One man's reaction authenticates anti-violence message

Vic Tamati addresses high-security prisoners at Otago Corrections Facility yesterday. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.
Vic Tamati addresses high-security prisoners at Otago Corrections Facility yesterday. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.
An anti-violence campaigner was moved to tears by the actions of an inmate of Otago Corrections Facility yesterday.

Vic Tamati (59) shared his harrowing story with 30 high-security prisoners, a life that included growing up in a Samoan churchgoing family in South Auckland where violence, whether by fist or the blunt end of a machete, was common.

That violence flowed through an adolescence marked by school expulsion, gang involvement and going from one pub brawl to another.

Eventually, he moved to Christchurch, but the father of six, including singer Ladi6, found violence was never far behind.

His life changed following a severe beating of his then 8-year-old daughter with a platform shoe, which resulted in his family leaving him.

On their return, his daughter took the blame for him ''bashing her up''.

He later vowed to his family he would get help. He enrolled in an anti-violence programme and met two facilitators who ''saved the life of my family''.

With the permission of his family, he went public with his story.

Mr Tamati's talk featured a ''roll-call'' in which he asked inmates, guards and guests to stand up as he asked a series of questions about violent acts done to them or others.

That roll-call included those who acknowledged they had hurt animals or family members, or had committed murder. He urged those men to recognise their problems in order to break the cycle of violence.

''You need help.''

Two heart attacks earlier this year have failed to stop his own commitment to spreading the message of anti-violence, which appeared to strike a chord with yesterday's captive audience.

A dozen members of a kapa haka group acknowledged his talk with a rousing haka, which was joined by another prisoner.

That decision reduced Mr Tamati to tears as he saw the impact it had on the other inmates.

''That's when they know it is for real - when someone who is a real s***head responds like that.

''That one act has already influenced so many.''

hamish.mcneilly@odt.co.nz

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