GRANNY'S DEFENCE: DOPE A GIFT FROM MAORI GODS

A drug-addicted granny who ran a ``tinny'' house allowed a cultural advocate
to beg leniency for her in court on the basis that cannabis is a gift from
the Maori gods Rangi and Papa.

Mary Te Harihari Ake's cultural adviser asked a judge to dismiss charges
against her because the gods gifted all natural things on the earth -
including cannabis - to their people.

The plea came as Ake, 50, appeared in Tauranga District Court on a charge of
selling cannabis after being busted in an undercover operation at her
Papamoa home.

Ake ran the ``tinny'' house in Gravatt Rd. Her primary-aged son lived there
and the tinnies were kept in a large Milo tin. Security for the drug-selling
included use of a police scanner.

The grandmother, who has kuia-like status, admits she has a cannabis
problem. She has counselled troubled Maori teens on behalf of a Te Puna
marae and is an alternative Maori justice advocate.

Her cultural adviser, Rua Hillman, asked Judge Peter Rollo to dismiss
charges against Ake because Rangi and Papa gifted all natural things on the
earth - trees, bushes, herbs and even cannabis - to their people.

But Ake told the Bay of Plenty Times she knew she had broken the law and
must pay the consequences despite Mr Hillman's cultural-based pleas.

The story of Ake's arrest in the house she shared with her son and other
whanau members unfolded in Tauranga District Court last week when she was
sentenced on the cannabis charge.

As part of a drugs operation code-named Celtic, an undercover policewoman
visited Ake's house pretending to buy drugs.

Ake boasted to the policewoman that she ran the only "tinny" house in
Papamoa which had not been busted by police because she had friend in the
police force. She told the officer she only sold cannabis to a close circle
of friends.

When they raided the house in August 2002, police found a sophisticated
drug-selling operation.

She kept foil-wrapped packages of cannabis and her ``tick list'' of people's
drug debts in a large Milo tin.

Ake would sell the drug from her dining room table. She kept a police
scanner on the table to "outsmart" police activity to catch them.

Ake admitted she had sold between 20-30 "tinnies" of cannabis a week over a
period of nine months.

She and her whanau smoked a third of the cannabis she bought and sold the
rest to satisfy her own habit. Crown prosecutor Duncan McWilliam described
Ake's cannabis operation as "large scale".

Mr McWilliam spoke of how the offending had taken place in the family home
in front of her son.

He opposed Ake being allowed to serve any prison sentence on home detention
because she had committed her crimes from home and was caught selling
marijuana from another address after her arrest. He said Ake had two
previous drug-related convictions.

Summing up the case against Ake, Judge Peter Rollo said she should be
setting a better example for her younger whanau members.

Judge Rollo told the court Ake did a lot of community service, including
being an alternative Maori justice advocate and counselling of troubled
young Maori.

In a police interview after her arrest Ake said she was in an ideal position
to counsel drug-addicted teens because of her own dependency on marijuana.

Judge Rollo sentenced Ake to 21 months in prison but granted her leave to
apply for home detention on humanitarian grounds because she had a young
son.

Speaking from a home she has taken refuge in since her own house was raided,
Ake described her strong belief in alternative Maori medicine - and
alternative justice.

Although she knew Mr Hillman's pleas would fall on deaf ears with the judge,
Ake said she still believed cannabis should be legal because it was provided
by Io-matua - the highest creator.

She said Io-matua provided for Maori and Pakeha, so did not expect special
treatment because she was Maori.

She admitted she was addicted to cannabis and admitted smoking - or drinking
a brew she made of the plant - at least three times a day.

She said she started smoking cannabis after a car accident and quickly
developed a heavy habit.

Ake said she was not hopeful she would be able to serve her sentence at home
because she had already been to prison and committed drug offences while on
parole.

But she said the shame of her drug habit coming to light and her children
being shunned by their whanau because of her was worse punishment than any
judge could hand down.

Ake said she helped Te Puna's Pirirakau hapu to try and get funding for
helping problem youth.

Pirirakau spokesperson Peter Rolleston confirmed Ake was a part of the hapu
but said he was not aware of her acting for the hapu in any official
capacity.

Mr Rolleston said the view expressed by Mr Hillman condoning cannabis use
because it a gift from Maori gods was not one widely believed by his hapu or
others.

Mr Rolleston said Ake would not be regarded as a kuia in the strictest sense
but that many members of her large family may regard her as such.

He said Ake might have seen herself as providing some assistance to members
of the hapu who were involved in drugs because of her experience.

Ake's application for home detention will be decided by the parole board in
the next two months.