Tagger has 'conquered this city'

BY ANTONIO BRADLEY

A "passionate" tagger who was busted defacing Upper Hutt District Court has apologised, but insists graffiti is art, and the justice system and the council could be doing more to curb youth offending.

Presley Rocky Ratima, 21, of Elderslea, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 40 hours' community work last Wednesday after court staff and cameras caught him tagging the front counter in April.

In court, Judge Pat Grace said "Quite frankly people are sick to death of guys like you who paint or carve into other people's property ... You wouldn't like it if somebody did that to you, would you?"

Ratima says the justice system should use teenage crime "for good".

Violent teenagers should be put in martial arts courses and councils should give taggers a venue or murals to express themselves.

"It is art. It's been recorded all the way through history ... like Alexander The Great ... People can identify where he's been by places he's conquered.

"That's what I'm trying to say: I've conquered this city. You'll see me in other cities too."

He would stop illegally tagging if the council gave him another avenue, he says.

"Even if it may take me from a spraypaint can to a brush it's all right because drawing is something that I'm passionate about."

Ratima says he has been tagging in Wellington for two years.

He moved to Upper Hutt from Napier to get away from rival gang members who had fractured his neck and literally stabbed him in the back, he says.

"I saw other opportunities out there besides crime, because that's what I was mostly into."

Because of his two-page conviction record, which features assaulting females and burglary, he has struggled to find work since completing a two-year food and beverage course at WelTec in February. But graffiti, as an art, will always be in demand, he says.

"Even the Nazis wanted art. That's why they stole heaps of them."

- Upper Hutt Leader