{"id":32148,"date":"2025-09-19T21:28:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T21:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/32148\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T21:28:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T21:28:07","slug":"northland-leader-trying-to-clear-name-after-confusion-with-convicted-kidnapper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/32148\/","title":{"rendered":"Northland leader trying to clear name after confusion with convicted kidnapper"},"content":{"rendered":"

The younger man said he had not heard of his namesake until recently, but he suspected they could be distant relatives, in the way many Northlanders with the same surname are.<\/p>\n

He first found out about the convicted man when he was accused of being a criminal by people in authority, despite having a different date of birth and a different middle name.<\/p>\n

The situation was made worse by the fact that a Google search of the name \u201cMatenga Ashby\u201d prominently features a Northern Advocate article<\/a> of the older man\u2019s sentencing in 2011.<\/p>\n

Matenga Te Kaha Ashby said friends recently saw the article and asked if it was him, and he is not sure how many doors it may have closed.<\/p>\n

He fears his namesake could hold him back if people don\u2019t take the time to realise it is not him.<\/p>\n

\"ShyShy Matenga Te Kaha Ashby says he is an advocate against sexual violence, who promotes healthy homes and people’s rights. Photo \/ Denise Piper<\/p>\n

The shy and softly spoken young man is completely against the criminal activity his namesake was jailed for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want people to know that I\u2019m an advocate against sexual violence and harassment; an advocate for housing, healthy homes and healthy families; and an advocate for sovereignty and knowing your rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matenga Te Kaha Ashby has previously represented Te Tai Tokerau in rugby league and played a supporting role in the feature film Baby Done<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He is now passionate about improving the lives of both families and the Kaikohe township in general<\/a>.<\/p>\n

K\u0101ingahub has a focus on creating healthy homes and sustainable communities and hap\u016b, by building and connecting prefabricated homes.<\/p>\n

Matenga Te Kaha Ashby started it as a business called PreHomes, which won the Northland business ideas competition The Pick and a $1000 Impact Award<\/a> in 2022.<\/p>\n

He soon made the organisation a not-for-profit and changed the name at the same time.<\/p>\n

Matenga Te Kaha Ashby is also one of the directors of the Kaikohe Markets<\/a>, which have been so successful in running on Thursday nights, they are expanding to Saturdays as well.<\/p>\n

The markets were started around 10 years ago by Kaikohe pastor Michael Shaw<\/a> and, when Matenga Te Kaha Ashby came on board, he managed to negotiate a savings on the lease with the Far North District Council.<\/p>\n

Shaw said he has found Matenga Te Kaha Ashby to be full of integrity and courage, including challenging people when their behaviour at the markets was unacceptable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve found him to be quite an inspiring young man,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The markets sell arts and crafts, hot kai and produce, and encourage Kaikohe township to be sustainable by helping to launch local businesses.<\/p>\n

The Thursday-night markets have become so popular that they are now expanding to Saturday mornings, starting September 27.<\/p>\n

Shaw said the aim of scaling up the markets is to make Kaikohe a visitor attraction, particularly for visiting cruise ships.<\/p>\n

Matenga Te Kaha Ashby said he hoped everyone would come and support the expanding venture.<\/p>\n

Denise Piper is a news reporter<\/a> for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The younger man said he had not heard of his namesake until recently, but he suspected they could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,682,3470,30620,19061,5767,30616,26222,13489,13617,111,43,139,1067,69,30619,30618,4514,11590,30617,61,28355,102,4741],"class_list":["post-32148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-being","tag-clear","tag-confused","tag-confusion","tag-convicted","tag-kaikohe","tag-kidnapper","tag-leader","tag-name","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-repeatedly","tag-reputation","tag-same","tag-save","tag-striving","tag-to","tag-trying","tag-with","tag-young"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32148","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=32148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}