BBM owner and community leader Dave Letele (Ngāti Maniapoto) has come out saying the justice system is racist and is calling for change.
This comes after former radio host Nate Nauer appealed a jail sentence issued last week after he was convicted of money laundering for the Comancheros gang.
Letele was at the Auckland District Court during Nauer’s hearing. He says the sentence lacked consideration for how hard Nauer has worked to turn his life around.
“[The sentence] didn’t look at anything [Nauer] did in the community, it lacked any kind of empathy. I thought the judge could have really utilised Nate as an example of how to do things differently to turn people’s lives around.
'Here when he gets out'
“The same people who applaud his sentence are the same ones whingeing ‘Why is the system not changed? Why are the stats not changing?’ Unless we do things differently, nothing’s going to change.”
Letele has been part of Nauer’s changing ways, with Nauer volunteering with BBM’s food bank over the past three years to deliver kai to whānau who are struggling.
Letele shows his support for Nauer - and disappointment for the justice system.
“It’s a very humbling experience for him. It’s very hard for three years giving back to the community and [the sentence] was totally sending him backwards.
“We’re just praying that he can stay on the path - and we’re here when he gets out.”
'System stacked against us'
Letele is adamant that prison undoes the rehabilitation work that anyone goes through to be part of society again, saying the system is racist and “is stacked against us in so many ways”.
“It’s a colonial system. Go back and look at the marae justice and the things that used to be done, and I promise you – if we put those systems in place there would be a lot better success with people rehabilitating to becoming productive members of society.”
And while he's still considering it yet, Letele hasn’t put his hand up to join the Māori Party to stand for election. But it seems that Nauer’s sentencing may persuade him to do so.
“I’m over us never having a say. I’m over us filling up prisons. I’m over everything to do with the way that we’re continually pushed down, the money that’s made off of our misery.
“I feel like they need a political advocate that’s on the front line every single day fighting and speaking up for our people.”
