Moeaia Tuai in court on Thursday. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Immigration New Zealand says the 'disturbing' case of two young people kept as slaves shows how extreme exploitation can be hidden in plain sight.
Moeaia Tuai was on Thursday jailed for 16 years and four months for the slavery, rapes and numerous other sexual assaults he committed.
Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith voiced concerns about how widespread slavery was in New Zealand, including cases where youths could be brought here 'essentially to work as domestic help or in jobs to support the family'.
INZ compliance and investigations manager Steve Watson said slavery was among the most serious crimes in New Zealand.
"It was a very disturbing case, and the victims did not deserve to be treated in that way," he said. "It's a very, very good sentence, and sends a very clear message that this type of slavery and exploitation won't be tolerated. It shows that we as a country won't tolerate it, and that it is one of the worst offences on the statute book. And [the sentence] should serve as a deterrent to others."
INZ provided significant support to the police and the prosecution, he said, and he urged others to report offending they witness.
Moeaia Tuai in court at his sentencing on Thursday. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Timeline of a slavemaster
"Slavery and other forms of exploitation, they are serious crimes and they're often hidden in plain sight," Watson said.
"So addressing serious exploitation is a priority for the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, right from policy settings through to our operational arms. MBIE and Immigration New Zealand will continue to prosecute people where we find evidence of this sort of behaviour."
Former trafficking victims have expressed concerns about how much is being done to improve the detection of slavery and prosecute it.
"There have been few cases involving slavery in New Zealand to date," said Wilkinson-Smith, noting the only previous major prosecution was that of Joseph Matamata in 2020.
The prosecutor in the current case noted that the female complainant had been held as a slave for even longer than Matamata's male victims.
It was no mitigation that vulnerable victims would accept slavery as being better than a return to extreme poverty, the judge told Tuai.
She said the rapes, other violations and indecent assaults added another level of gravity to Tuai's enslavement and theft of the young woman's income.
"She was in a very real sense your slave. She did the work and you got the benefit."
- 2003 - 2004 - Tuai and his wife emigrated to New Zealand, he worked as a prison officer for Corrections.
- 2017 - Tuai brought two young people to New Zealand and put the older male one to work at a boarding house belonging to his wife Senia Tuai's sister.
- 2020 - The older victim, by now brought to work in Australia and joined by Tuai, ran away.
- 2021 - The younger female complainant, brought back to NZ, worked seven days a week for two months in laundromats.
- 2022 - 2024 - She continued to work, with an estimated $78,000 of her wages going to Tuai.
- 2024 - She ran away and alerted police to the rapes.
- 2024 - 2025 - Police and MBIE investigation into the slavery offending.
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