Getting the Crook out of Cook Islands
Cook Islands people are widely known for their warmth, hospitality and charm. Now a former expatriate resident has labeled Cook Islanders something completely new. “They’re bloody boring,” claimed convicted drug pusher Mark Lyon, a New Zealander, after a much-publicized trial in Auckland this week for weapons and ammunitions charges. The controversial millionaire lived in Rarotonga for a year and a 12-month extension to his Cook Islands residency permit by Prime Minister Robert Woonton stimulated widespread opposition from the local population.
It motivated the formation of the Concerned Citizens group which called for a revocation of Lyon’s permit, describing him as undesirable. The group said Lyon who was convicted last year for charges ranging from assault, drug exportation and possession, should never have been allowed in the Cook Islands. They alleged that while in Rarotonga, Lyon had been involved in improper sexual conduct and drug use. A protest march through the main town of Avarua saw local residents call for Lyon’s removal from the country.
Lyon returned to Auckland to face the weapons and ammunitions and was sentenced to 280 hours of community service and supervision. After the court case, the former methamphetamine addict said he wouldn’t be returning to the Cook Islands. That decision has been welcomed by the Concerned Citizens group with a spokesperson saying perhaps the country doesn’t have the kind of excitement that Lyon likes to be involved in – “but we like it that way.”
Spokesperson Elizabeth Ponga says Cook Islanders treasure the “peace and tranquility” of their country and if people try to destroy that, “we come up in arms and march against them.”
The action taken against Mark Lyon, a New Zealand property developer, by the Cook Islands people, has been unprecedented.
By Florence Syme-Buchanan
eTN Cook Islands
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February 17, 2004
Posted in: South Pacific