Pounamu Decision
Media Release 22 October 2009
- Court of Appeal - Judgement of the Court - 22 October 2009 [PDF 1MB]
24 October 2007
Pounamu Verdict
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu is satisfied with the outcome of the trial of David and Morgan Saxton on theft of pounamu charges.
We are pleased the criminal justice system has made a decision on this matter which upholds Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu ownership rights to pounamu previously claimed to be owned by the Crown. This decision also establishes that the wrongful taking of pounamu is theft and will be treated accordingly.
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu will continue its careful and focused approach to making pounamu available to the market in a way that maintains the mana of pounamu and the integrity of Ngāi Tahu ownership.
Our intention is to set up a system that will benefit Ngāi Tahu Whānui in their relationship to pounamu and close down a black market that has benefited only those few who act without respect for the pounamu resource. The system being developed with the Papatipu Rūnanga on Te Tai Poutini for the removal and marketing of pounamu will be controlled so that those purchasing pounamu either as carvers or end line purchasers can be assured of the integrity of the pounamu they obtain.
Our aim is to return the benefit of the pounamu resource to Ngāi Tahu Whānui who through the generations acted have as kaitiaki of this taonga – a role undertaken out of long held respect for the taonga itself, not exploitation for financial reward.
The judgement is available in three PDFs for viewing or downloading:
These documents are PDFs. You will require the free Adobe Acrobat reader to view them. 
- Part one [3.44MB]
- Part two [2.71MB]
- Part three [2.75MB]