STUFF
A Mongrel-Mob led meth rehabilitation programme has been awarded Proceeds of Crime Act funding. (File pic)
A Mongrel Mob-led meth rehabilitation programme funded by the government, involves participants working on a “community garden” on the property of the president of the gang’s ‘’Notorious’’ chapter.
The garden is on a Waipawa property that is home to Sonny Smith and his wife Mahinaarangi Smith, who is a programme facilitator.
The Ministry of Health was successful in applying for funding obtained through the Proceeds of Crime Act, to fund the Kahukura rehabilitation programme at a marae in Waipawa.
The programme was awarded $2.75 million over four years.
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H2R Research and Consulting Ltd lists as its directors Angie Wilkinson and Mongrel Mob leader Harry Tam who was controversially given a high-profile position as part of the inquiry into historic abuse in state care.
The programme will serve up to 10 participants with each programme expected to run for eight weeks. It aims to address trauma and drug-seeking behaviour.
Participants will reside at Te Tapairu marae in Waipawa from July 5. They will be able to leave the marae under the supervision of Mahinaarangi Smith to attend various activities around Hawke’s Bay.
These include “working in the kai māra (community gardens) at [Smith’s address]”, exercising at a gym in Waipukurau, “morning walks along the Mataweka River”, “a fishing trip on a boat on the Napier harbour”, and attending Narcotics Anonymous in Hastings.
Ministry of Health deputy director-general mental health and addiction Toni Gutschlag said “when assessing the request for support from H2R, the Ministry acknowledged that there was a gap in current service provision – the initiative provided a way to fill this gap, engaging with a hard-to-reach segment of the community”.
“The Ministry subsequently supported the Kahukura proposal to receive funding under Proceeds of Crime in 2020,” she said.
“Drug use is prevalent among gangs across New Zealand and can have a detrimental impact on the wider community. It is understood that if gang members can be supported in stopping the use and sale of drugs, that also has positive impacts on the wider community,” Gutschlag said.
The Health Ministry, as lead agency, will be responsible for expenditure and reporting on progress for the next four years.
Sonny Smith was released on parole in January 2013, two years after he was sentenced to eight years’ jail for wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Smith, a lifelong Mongrel Mob member, was president of the gang’s Notorious chapter in Central Hawke’s Bay. He was jailed in 2010 after he was found guilty of attacking a fellow senior gang member so badly that he suffered brain damage.
