Social media claims 'white privilege' over poaching sentencing

  • 23/05/2016
Social media claims 'white privilege' over poaching sentencing

A Facebook post highlighting the case of a man who was sentenced to four months' imprisonment for his involvement in a "large scale" poaching case has garnered more than 20,000 likes.

Ara Adams-Tamatea's post from Saturday has taken off after pointing out the difference in sentencing between a group of white men, and David Pake Leef.

"Both parties broke the law, and both parties were sorry. One party committed burglaries to the tune of $80k for fun while the other stole 10 fish to feed his family. Both crimes in the eyes of the law and I'm not disputing that… One gets to "serve time" at home with their family while the other has to serve jail time and leave his family. Take a wild guess who has to go to jail for stealing 10 fish. Not 80,000 fish or $80,000 worth of fish. 10 fish VS $80k of private property.[sic]"

Mr Adams-Tamatea continues, making a claim of "white privilege".

And many people agree with him -- more than 20,000 people have "liked" the post, and it's had more than 8,000 shares in just two days.

Some commentators disagree, however, and are comparing the case to that of the Maori King

One said "Aye? this post is just kaka and is an uneducated example of someone using the excuse of racism. it aint about colour.. Some people forget about the Maori Kings son "Prince" Korotangi and his convictions and being let of lightly.. [sic]."

Another said "It's not about colour or race. Look at the Maori kings son. It's about money."

Leef, 37, was sentenced to a total of four months jail when he appeared in the Rotorua District Court for  poaching as many as 60 spawning trout from a highly valued spawning stream near Lake Rotoiti.

However, Leef failed to appear for sentencing and a warrant was subsequently issued for his arrest.

The judge then sentenced him to four months jail for poaching and breach of bail charges.

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