MEDIA

First interview: Man kept as slave in NZ speaks out

RNZ tells the story of Junior, kept as a slave in Hawke’s Bay by the man convicted in New Zealand’s landmark trafficking case.

The story

Junior, a Samoan man, was recruited with promises of good wages and a better life. From his arrival in 2015 he worked fourteen hour days in orchards and vineyards without pay, was subjected to violent beatings, and was forbidden from leaving or communicating with others. His escape came only after police picked him up as an overstayer in early 2017.

The landmark case

That arrest triggered Operation Star, Immigration New Zealand’s largest investigation. In March 2020, Joseph Auga Matamata was convicted of enslaving 13 Samoan nationals and of ten counts of human trafficking spanning 25 years.

He was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $183,000 in reparations. His appeals to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court were dismissed.

Why it matters for Aotearoa

Junior’s case is the clearest public account of what slavery looks like inside New Zealand: hidden in ordinary workplaces, sustained by fear and immigration status, and uncovered only by chance.

It is the case that shaped how the country understands trafficking at home.