Not long after his father's passing Te Huia was sent to live in state care at a Christian boys' home. His legal adviser, former Māori Party candidate Donna Pokere-Phillips, says he should never have been put into state care because he "just a grieving boy". Sharing Pokere-Phillips' concerns is the University of Auckland's Tracey McIntosh, who says we cannot overestimate the devastation that abuse in state care has on its victims. "[They were] Really being exposed to systemic patterns of state violence, in the state care system and those trajectories lead to prison so often." "I'm over jail, I'm sick of jail, I'm sick of not being there for my son.

Source: New Zealand Herald July 17, 2021 17:03 UTC