incident happened at around 7:30 in the morning just after he awoke and made coffee - NOT 9:30 at night as he was about to go to bed!


Page 3 of Mr Dickie's statement makes it quite clear that he is prone to panicking, and that he did panic.  He imagined he was under attack and panicked, probably hyperventilating to the point that he had trouble breathing.  He estimates that Mr Mihaka had his hands on him for "between 30 seconds and one minute."  He doubles this to one to two minutes in his sworn evidence, demonstrating a propensity for exaggeration and embellishment.

Page 4 of the complainants statement against Mr Mihaka was provided to Mr Mihaka with the last four lines blacked out:


We finally obtained a copy of the unredacted page, and surprise, surprise - it seems that HNZC obtained the defamatory information regarding Mr Mihaka from none other than Mr Dickie.   They seem to have also exaggerated, claiming that they received the information from Police when in fact, the information came from Mr Dickie.

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Caught out in the cold

Update on current events from Te Ringa Mangu Mihaka's Maori Agent:

I noticed my phone battery had gone flat at 10:32 at night on 30th May 2016 and upon charging it I discovered a message from Te Ringa Mangu Mihaka as follows:
"I've been stopped by the Police @ National Park and have had my keys take off me by a policewoman who said she knew that I had bad record for beating up on women.  I am staying in the car for the night."
 Shortly followed by another message:
"Think I can do with some help PRONTO!"
I immediately tried to ring him, but soon realised that his phone also was not working, and that if he was indeed stranded in his car with no keys he would be unable to charge his phone, or heat the car, among other things, and that given his age and his health and the fact that it was the middle of winter and National Park is noted for freezing winter temperatures, there was cause for serious concern. 

I rang the Police communications centre on *555 to enquire about the matter and was (eventually) told that it was true, Police had taken his keys and left this elderly gentleman stranded at National Park, late at night, in the middle of nowhere, with no way of heating the car and no working phone.  This action by Police posed serious risk to matua's health, whanau were very concerned for his welfare, and unable to contact him.  I was eventually put through to someone who knew what was going on.  I said "Please tell me that Police have not left a seventy five year old man stranded somewhere in a National Park with no phone and no car keys overnight in the middle of winter."  Unfortunately they couldn't tell me that, and eventually confirmed that this was in fact true.

I enquired as to the reason his keys had been taken and when Police planned to return them.  I was told that the keys had been taken to Ohakune Police station because his license needed "reinstating", and then I was told this could be done the following morning if Mr Mihaka simply went to the Ohakune Police station and paid around forty dollars.  Apparently, Mr Mihaka had previously accrued some demerit points and was banned from driving because of this for a brief period of time.  When that time ended, Mr Mihaka thought he could just resume driving, as a lot of people would.  Unfortunately, the government revenue gathering machine apparently requires people to fill in a form and pay around $40 to "reinstate" their license, a fact Mr Mihaka was unaware of.

I pointed out to Police that without a phone or car keys he couldn't get to Ohakune Police station or anywhere else.  I pointed out also that Mr Mihaka had been stopped by another Police officer the previous Friday and advised that he needed to fill in a form and pay a fee to achieve "appropriate compliance" regarding his licence, and that he had told that officer he had been unaware of this requirement, which was a reasonable explanation - many people are unaware of it - promised to attend to it immediately upon his return home the following Monday, which was of course the day the officer stopped him in National Park for exactly the same offence.  The first infringement notice, issued by an officer who is obviously a much more sensible, reasonable and compassionate person, at Mata in the Far North, on a Friday, and the officer offered compliance, in other words if Mr Mihaka attended to the matter within 28 days the $400 fine would be waived.

The second ticket was issued the following Monday at National Park as Mr Mihaka was returning home.  The Police officer on this occasion was not nearly so reasonable.  The (female) officer stopped him and issued the ticket, for exactly the same offence, but in this case the officer exercised discretion inappropriately, made inappropriate comments about Mr Mihaka's "history with women", then apparently called for back up from another officer before taking his keys and leaving him stranded on the side of a narrow road, a state highway, in the dark, with no working phone and no way of heating the car, for a minor administrative matter.

Police actions posed a serious risk to Mr Mihaka's health for a number of reasons, including the fact that he may well not have enough medication with him, he is taking several types of medication and the risk of a blood clot was a real possibility if he were confined to the car overnight, also he may very well not have enough warm clothing - he is notorious for getting about in shorts and a singlet regardless of the season and relying on the car heater for warmth, he could get run over trying to hitchhike as he is known to travel by hitchhiking if necessary, he could get run over if he were to get out of the car due to a moderate walking disability which is why he is so reliant on his vehicle.  He had been left on a very narrow road verge, in an unlit area, and on the edge of a steep bank which he could have fallen down and died of exposure.  He could have slipped on ice - I advised Police that I was Te Ringa Mangu Mihaka's Maori Agent and I wished to make a formal complaint regarding the actions of Police at National Park which I considered to be reckless, negligent, prejudiced and biased, totally unnecessary, dangerous, and totally in breach of their fiduciary duties.

