Ford O’Connor pleads guilty, will pay $16k for damaging K Road overpass; Brian Tamaki supports him

An Auckland man married to the grandson of Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki has pleaded guilty to damaging a pedestrian crossing on Auckland’s Karangahape Road.

Ford O’Connor, 31, appeared in Auckland District Court this morning charged with willfully damaging a ferry on March 28.

He has agreed to pay $16,093 in costs to repair the ferry.

His lawyer, Steven Lack, said he will pay the amount in full within a month.

O’Connor was acquitted.

Community Judge Jan Holmes said she had taken into account O’Connor’s previous guilty plea, his high costs of restitution, and his clean record.

Lack had said that the conviction would have a big impact on the father of four, who was in full-time work.

Help from Brian Tamaki

Before O’Connor was brought to court, Tamaki held a press conference in front of about 40 people to offer her “unwavering support” for him.

Tamaki said; “Today I stand with a young man, who is accused of deliberately damaging the K Rd rainbow crossing… Mr O’Connor handed himself in to police last week and was not arrested.”

“As I have said before, Mr O’Connor made a political protest against the excessive rainbow washing that is happening all over New Zealand right now, at the expense of our taxpayers and ratepayers.

“This rainbow wash has gone too far. Excessive promotion and protection of this perversity is wrong.

“R18 plus content on sexuality education in our Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) curriculum in schools has not yet been removed despite election promises from parties such as New Zealand First.”

Tamaki also called for the removal of what he called “the branding and materials of the rainbow movement…trying to wash our children with rainbows”.

“We want the officials to return the money, and remove the queen’s story times from our schools and our libraries,” he said.

“Ban puberty blockers, remove the RSE curriculum from our schools, donate money to InsideOUT, an organization focused on our youth and rainbow kits.”

O’Connor gave a brief statement outside court: “I’m a father of four children so for me it was about defending them, making a stand to protect their innocence.”

Tamaki said his sentence was a “good result” and a “great judgement” by the court.

The head of Destiny Church also promised to continue to take action.

“Until officials recognize and stop this madness, we will continue to protest in many places, in many ways across this nation.”

A police statement after the incident on the night of March 28 said they were treating the vandalism as a “hate crime”.

Police said they are aware of the “pain and confusion” from the community over what happened and assured them they are committed to holding those responsible accountable.

“Police have zero tolerance for reports of this nature, which seem to be aimed squarely at a sector of our diverse community, and we are treating this as a hate crime,” Auckland City Central area commander Inspector Grant Tetzlaff said.

Tamaki initially said he did not know if his members were involved.

Early protests associated with the Church of Destiny

The vandalism at the Karangahape Rd crossing came days after members of the Church of Destiny painted over the rainbow crossing on Gisborne’s main road. The group was protesting a Rainbow Story Time event at the local library, where drag queens read stories to children.

The Gisborne ferry had been repainted, with police expected to charge members of the Church of Destiny for the work.

This prompted several protesters to return to the site, with Tamaki expressing his displeasure at the return of the rainbow.

Five protesters were arrested after attempts were made to paint ideology on the newly painted ferry.

Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick previously said it was important to “find out what drives a supposedly mature person to be so outraged by the rainbow flag”.

“The inspiration for this tragic and extraordinary waste of energy that saw someone paint our society’s simple rainbow symbol didn’t come out of nowhere.

“This anger and prejudice was not born on our shores, and it is not here.”

Swarbrick said he agreed with Auckland Pride’s call for a restorative approach to the person involved.

“I hope, eventually, the accused criminals and others who hold these views will realize that the rainbow society is actually very good.”

Police said the investigation is ongoing.

“The police also continue to request information from the public to identify three other people who are believed to be involved.

“At this stage, the vehicle of interest has also not yet been located and we are continuing to investigate.”

If you have information about the incident, contact the police by calling 105 or online at https://www.police.govt.nz/use-105, using Update My Report. Archive file number 240328/6111.

Information can also be given anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland reporter covering breaking news. He has worked for Herald since 2022.