Slavery in New Zealand: inside the story of the Samoan chief who abused power for profit
"Loto had spent 17 months being held as a slave on a property in Hastings on New Zealand’s North Island. He was never paid for his work and was subject to cruel beatings from Joseph Auga Matamata, a 65-year-old Samoan chief, or matai."
"But upon arrival they found themselves working 14-hour days in the fields as “bags of cash” were handed to Matamata, a horticultural contractor, but never passed on."
"The crown prosecutor Clayton Walker told the jury that all of Matamata’s victims “trusted him completely” because he was a matai, a Samoan chief."
"A middle-aged woman, shielded from him by a screen, sobbed as she described how as a 15-year-old girl she had attempted to run away from Matamata’s house in 1995, but that he had tracked her down, bound her wrists and ankles and driven her back.
He had promised her parents in Samoa she would be educated in New Zealand but instead found herself cooking, cleaning and looking after his children. Her day started at 4am and often didn’t finish until 11pm.
A 15-year-old boy, who was adopted by Matamata and brought to New Zealand when he was 12, described how his adopted father once threw a pair of secateurs at him so hard they lodged in his arm."
"A group of four young men hanging out on the seawall say they were well aware of the trial in New Zealand and referred to Matamata as “The Sifi”, before starting to laugh. Sifi means “chief” in Samoan, but is also slang for the villain in a movie."
“We go to the same ward for the Mormon church or the Latter Day Saints, he loves to go to church whenever he comes to Samoa and I just can’t believe he could’ve done something this bad to our own people,” she says."
"Back in New Zealand, the conflicting image of a loving matai and a brutal slave master is something many who know him have struggled to reconcile.
“It’s like it’s a different person I’m reading about,” says Peleti Oli, who grew up with Matamata, attending the same church and playing rugby with his sons."
"In the end, the jurors took just seven and a half hours to deliver 23 guilty verdicts. Matamata was acquitted on one trafficking charge. He will be sentenced in May.
Each slavery charge carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison and the human trafficking charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison or a NZ$500,000 fine. He now faces spending the rest of his life behind bars."
"‘Tip of the iceberg’
Matamata’s conviction is an extraordinary achievement given such cases are normally “notoriously difficult” to prosecute, says Natalia Szablewska, a senior law lecturer at Auckland University of Technology, who is an expert in modern slavery.
“The evidentiary burden is often very high and complainants can be confused about what happened to them, or even that what happened to them would constitute slavery or human trafficking.”
Before Matamata’s prosecution, there have only been three other human trafficking cases in New Zealand in the last decade, only one of which resulted in a conviction.
“Modern slavery is much more widespread than we suspect,” says Szablewska, who hopes Matamata’s conviction will open doors for other cases around the world."
"At the beginning of the trial Matamata often wore an ’ulafala, a bright red pandanus key necklace symbolising his chiefly status over his suit and tie. As the weeks wore on it gave way to a black hoodie. He sat quietly, sometimes smiling, often looking bored, as his victims gave evidence against him. None of them returned his gaze."
"None of Matamata’s victims were in court to hear the guilty verdicts but were informed by phone and were “delighted” with the result"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/04/slavery-in-new-zealand-inside-the-story-of-the-samoan-chief-who-abused-power-for-profit