Police responded by saying that they wouldn't be giving Mr Mihaka any special treatment.  I pointed out that we weren't asking for special treatment, just the fair application of Police discretion in this case, there was no reason why the second Police officer could not have offered compliance as the first one had done.  Police refused to reconsider the decision to abandon Mr Mihaka in the National Park with no keys and no phone, and they initially refused to check on his well being during the night when I asked that they do so, saying that they " . . . might not have any cars in the area."

I advised Police that Mr Mihaka's whanau were extremely concerned and upset about the situation and that we insisted Police check on Mr Mihaka's well being at regular intervals during the night.  Police continued to refuse to check on Mr Mihaka during the night and said we should ring back in the morning, until I said that if they continued to refuse to do so we would call 111 and send an ambulance to check on him, and then we would contact the media and have a news camera crew on the scene by the morning to document the state of affairs as Mr Mihaka attempted to get himself out of the situation he'd been placed in without a phone or any way of getting anywhere or contacting anyone.  Whereupon Police agreed to check on him and gave me their word they would.

It was like some Machiavellian reality television Survivor type challenge, devised by Her Majesty's Constabulary.

On ringing back next morning I was told that Police were checking on Mr Mihaka and attempting to help him but he kept "giving [them] an earful."  I told Police to suck it up, anyone would be giving them an earful under the circumstances and the only "help" Mr Mihaka needed from Police was for them to return his keys, which they were still refusing to do.  I asked to speak to the Police Area Commander.

Eventually I received a call from Ross Grantham, the Area Commander.  I requested that Police collect Mr Mihaka and transport him to a Police station or wherever he needed to go to "reinstate" his license and give him back his keys.

Mr Grantham called back a short time later to advise that Police had picked Mr Mihaka up and were taking him to Taumaranui Police station.  I asked why they were taking him to Taumaranui if his keys were at Ohakune Police station, and was told that there was now another problem.  Police required Mr Mihaka to have a medical check as he was seventy five.  I pointed out that he wasn't seventy five until July.  Mr Grantham said he was "in his seventy fifth year" so it applied.  I requested Police make arrangements for me to speak with Mr Mihaka without delay.

After waiting a reasonable time I rang Taumaranui Police station and spoke with a Police officer by the name of Conrad, who explained that the local doctor was not prepare to do the medical without Mr Mihaka's medical notes, which he didn't have access to, so Conrad said Mr Mihaka's own doctor would need to do the medical, and so Police would arrange for Mr Mihaka to travel home by bus, at his own expense.

Mr Mihaka passed his medical test with flying colours the following day, reinstated his license, and we returned to collect his vehicle.

The whole exercise ended up costing Mr Mihaka a considerable amount of money, and Police are still enforcing the $400 fine issued by the officer who should be disciplined for leaving him stranded in the cold all night over a minor administrative matter.


The ticket above, issued on Friday 27th at Mata in the Far North, states that compliance has been offered, and gives Mr Mihaka 14 days to comply, by 'reinstating' his drivers license.  

The ticket below, identical in every respect except one (see "Compliance Offered" field in the two tickets), was issued the following Monday.   Despite Mr Mihaka telling the officer he had been unaware of the requirement to 'reinstate' his license until the officer at Mata had informed him of it, and that he was on his way home to attend to the 'reinstatement' first thing the following morning, this officer made the patently unreasonable decision to exercise her bias against Maori by refusing compliance to Mr Mihaka, and furthermore taking his car keys, leaving him stranded on a narrow verge on the side of the main highway, on a cold winter night, unable to turn on the car heater, and with no working phone.

This decision was reckless, irresponsible, unreasonable, unprofessional, and cruel. 


The final word goes to Te Ringa Mangu's doctor, who, along with the other staff at the local medical centre, are taking good care of our kaumatua.  Unlike local Police, who demonstrate a woeful disregard for tangata whenua, for the elderly, for basic human rights, let alone justice.
"This gentleman is seventy four years old and had a number of medical problems.
I am unclear of the recent circumstances surrounding the night he spent on a road in his car near National Park village, but regard it as inappropriate that any person of seventy four years old should, of necessity, sleep in a car on that stretch of road at that time of year."