The charges were later dismissed by the Taupo District Court, Judge McGuire saying: 'the result however, is that I am left uneasy over whether police prosecutorial power was used wisely and fairly in this instance.'. During the alleged incident, he was stopped and then took off, after a pursuit he allegedly swung a policewoman around by the handcuffs as she was attempting to restrain him. He was also allegedly abusive and very uncooperative. Duff pled not guilty to failing to remain at a scene after being stopped, failing to stop for police and two charges of resisting police. On 30 March 2008 he appeared in the Taupo District Court at a defended hearing and was represented by prominent barrister Antony Shaw. In September 2007 he was arrested while speeding near Taupo. While in England, Duff had a partner, Paula and daughter, Katea. However, he then again migrated to a criminal life, and in 1979 was sentenced to 19 months in jail. While there he initially worked as an installer of sheet metal insulation, then as a barman & bar manager. In the late 1970s, Duff lived in England.

He had a partner, with whom he had two children.

Later he lived with another uncle, anthropologist Roger Duff, and went back to school at Christchurch Boys' High School.Īt 15 he was sentenced to a term in Waikeria Borstal for assault and breaking and entering.Īfter leaving school, Duff worked as an installer of sheet metal insulation and sang in a band. Many of these experiences informed his writing of his novel Once Were Warriors.ĭuff was expelled from his school Rotorua Boys' High School and ran away from home, ending up as a State ward at Hamilton Boys’ Home. He wrote at some length about his troubled childhood in his 1999 memoir, Out of the Mist and the Steam. ĭuff's parents separated when he was 10, and Duff moved in with a Māori uncle and aunt at Whakarewarewa. Oliver Duff (1883–1967) was a writer and foundation editor of the New Zealand Listener, and Duff inherited his grandfather's love of literature. He was born and raised in a State housing area in Rotorua, New Zealand. Alan Duff was born in Rotorua, the son of forestry scientist Gowan Duff (1910–1995), known as Pat, and Hinau Josephine Duff (née Raimona), known as Kuia, of Ngāti Rangitihi and Ngāti Tūwharetoa descent, and grandson of writer Oliver Duff.

Out of the Mist and Steam by Alan Duff