Residents of Waipoua Forest are shocked to hear its Allan Titford's first day serving a long prison sentence.
20 years ago, Pierre Lyndon was a reporter who met Titford on a number of occasions to discuss his allegations that Māori had burnt his home.
According to Lyndon, “He told the world how Māori were doing bad things and how the Te Roroa people were treating him badly, but now it seems he has a spiritual or mental illness and the court has seen that he was lying all along, and caused the Te Roroa people years of grief.”
The jail sentence handed down to Titford signals the end of decades of trouble he caused for Te Roroa's claims.
However, to this day they are yet to settle their claims, and the Government now wants to turn Waipoua Forest into a national park.
Kereihi Kereopa of Te Roroa says, “They're still holding on to our land and it doesn't look like they're going to give it back to the families here. It must be sorted and returned to the families and respective clans of this district.”
It's now become very clear that it's not only Alan Titford who is holding up the settlement of Te Roroa's claims.
