Heather du Plessis-Allan: It's time to punish protestors properly

Turns out, the person who painted over the rainbow crossing on Auckland's K road 3 weeks ago is related to Brian Tamaki by marriage - what a surprise.

He is married to Brian Tamaki’s granddaughter and is the father of, I think four, of Tamaki's great-grand kids. The reason I'm not surprised is - of course Destiny Church was doing this with the rainbow crossings in Gisborne earlier.

Anyway, today he appeared in court and pleaded guilty - and was convicted, discharged and fined $16,000.

Now as far as I can tell,  this is the toughest sentence given in recent times to a protestor who caused damage, but is it really tough?

David Farrar: A 77% sentence discount

Stuff reports:

A teenager who raped a woman he had never met at knifepoint in Albert Park has been sentenced to two years and two months in jail.

The now-18 year-old appeared at the Auckland District Court on Friday having earlier pleaded guilty to charges of rape, threatening to kill and two charges of aggravated robbery.