Joseph Matamata, aka Viliamu Samu, is on trial in the High Court in Napier. (File photo)

A Samoan chief facing charges of slavery and human trafficking has told a jury he is all about love, not money.

Joseph Matamata spent a second day on the stand on Monday, the start of the fifth week of his trial at the High Court in Napier.

The 65-year-old matai, or chief, faces 11 charges of trafficking people and 13 charges of dealing in slaves.

ROSA WOODS/STUFF The trial is before Justice Helen Cull in the High Court at Napier. (File photo)

The alleged offending occurred in Hastings between late 1994 and April last year and involved 13 victims.

READ MORE:

* Witnesses were lying says Samoan chief accused of dealing in slaves

* Samoan teens allegedly kept as slaves by Hastings chief

* Slavery trial: 12-year-old hit with secateurs, High Court told

* Samoan chief accused of dealing in slaves abused, hit and threatened workers

* Suspected slave boss denies charges

* Suspected slave boss arrested

Stuff The trial, at the High Court in Napier, is now at the start of its fifth week. (File photo)

Matamata said he couldn't believe the allegations he had heard made against him in court. He said he never assaulted anyone as described by the complainants, and if he had struck a man with a hammer as claimed "he'd be dead by now".

He said one of the complainants had raped a woman at his house, others only wanted to watch TV, or cause trouble and smoke dope.

He said he brought the people to New Zealand because he wanted to help them, not to make them work for him.

"I love people. I love my family. Whoever needs help I help. But in the end it's very painful.

"I am a matai. I help people. To me money's not important," he said.

"People, when you don't do them a favour, they hate you," he said when asked why the complainants would have given evidence against him.

Joseph Matamata appears at the High Court in Napier last year. (File photo)

Asked why the money earned by the complainants was paid into his own bank account, Matamata said the household was run as "a family unit" and everything everyone earned was used to pay for all bills etc.

He admitted throwing a plastic bottle of tomato sauce at one complainant, and slapping another, but denied hitting them with a piece of firewood or secateurs.

Crown prosecutor Clayton Walker asked Matamata why he would have paid $2000 for return tickets for two teens on visitors' visas when that much money could have been of immense benefit to their families in Samoa.

Matamata said it was because that was what he had been asked to do and "I'm just doing it for my love".

Asked why he didn't ensure the teens returned home when their one-month visitor visas expired, Matamata said he didn't feel he could force them to go.

"They are teenagers and you are the matai," Walker said, before asking Matamata how he felt about paying for return flights that were not used.

"Money's not important to me to be honest," Matamata said.

The Crown alleges Matamata brought Samoan citizens into New Zealand, mostly illegally, with the expectation from them that they would earn big money by Samoan standards

But once here, they were exploited by Matamata for his financial gain. He would take workers to orchards or work sites and receive "bags of cash" as payment for their work but would never pass it on to them.

The trial before Justice Helen Cull, has seen evidence from numerous victims.

These include:

* A woman, who was 15 at the time, described being beaten by Matamata and thrown into a car and driven from Auckland to Hastings with her hands and feet tied.

* A 54-year-old Samoan man who worked for Matamata for 17 months without being paid. He worked long days six to seven days a week in the horticultural industry. The man spent nearly the full 17 months at work or behind a padlocked perimeter fence at Matata's Hastings address. He was not allowed out without permission and was not allowed to talk to others. When not working he had to do chores for Matamata.

* A teenager who described working until 11pm with head torches and being beaten with a stick by Matamata if he worked too slowly. His 12-year-old cousin was once hit so hard with a pair of secateurs they got lodged in his upper arm, he told the court.

* A woman who said Matamata threatened to kill her teenaged nephew after he escaped Matamata's house in 1996.

Each slavery charge carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison while the human trafficking charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison or a $500,000 fine.﻿