Three Times Not Out...If You're Bro Royalty

King and Son Co.Ltd.: such regal bearing!

Korotangi Paki appeared in the Auckland District Court this week on charges of drink-driving, two counts of burglary and one of theft (the last three while on bail).
If this 19yr.old had been anyone else, he'd have been nailed.
But daddy is the maori king, King Tuheitia, so Judge Philippa Cunningham jumped through PC hoops and granted him a conditional discharge without conviction.
Immediately a public backlash began: a Stuff.co.nz on-line public

opinion poll says it all...
According to his lawyer, Paki could only succeed his ailing father to the throne if he had a clean record, so Madam Judge ruled the impact of a conviction would exceed the gravity of the offending.
Outside court, the family's representative Tuku Morgan (yes, he who spent $4,000 of Aotearoa TV's bucks on undies for himself in 1997!!) said the judge's decision had been a victory for maori and recognition of their unique culture: "The judge has recognised a very important and compelling cultural difference; that he is entwined in a succession process that one day will give rise to a new head of the kingdom, and his opportunity should not be in any way shape or form minimised or compromised."
University of Auckland law professor and author of Criminal Procedure in NZ Bill Hodge says that argument is bollocks: "That is up to the Maori authorities in question, not a matter of New Zealand law and to that extent is one law for common people and another law for royalty."
Paki has exploited his supposed royal status and culture to trick the judge into discharging him without conviction. What kind of message does this send to other NZers, of ANY ethnicity?
And quite frankly, as the judge obviously bought into this holier-than-thou royalty rubbish without adherence to the laws of this land (where ONE law is meant to fit ALL), what does this say about her??!!