June 14, 2023
Slain gang leader remembered for pro-social shift
An Opotiki-based filmmaker says the town has been calm this week despite a large influx of Mongel Mob members for the tangi of Barbarians chapter leader Steven Taiatini, who was killed on Friday night.
Mr Taiatini was taken through to Hillcrest Cemetary in Whakatane this morning for the nehu.
Kim Webby says police were more visible than gang members, who mainly gathered at the whanau home.
She says Opotiki is known as a Mongrel Mob town, but she rejects suggestions from politicians and media it’s being held to ransom.
“Certainly there’s a whanau here that’s grieving. Also a community in which Tiwana as we knew him hasd some strong support for the efforts he was making to bring him and his gang into a more pro-social way of living. That is of course not always an easy thing to do in a gang-type setting,” Ms Webby says.
The decision to close schools was voluntary and was the right thing to do to have tamariki close at a sad and difficult time for the community.