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John Cowpland / Stuff
Joseph Matamata appears to be sentenced in Napier Superior Court in July.
The Crown appealed a prison sentence imposed on a man convicted of slave trade, claiming it was “manifestly inappropriate”.
Last month, the Crown Law Office appealed Joseph Matamata’s 11-year jail sentence. He also appeals on the grounds that Judge Helen Cull made a mistake in failing to impose a period without parole of half the prison term.
Matamata in turn has appealed his conviction. Among other things, her appeal questions whether the terms “slavery” and “human trafficking” were correctly defined in the five-week trial that concluded in March.
Matamata, 66, was sentenced in Napier Superior Court in July after being convicted of 10 counts of human trafficking and 13 counts of slave trafficking.
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MARTY SHARPE / THINGS
Immigration NZ’s Stephen Vaughan, left, and Detective Inspector Mike Foster speak after Matamata’s sentencing.
A $ 183,000 reparation order was also entered against Matamata.
The Matamata crime occurred between late 1994 and April last year and involved 13 victims.
Matamata claimed that the money earned from the complainants’ work was deposited into his own bank account, because his home was run as “a family unit” and all that they earned was used to pay all the bills.
But once here they were exploited by Matamata for their financial gain. He took workers to orchards or workplaces and received “bags of cash” as payment for his work, but never passed it on.
The appeal will be heard in the Court of Appeal. No date has been set yet.
