Mata Reports: Perenara McAllister - A Killing Without Consequences?

Mata with Mihingarangi Forbes

In 2022, Perenara McAllister was killed in emergency accommodation. It was captured on CCTV and seen by witnesses, but police refuse to charge the man who stabbed him. His parents speak out about their fight for justice.

Watch the video version here.

Early one Saturday evening back in March 2022, Ange McAllister’s phone started buzzing from a number she didn’t recognise.

She wasn’t feeling well and was trying to rest, so she ignored it. But the caller was insistent, ringing and ringing, so Ange eventually answered.

What she heard was a jumble of words, and the sound of tears and distress.

As she comprehended what was being said, and the message sunk in, Ange’s world collapsed.

She stumbled into the lounge to tell her husband, Noel, what she’d just been told: “Perenara’s dead.”

Their 30-year-old son – the matāmua (eldest) of their Te Puke whānau; the boy who’d grown up at the marae helping Noel mow the lawns, and had gone off to chase his dream of becoming a farmer before a brain-injury turned his life upside down – had been stabbed to death.

But even though he was killed in front of witnesses and the incident was captured on CCTV, the whānau is still seeking answers, still desperate for someone to take responsibility.

Police arrested a man at the scene that night and issued a press statement saying charges “are being considered”.

But soon after, the man – who could be heard on the CCTV admitting to stabbing Perenara – was released without charge.

Perenara (Tapuika) died moments after a chaotic, violent incident at emergency accommodation near Hamilton.

He had tried to intervene to calm the situation and protect a woman. His whānau were told by police he had done the right thing and died a hero.

But that did not take away the pain of their grief, or their frustration over the outcome of the investigation.

“The head detective came here maybe a week [after the tangi] … and they told us that our son did what any decent person would do but they’re not going to charge the guy, they’re letting him go,” Noel told Mata Reports. “We were in shock.”

The McAllisters say police told them it was self-defence, but after watching the CCTV they disagree.

“We watched it and that confirmed to me that they’d made a mistake,” Noel said.

Perenara’s mother, Ange, said watching the footage was difficult. “I was so proud of our son because the whole time he was calm and where other people stood back and did nothing, he did something. There’s no way it was self-defence.”…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details