Hamiora Pere was the only New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

er ever to be executed for treason

Treason

In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...

.

Background

Pere was a participant in the Te Kooti's War

Te Kooti's War

Te Kooti's War was one of the New Zealand Wars, the series of conflicts fought between 1845 and 1872 between the Māori and the colonizing European settlers, often referred to as Pākehā. This particular conflict covered most of the East Cape region and the centre of the North Island of New Zealand...

, one of the New Zealand land wars

New Zealand land wars

The New Zealand Wars, sometimes called the Land Wars and also once called the Māori Wars, were a series of armed conflicts that took place in New Zealand between 1845 and 1872...

. When Te Kooti's forces were defeated at the siege of Ngatapa, in 1869, around 270 people were taken prisoner. Most were executed, but Hamiora Pere was one of those who was kept alive. Along with four other survivors (Hetariki Te Oikau, Matene Te Karo, Rewi Tamanui Totitoti, and Wi Tamararo), Pere was taken to Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

, where he was put on trial for high treason

High treason

High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...

 against the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 crown. Pere and Tamararo were also charged with murder.

Three of the accused, Te Oikau, Te Karo, and Totitoti, began their trial on 20 September 1869, and were found guilty after four days. They were sentenced to be hanged

Hanging

Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...

, then beheaded

Decapitation

Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...

, and then quartered

Hanged, drawn and quartered

To be hanged, drawn and quartered was from 1351 a penalty in England for men convicted of high treason, although the ritual was first recorded during the reigns of King Henry III and his successor, Edward I...

 — this was the mandatory sentence for treason, although the judge indicated that perhaps the beheading and quartering would not actually be carried out. Pere and Tamararo were to be tried separately, as they were accused of murder as well as treason. Tamararo's trial began on 27 September, although treason charges were dropped, leaving only charges of murder. He was found guilty and sentenced to the same punishment as the others.

Trial and execution

When Pere himself began his trial, the murder charges were dropped, leaving only the charge of treason. Pere's defence focused on three primary claims:

• That Pere had been conscripted into Te Kooti's army by force.
• That even if Pere hadn't been conscripted, the cause he saw himself as fighting for (resisting the encroachment of those who were stealing his land) was just.
• That Pere did not realise that Britain regarded itself as sovereign over New Zealand, and that he therefore did not understand himself to be committing treason.

Pere was supported in his trial by Maata Te Owai, one of Te Kooti's wives. Te Owai testified that Pere had not joined Te Kooti's forces willingly. Other evidence indicated that Pere had been present when several murders of colonists took place, although no uncorroborated evidence was presented that Pere had actually committed or condoned the crime. (Oddly, this evidence better fits the charge of murder than the charge of treason, but it was the charge of murder that was abandoned.) In the end, Pere was found guilty of treason. The judge deferred Pere's sentence for a time, but eventually ordered the same punishment as for the others.

Wi Tamararo had committed suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

 two days after being sentenced, leaving only four of the convicted alive. Later, on 13 October, the Governor chose to commute the sentence of Hetariki Te Oikau to life imprisonment. On 2 November, a surprise decision also commuted the sentences of Matene Te Karo and Rewi Tamanui Totitoti. This left Pere as the only person facing execution. Addressing Pere's case directly, the Executive Council

Executive Council of New Zealand

The Executive Council of New Zealand is the body which legally serves the functions of the Cabinet. It has a function similar to that served by the Privy Council in the United Kingdom...

 claimed that Pere's participation in the war had been voluntary, and accused him of active involvement in murders of colonists. It also said that Pere, unlike some others, had no tribal allegiances which compelled him to participate.

Pere was hanged in Wellington on 16 November 1869. He is the only New Zealander ever to be executed on charges of treason, with all other executees having been convicted of murder. As capital punishment in New Zealand

Capital punishment in New Zealand

Capital punishment in New Zealand first appeared in a codified form when New Zealand became a British territory in 1840, and was first employed in 1842. It was last used in 1957, abolished for murder in 1961, and abolished altogether, including for treason, in 1989. During the period that it was in...

is no longer in effect, it is possible that he will retain this distinction permanently.

Recent re-examinations

More recently, Hamiora Pere's case has been re-examined, with some claiming that he was treated unfairly. It has been alleged that if the three other accused had their sentences commuted, Pere should have been treated the same way — there was no corroborated evidence that Pere had actually committed murder. (It is argued that the Crown realised this, and that this is why the separate murder charge was dropped.) According to some theories, Pere was executed not because he was deemed to have deserved it, but because the government "needed someone to hang" to satisfy public opinion or to serve as an example. Wi Tamararo, against whom the strongest evidence of murder was presented, deprived the government of a hanging by committing suicide, leaving Pere as the only real candidate. In the minutes of the Executive Council, an opinion was noted that "one execution will be [as] useful as more would have been by way of example and caution".

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