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Source: ONE News -
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The Sensible Sentencing Trust says the non-custodial sentence in the makutu case sets a worrying precedent for a crime where a life has been taken, especially when the victim is mentally ill.
Janet Moses died during an exorcism in Wainuiomata in 2007 after having water forced into her mouth and eyes.
Two family leaders received community detention which will allow them to live at home under a curfew. Along with their three co-offenders - all aunts of Moses - they were also sentenced to community service, supervision and ordered to undertake cultural education programmes.
Peter Jenkins told Greg Boyed on TVNZ News at 8 that while the offenders intentions were good, "someone died from actions that could have been construed as negligent and deliberate".
He says the trust doesn't believe community servce is an adequate punishment in that sort of situation.
"I really don't think the community is going to be entirely satisfied with this sentence."
Jenkins says if the group had been thinking about what they were doing Janet Moses would still be alive, and it would have been better to seek help from appropriate health professionals. He says the case was complex because some of the offenders are relatives of the victim.
And he says it is of concern that cultural issues can lead to inconsistencies in sentencing which would appear to have happened in this case.
Jenkins, citing drink driving cases, says the message to the wider community is that people can commit manslaughter and "the consequences are not going to be as great as you would think".
Spotlight on makutu
The case of Janet Moses has thrown the spotlight on the ancient Maori issue of makutu.
Makutu is a force that's misunderstood and mysterious, but for those afflicted is very real.
"Sometimes the effects are very slow but sure, other times the effect is the immediate death of a person," says Professor Pou Temara who is a makutu expert.
According to centuries-old tradition, the makutu is placed on the victim by chanting the words: "I consign you to the night of death...while the sun shines on me".
Many people didn't want to talk about makutu but experts say it uses the power of the mind, focussing thoughts of harm on the victim so strongly that they come true.
There are known cases of Europeans being affected by makutu.
And if the afflicted person doesn't die, Temara says the effects can still be dramatic with wild staring, the hearing of voices and incoherent speech.
Other cultures have similar beliefs, such as bone-pointing among Australian aborigines in which a bone is pointed like a spear at the victim who believes so strongly he has been mortally wounded that he dies.
The Moses case is not the first time makutu has featured in court. Eleven years ago, Paul Martin claimed a makutu made him attack a friend with a crucifix. The judge accepted that Martin believed he was afflicted and gave him a suspended sentence.
In 2001, Brian Aporo claimed he was under a makutu before he
slit the throats of his two children. He was found not guilty but
was ruled insane.
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