Name Sex Offenders Before "Cutting It Off"
Name Sex Offenders Before "Cutting It Off"
Before
Titiwhai Harawira considers “cutting it off” she
should name
perpetrators as one solution to dealing
with the disturbing increase in the
number of Maori
sex offenders, ACT Maori Affairs and Education
spokesperson
Donna Awatere Huata said today.
“ I call
on her to show the lead and indeed speak out and name
the sex
offenders in her own community, which she
threatened to do earlier in the
year,” Mrs Huata
said.
Mrs Huata was commenting after Mrs Harawira said
today that sex offenders like
Taffy Hotene should be
dealt with the in the ancient Maori way: having flax
tied
around their penis and pulled tight until the organ dropped
off.
Mrs Huata said she had a lot of sympathy for the
victims of sexual abuse and
dealing out traditional
“cultural punishment” held “some attraction.”
“However,
while I can understand Mrs Harawira’s point of view I can
not support
such extreme measures,” Mrs Huata
said.
“Last-resort measures are not the way to deal with this problem.
“Before we start sharpening the flax
knives, we need to look closely at the
core of the
problem and that is education, life skills and dialogue, “
Mrs
Huata said.
She said ACT’s education policy had
as a priority, the mentoring of families
of children
from birth who were unlikely to be prepared well for
school and
later life.
“Education and speaking out
is the key to getting the whole debate about
abusive
behaviour among Maori once and for all out in the open and
dealt with.
“And that starts with people who take a
leadership role, such as Mrs Harawira,”
Mrs Huata
said.
ENDS