Local MP says hold off speculating about stabbing at school

Friday, June 27th, 2014

Mangere MP Su’a William Sio is asking that people hold off from speculation about the circumstances of the stabbing that occurred at the Pacific Christian School in South Auckland.

On Tuesday an 11-year-old boy was stabbed during a fight at the school. He is in a critical but stable condition in the Starship hospital.

Police have been questioning another boy at the school.

Sio says he was frustrated by focus on negative incidents and stereotyping and asked people not to jump to conclusions “or judge us”.

“I just dislike it when people start throwing stones when they don’t live in that community, they don’t wear the shoes of these families that’s why I’ve asked people just be patient, let us deal with what we’ve got to deal with.”

Sio said he was very protective of his community because they don’t want people to get carried away with the emotion and “get carried away by promoting the negative stereotypes that get thrown at our community constantly.”

He said the community was focussed on trying to protect its young people “but from time to time it’s been made known in our community that for one reason or another some young people… end up carrying weapons and that’s just intolerable”.

Sio said Mangere was a working-class neighbourhood filled with families scraping to get by and this contributed to some of the violence among young people.

“We are aware of it, we don’t condone it and we work extremely hard to ensure that our schools are safe our communities are safe and that there is a set of morals by which all of our communities live by.”

Sio has been criticised for his comments on TVNZ’s Breakfast this morning when he said “boys are gonna be boys”.

He was however referring to a second incident that had occurred in South Auckland on the same day.

He continues to maintain that violence will occur from time to time, he denies he was downplaying the incidents or the use of weapons.

“It was taken out of context, I was asked a question in reference to a group of older boys who were fighting outside a high school and maybe I could have said it a little bit better.

“The line I’ve been saying is that boys are going to be boys but we don’t expect our boys to be fighting with knives and that’s the allegation that’s been made.”

Sio blamed his choice of words on the fact it was early in the morning and the fact he was rushing to catch a plane “and maybe I could have said it better”.

Watch interview with Su’a William Sio

In 2012, a report by the Education Review Office flagged safety issues, saying the school couldn’t assure a safe environment for students.

The Pacific Christian School a primary and intermediate school privately run by the Tokaikolo (NZ) Education Trust, and last year had a roll of 96.

There have also been worries about Pacific Christian School’s ties to the Tokaikolo Christian church and its leader who was linked to a failed investment scheme worth $36.8 million .

The Church made headlines in 2012 when its church president came under fire for calling on its congregation to fundraise $100,000 a month.

Broadcaster and Tongan community leader Setaita Miller said there was widespread concern about what was going on at the school.

“This is a continuous saga with this church. It has been on our news nearly every week in the last year and this year.

“With this incident, again, it is a great concern.”

The school needed to be seriously overhauled and “get things sorted”, Ms Miller said.

The Tokaikolo Christian Church is a “multi-faceted organization consisting of arms in education, business, evangelism, and so on,” according to Sangster Saulala, in the preface to his history of the church.

It was founded in Tonga in 1978 by a breakaway group of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga.

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