{"id":191388,"date":"2025-12-19T07:34:03","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T07:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/191388\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T07:34:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T07:34:03","slug":"auckland-man-convicted-over-red-paint-attacks-on-mps-electorate-offices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/191388\/","title":{"rendered":"Auckland man convicted over red paint attacks on MPs\u2019 electorate offices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Starting in 2023, Lynch helped his co-defendants, practising barrister Hannah Lucy Swedlund and flatmate Kieran Martin McLean orchestrate the attack.<\/p>\n

Swedlund<\/a> was convicted earlier this year. <\/p>\n

Lynch\u2019s lawyer, Ron Mansfield, KC, told the court his actions were a reflection of his deep belief in justice and frustration with the Government. <\/p>\n

He described Lynch as a \u201ccredit to our community\u201d. <\/p>\n

Judge Belinda Sellars, KC, said Lynch\u2019s \u201cpassion drove the offending\u201d. <\/p>\n

The trio involved in the blood-like attacks were part of the activist group T\u0101maki for Palestine. <\/p>\n

\"FakeFake blood or red paint splashed on Epsom office of National MPs Paul Goldsmith and Melissa Lee on November 23 by T\u0101maki for Palestine protesters.<\/p>\n

Vandalism spree<\/p>\n

The two-month vandalism spree began in November 2023 with the targeting of the United States Consulate and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade offices<\/a> in Auckland Central.<\/p>\n

\u201cCeasefire now\u201d and \u201cSave Gaza Free Palestine\u201d had also been stencilled on the buildings, along with the red paint that had been squirted from 2 litre bottles concealed under an overcoat.<\/p>\n

The following morning, a group calling itself T\u0101maki for Palestine issued a press release taking responsibility, explaining that the paint was intended to \u201cmake the blood on US and New Zealand officials\u2019 hands visible\u201d.<\/p>\n

At the time, it had been just one month and one week since the Hamas-backed raid on southern Israel in which 1219 people \u2013 the vast majority civilians \u2013 were killed and hundreds held hostage. Israel immediately responded with its ongoing military campaign in the densely populated Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

\"RedRed paint splashed on Northcote electorate office of National MP Dan Bidois. <\/p>\n

T\u0101maki for Palestine struck again just over a week after<\/a> the first incident, this time focusing on the Auckland offices of National\u2019s Luxon, Judith Collins, Simon Watts, Paul Goldsmith and Daniel Bidois, as well as a sign belonging to Act leader David Seymour.<\/p>\n

The final act of vandalism occurred two months later in January 2024, when Collins\u2019 Papakura office was hit again. <\/p>\n

The group showed off its illegal handiwork on Instagram.<\/p>\n

Sellars told the court a search warrant was executed at the Onehunga home of the three defendants on February 15 last year, and police found a trove of incriminating information, including data from Swedlund\u2019s phone. <\/p>\n

All three were found to have participated in a T\u0101maki for Palestine chat group on the encrypted messaging app Signal.<\/p>\n

The trio\u2019s messages included detailed planning for \u201chitting National offices\u201d, including how to conceal \u201cincriminating evidence\u201d and how each participant should disguise themselves with \u201canonymity materials\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sellars said police also found red paint at the home, including on Lynch\u2019s shoes, and homemade signs saying things such as \u201cf*** National\u201d, \u201cexpel the Israeli ambassador\u201d and \u201cno genocide on Palestine\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"RedRed paint or fake blood splashed on David Seymour’s Epsom electorate office by T\u0101maki for Palestine protesters.<\/p>\n

Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Starting in 2023, Lynch helped his co-defendants, practising barrister Hannah Lucy Swedlund and flatmate Kieran Martin McLean orchestrate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9092,5660,51,1558,5767,42678,48979,5158,17318,2510,111,43,139,69,33027,90,1523,8457,14786,25394,15406,41441,4758,29262,102,80],"class_list":["post-191388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-against","tag-attacks","tag-auckland","tag-been","tag-convicted","tag-electorate","tag-firmer","tag-man","tag-mps","tag-multiple","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-offices","tag-on","tag-over","tag-paint","tag-palestine","tag-protest","tag-red","tag-stance","tag-taking","tag-vandalised","tag-with","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}