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Former Maori Party co-leader Dame Tariana Turia has spoken in support of a young rugby player being given a chance to redeem himself for a brutal attack.
Losi Filipo yesterday gave up his contract with Wellington Rugby in response to the public uproar over his discharge without conviction in charges of attacking a group of four people including two women when he was 17.
Dame Tariana says it contrasts with the response to a similar discharge given to Nikolas Delegat from a prominent winemaking family for his sustained assault on a Dunedin policewoman.
"There's no way that we can excuse what he did but the fact is he is 17 years old and for anybody who understands and knows physics, we know our brains not formed properly until we're in our twenties", says Mrs Turia.
Dame Tariana says she's tired of the judgments that are made about Maori and Pacific people.
DAME TARIANA TURIA FULL INTERVIEW
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