Too little, too late

Raurangi Marino's parents have cleansed their souls with mea culpae to the media; the Dom-Post reports, firstly of his mother:

Raurangi Marino's mother admits she failed her son and is responsible for a crime so horrific it sent shockwaves around the world.

"I didn't safeguard my children, and I didn't apply myself to looking after them," Lavinia Wall told The Dominion Post yesterday.

Ms Wall, a former Black Power associate, said her son endured regular beatings at home.

"I wanted it to stop but I couldn't because I was a hard-out alcoholic and it was the family versus me."

She described Marino as a "good boy, a little naughty. He was just brought up too quick, too young, he got into drugs and alcohol too early. I take a lot of responsibility of what happened, and for his upbringing."

The family was angry at her, she said.

"They call me a bad mother and [say] I have brought up horrible children. I'm deeply sorry for the little girl's family, she will go through trauma for the rest of her life."

Then we hear of his father's contribution:

Marino's father, Mark Marino – a Taupo Mongrel Mob member – said he feared for his son's safety in prison.

Having served time himself, he knew of prisoners with similar convictions who "just disappeared" in jail.

"The sad thing is that everyone wants him to be chucked in with the lions. From my experience not all like him come out. I'm not able to help him now; he will be on his own for a while."

Mr Marino said he had written to the girl's family and apologised for his son's actions.

He agreed that his son's upbringing had been fraught.

"We all try to be good parents but we can't always be there with our children if they want to go off on their own."

For those who criticise our attitude towards gangs, this story gives an insight into why we abhor them so much. Raurangi Marino had gang DNA on both sides; Black Power from his mother and Mongrel Mob from his father. He has grown up amongst the worst excesses of gang behaviour; violence, alcohol and drug abuse and appalling behaviour towards women and girls. Is it any surprise that he committed the crime that he did?

We're not excusing Raurangi Marino's behaviour for one second, but it's pretty evident that he is the product of his environment. However pissed and stoned he may have been on that December night, he raped a five year old defenceless child for no reason whatsoever.

As we said in our post yesterday, Raurangi Marino was the one who got caught, but there are hundreds of ticking timebombs in our communities just waiting to explode like Marino did. Many of them too will have grown up around gangs, around parties, around drug and alcohol abuse and around violence.

Lavinia Wall and Mark Marino may have grudging admitted to their respective roles in raising New Zealand's most reviled sixteen year old. But it's far too little, and it's far too late.

We have to start nuturing our children, not beating them, and not exposing to dysfunction, violence and abuse; and it has to start right now. And we have to recognise that gangs are evil and serve no useful purpose in a civilised society; maybe it's time to consider legislation outlawing them. After all, should gang members have more rights than innocent five year old girls?

We support Paula Bennett's Green Paper on Child Abuse, but we need something far stronger and if necessary far more penal so that we stop churning out the likes of Raurangi Marino and his ilk.