Ōpōtiki Mongrel Mob Barbarians death: Gang impact on town ...

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says its unacceptable that Ōpōtiki has been brought to a standstill after a gang slaying brought gang members to the area and fears of retribution

Hipkins told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking that schools closing and services such as public transport stopping due to the increase in gang activity was not acceptable.

“That clearly indicates that there is a situation that police need to get on top of,” he said.

“It’s unacceptable to be in a position where gang tension is leading to schools being closed and so I do expect that police will do something about that.”

Hipkins said he “absolutely backed” the presence of increased police resources in the town.

“It is utterly unacceptable that this is happening, and I think it’s important to back police to do the job that they need to do, and they need to do that independently of politicians,” he said.

Ōpōtiki mayor David Moore told AM that he and police are working to calm tensions in the town.

He said those in town for the tangi of Mongrel Mob Barbarians president Steven Rota Taiatini are so far behaving.

He added that people in the town were carrying on as normal, using the fact that he was able to go out and walk his dog as normal this morning as an example.

Moore said there was some concern about a retribution attack.

“We are doing our best to prevent that from happening, but we can only do what we can.”

Moore couldn’t give the number of how many police officers were in the town, but said “we’ve been reassured with what’s been sent to help us”.

He said schools closing for a few days was probably a good idea, with some schools located close to the tangi.

“The schools that were open yesterday, a large number of children were away anyway.”

He said gang members were still members of the community.

“We just have to give the whānau some respect and hopefully the police work quickly to solve this case.”

Gang members and vehicles yesterday lined a street near an Ōpōtiki address where it is believed Taiatini is lying.

Police on Sunday named Taiatini, 45, as the person killed in the “disorder-related incident” on St John St, Ōpōtiki, on Friday. Taiatini was understood to be the president of the Mongrel Mob Barbarians.

Police have started a homicide investigation.

Yesterdayt, the town’s main street appeared quiet today with people going about their day-to-day business. However, more than two blocks of Buchanan St were lined with vehicles, with many cars parked on the berm and sidewalks.

The street itself was full of patched people.

According to Gateway Funerals’ website, Taiatini is lying in state at an address “at the family home” on Buchanan St.

”It is with our heaviest hearts and deepest, unbearable mamae that we announce the tragic death of our most-loving dad, koro and son most-loyal and respected brother, cousin and friend; most-caring and supportive uncle and most-heartiest, devoted husband, our mighty Steven Rota Taiatini,” a tribute on the website said.

Puwhakamua rehabilitation programme founder Billy Macfarlane Snr said Taiatini needed to be acknowledged for the “good stuff he’s done”.

“He was a good family man,” Macfarlane said.

”He’s worked seriously hard to help make changes in the methamphetamine harm space. He and his partner, Pauline, have done a lot of work even in Rotorua.”

Macfarlane said Taiatini’s death was a “tragedy”.

”He’s going to be missed. He wasn’t a bad guy.

“He was quite a pleasant fellow to talk to and he wanted to do good.”

Macfarlane said regardless of Taiatini’s gang connections, he had “done many good things”.

”That stuff doesn’t go away.”

Ōpōtiki Mayor David Moore said there was heightened tension and concern in the community.

”The person who is deceased is one of our locals so there’s whānau that are grieving. They don’t know who’s done this so they’re a little bit angry.”

Moore said while there was a “gang aspect” to what had happened, those affected were members of the Ōpōtiki community.

”I’ve been working in the last few days with local iwi and police to approach this the best way we can as leaders from across the community to calm the situation. Hopefully, no further things happen and the police have it resolved as soon as possible.”

Moore said he supported local schools’ decisions, whether they decided to close or to stay open.

”It’s the choice for the parents to send their kids to school or not.”

Moore said of the schools that had remained open today, he knew some parents had decided to keep their kids at home regardless.

”We’ve got to support them in whatever they decide.”

Moore said bus services have closed for safety reasons.

He said the ideal outcome would be for Ōpōtiki to get back to normal as soon as possible.

”[We’re] just wanting to keep things calm, have a result for the whānau and get back to normal.”

On Ōpōtiki College’s Facebook page, principal Terehia Channings said that “given the recent tragic homicide and heightened emotions” it was decided the school would be closed.

“The location of the tangi proceedings is in close proximity to our College,” Channings’ said.

”The closure will also include Junior Tech, Ringa Raupà and the operations of the bus run for College students.”

Ashbrook School confirmed it was also closed until Wednesday.

Ōpōtiki Primary School today announced in a statement on its Facebook page that it would be closed today and tomorrow.

”Given the current situation in Ōpōtiki with the recent tragic event and heightened emotions, our school management in consultation with the School Board of Trustees have mutually agreed that the best course of action right now is to close the school tomorrow,” the statement said.

”The decision has not been an easy one however the safety and wellbeing of our students is our top priority and we hope that our whanau and school community understand the circumstances of our decision as we work together through these difficult and trying times.”

One resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the atmosphere in town today was “very quiet and still” after the weekend.

”There’s no one around. All the locals are staying at home. We were very quiet at work today,” she said.

”It’s an eerie feeling.”

Ōpōtiki District councillor Barry Howe told the Rotorua Daily Post the townspeople were feeling “cautious about the situation.

”The thing is with a small town like Ōpōtiki, everyone knows everyone.

”We’re not happy with the situation. The feeling out in the community is to let the police deal with it and come up with the results needed.

”We’re not overly anxious but we’re a pretty close-knit community at the end of the day,” Howe said.

“It saddens me when something like this happens because we’ve got some great, positive things happening but something like this puts a damper on it.”

Over the weekend, police were on high alert due to the large gang presence that appeared in the area after Taiatini’s death.

An Ōpōtiki resident told the Herald yesterday they had seen patched Mongrel Mob and Barbarians gang members “coming into town thick as anything... and there’s cops everywhere”.

The woman claimed that locals were worried about retribution attacks.

She said she saw an estimated 30 patched gang members near the scene of the Taiatani’s death, as well as a horde of police officers.

The resident sometimes saw Mongrel Mob and Barbarians gang members in Ōpōtiki but did not recognise anyone at the scene. The Barbarians are a chapter of the Mongrel Mob.

“They were out of towners, I’ve never seen them before.”

Police, in a statement today, said they recognised the concern people were feeling and had brought in extra staff to provide round-the-clock coverage in the town.

‘’This is to offer reassurance to our wider community that may be feeling unsafe following recent gang-related events.’'

Police would like to hear from anyone who was in the areas of St John, Albert, or Richard Sts between 9.30pm on June 9 and 12.30am on June 10.

Maryana Garcia is a regional reporter for the Rotorua Daily Post and the Bay of Plenty Times. She reported for this article from Ōpōtiki.