Will Police Commissioner Peter Marshall still be so self-righteous after IPCA report into Urewera farce?

'Urewera Four' sentences decried by iwi leader
Prison sentences handed down to "Urewera Four" members Tame Iti and Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara are "completely over the top", leaders of central North Island iwi Ngati Manawa say.

Iti and Kemara, along with Urs Signer and Emily Bailey, were found guilty of unlawful possession of military-style firearms and Molotov cocktails at training camps held in the Urewera Ranges in 2006 and 2007.

Iti and Kemara were sentenced to 2-1/2 years jail and Signer and Bailey had their sentences adjourned but home detention was signalled when they appeared in the High Court at Auckland yesterday.

Justice Hansen said that despite a "Dad's Army" aspect to the camps, their intent was serious.

Two and a half years? Who was the judge? Louis Crimp?

What a bitter and sad little episode this farcical terror case has ended us with, a conspiracy rant by a Judge that to NZs deep embarrassment, will forever be on our history books. Hansen foamed about a conspiracy the jury didn't find them guilty of, this spiteful prison sentence is a desperate attempt at saving face for a Police force who has cost the NZ taxpayer $14 million dollars.

96 years ago, the exact same ridiculous situation occurred when Rua Kenana was found innocent of main charges but was sent to prison by the Judge on lesser sentences.

What was Iti and his merry militia doing in those misty hills? He was playing at freedom fighter without any of the actual fighting, a camp for the politically active to run around and role play. When corporate leaders do it, their called paint gun enthusiasts. When lefties and Maori Nationalists do it, apparently it's terrorism. That said, activists should never pick up guns. Why give your enemies the ammunition?

If Judge Hansen was serious about chasing conspiracy, perhaps he should investigate Cameron Slater and Simon Lusk's hunting parties in light of the National Party having concerns that Lusk and Slater have "a very negative agenda for the party".

But I digress. This investigation that attacked a community with existing righteous grievance; that cost us $14million; that cost us all our civil rights by legalizing illegal Police spying techniques; HAD to end in a prison sentence because the State and the Police have to desperately do all they can to save face, before the IPCA report into this abortion gets released.

As I pointed out last month, rumor has it that the IPCA report is deeply damaging and critical to the Police, and that's why they have done all they can to hold up releasing it.

It is vital for the so called 'independence' of the IPCA that they do not buckle under the attack now going on by the Police in trying to dismantle the criticism. This outrageous sentence and the prickish way Police Commissioner Peter Marshall has justified this disgustingly expensive joke demands the system to get involved and rebalance this latest injustice. If they don't, the stain of this sentence will spark the next generation of grievance. At the end of all of this, what were we supposed to be terrified of exactly? Police breaking the law to spy on us? Communities being terrorized by para-military police? A failed police investigation costing the tax payer $14 million? Who exactly was the terrorist?

Let's see if Police Commissioner Peter Marshall is so self-righteous after the IPCA report gets released.

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