Who is rape convict Taiawa Harawira, and his connection with New Zealand ex-MP
Taiawa Harawira
, part of New Zealand's one of the most notable
Māori activist
families, was convicted in a historical
child sexual abuse case
. He is the son of one of the most celebrated Māori leaders
Titewahi Harawari
and brother to former member of Parliament
Hone Harawira
.
The case has sent shockwaves throughout New Zealand, not only owing to the high-profile standard of the Harawira family, but due to the complexities involved in a historical case of sexual abuse with little evidence and blurry memories.
After a two-week long retrial, Taiawa was pronounced guilty in six out of nine charges pressed against him in
Auckland District Court
.
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The case caught national imagination following Taiawa's arrest in 2020, after a legal complaint against him by the accuser, now in her 50s, in 2019.
The complaint was filed against Taiawa Harawira accusing him of sexually abusing the victim between the late 1970s to 1980s, when she was aged 8-12 years. A pattern of grooming and repeated rape at various locations, including Whangāeri, Northland, Avondale by Harawira in his early 20s, were also mentioned in the complaint.
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In 2020, at the time of his arrest for 44 charges pressed against him, Taiawa reportedly told the detectives 'I know what this is about. I've been waiting 30 years for this.' The statement supposedly indicated his acknowledgement of the allegations.
The first trial of the case began in early 2024. During the course of the trail, 19 charges were dropped for lack of evidence while the jury acquitted Taiawa on three charges and deadlocked on 22 others.
This lead to a retrial in 2025, wherein, the new jury convicted Taiawa of six charges (including two counts of rape and four counts of indecent assault), and acquitted him on three others. The sentencing for the same is scheduled June 2025.
During the whole process, Taiawa has pleaded not guilty. His legal team focused on how the accusations are nothing but a 'fabricated' story of lies that stretches back to history when the accuser was a child and had an argument with her mother, defending an instance of ill behaviour.
The final response by Taiawa's team was how the case is 'absolutely cluttered with emotion and prejudice'.
Taiawa's brother Hone Harawira was a three-term MP in
New Zealand Parliament
and a prominent member of the
Te Pati Maori
party. Hone quit the Maori Party in 2011 to form another political outfit Mana Party and went in to win one more term as an MP.
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