Hokianga kuia Kirihimete Caroline Paniora, known as Aunty Raina, was at the Wellington District Court for the eight days of the Waihopai trial to support Sam Land, the youngest of the three Anzac Ploughshares members.
She said Sam walked the 18 kilometres to her house regularly to tend her lawns and garden asking no return but a meal. So she said she really wanted to be at the court for him.
During one of the periods when the court was closed to the public while counsel discussed points of law, Aunty Raina looked around the packed waiting area outside courtroom number 3 and said, ‘This is church. Look at all these people come to support the three men.
‘There is so much joy here and everyone is committed to the same cause.’
Among others who spent time in the courtroom gallery were Dominican sisters and priests from Australia, Auckland and Dunedin supporting Fr Peter Murnane, and lawyer Moana Cole from Christchurch and Ciaran O’Reilly from Australia who had been jailed in the United States in 1991-1992 after a Catholic Worker anti-bomb protest.
Between court sessions supporters congregated around a makeshift shrine at Katherine Mansfield Park opposite the US embassy where they ate, discussed and prayed together.
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