Two a penny

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Funny Cats Video Compilation

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Fat Cat Shows Printer Who’s Boss

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Funny Animals Super Compilation

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Court rules beating footage should be seen

Monday, 29 September 2008

The Auckland High Court has ordered that a videotape of a prisoner being beaten and pepper-sprayed in a police cell should be seen by the public.
More than eight hours of footage was filmed at the Whakatane police station where Rawiri Falwasser, 20, was badly injured while in custody on Labour Day in 2006.
The policemen convinced the trial judge to prevent television stations from showing those images to the public.
In June the closed-circuit television tapes of the incident were played to a Tauranga District Court jury that acquitted Sergeant Keith Parsons, 51, Sergeant Earle Busby, 46, Senior Constable Bruce Laing, 53, and Constable John Mills, 39, of nine charges of assaulting Mr Falwasser.
Both broadcasters showed footage from the tapes today and TV3 reported that the High Court decreed the trial decision not to release the tapes was "wrong in every way".
TVNZ and TV3 sought the release of the tapes because not releasing the them would "inevitably lead to a view that the jury got it wrong and lead to public questioning of the verdict".
He is bashed in the head with a baton, leaving him bleeding.
It said the perspex walls of Mr Falwasser's cell at the Whakatane police station gave a clear view of what happened to him.
The tape also shows Mr Falwasser being sprayed repeatedly with pepper spray through vents in the cell, at one point he tries to block the vents with clothing and at another he drops to the ground.
Police said they were using reasonable force, Mr Falwasser said he feared for his life.
But Police Association president Greg O'Connor said the public would only get half the story.
M r Falwasser's mother said despite the verdict she was pleased the tape had finally been made public.
Mr O'Connor said the release would result in trial by media.
"The problem is there's no sound on the tape so the public will not hear the entreaties, they will not be told that Mr Falwasser's brother, that a medical professional, that a mental health professional, had attempted to obtain his co-operation before this happened," Mr O'Connor said. However, seen segmented and edited it will be the enemy, not only of the officers but of police and the justice system in New Zealand.
"These officers thought the video was their friend in this situation, and it was — when seen in its entirety.
Crown prosecutor Fletcher Pilditch earlier told the court the public interest in the case was wider than just the verdict: "It related to how a person was treated in custody."
But the High Court today ruled the reputation and rights of police officers were outweighed by the public's right to see the evidence that led a jury to acquit them."

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Unfaithful wife torched family home

Monday, 29 September 2008

Supplied
RUINED DREAMS: The remains of Joseph Gray’s Dannevirke house; his wife burned down their house in a botched insurance fraud attempt.

A navy policeman who retired to became a small-town volunteer firefighter has been left single and broke after his wife burned down their house in a botched insurance fraud attempt.
Blinded by love, Mr Gray stuck by his wife till the final insult was revealed at her arson trial.
Racheal Losanna Gray, 34, also ripped off the Dannevirke fire brigade of which her husband, Joseph, had become the treasurer. He has now filed for divorce. Evidence emerged that she was having an affair – with one of his best mates, a fellow firefighter.
She was jailed on Friday for 2 1/2 years for arson and fraud.
"I must have been like an owl that had just been hit by headlights," he said. Instead they became the talk of the town.
The couple moved from Auckland to Dannevirke with their children in October 2004, seeking the quiet life. An emergency meeting of the brigade was called and Mr Gray confessed his wife's thieving.
Racheal Gray stole $3000 from the brigade to pay debts.
He resigned as treasurer and eventually quit the brigade.
"The guys were really supportive, but at the end of the day they had been ripped off and the community had been ripped off," he said. Racheal Gray was arrested for arson. Then on November 6, 2006, the house – bought with his superannuation payout – was set ablaze. No one expected it to be a wife.
Her husband said: "There's always a joke in every fire brigade that there's an arsonist.
"I guess deep down you don't want to believe your wife burned your house and could do that to you and your kids."
But she denied it and he stood by her, though doubts had crept in. They have moved back to Auckland and Mr Gray is once more a navy policeman."
They lost everything – home, insurance, financial security – and the children, 11 and 8, were teased at school.
At her sentencing in Palmerston North District Court, the prosecution said lie upon lie steamrolled, culminating in the arson.
In May, Racheal Gray was found guilty of arson and pleaded guilty to two fraud charges, after she used forged documents to apply for a $1500 bank overdraft.
Outside court, Mr Gray said he did not hate her, but hated what she had done.
Outside court, Mr Gray said he did not hate her, but hated what she had done. He was still unsure whether the arson was for the insurance, as a result of her affair ending, or to get sympathy from people to whom she owed money.
Of the 2 1/2-year sentence, he said: "For the kids' sake, yeah that's long enough away from them, but personally if they had thrown away the key it wouldn't have worried me."
He still had no clue what she spent the money on.
It was her first prison sentence, though she was convicted of five fraud charges in 2006 – including ripping off the fire brigade and conning locals out of cash for promised trips to Bathurst.
Mr Gray said her talents were wasted as she was creative on the computer. "She would be a very, very good fraud investigator. She's a wasted brain."
Dannevirke fire chief Mike Finucane said the brigade's money had been repaid and firefighters were happy the matter was over. "It was a sorry state of affairs."

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Parents feared ‘baby girl’ was dead

Families united in their pain

– Sunday, 28 September 2008

The parents of the woman police claim was the target of a fatal stabbing have told how they were terrified their "baby girl" had been murdered.
Devonport father of three Austin Hemmings, 45, was stabbed to death in Auckland's CBD on Thursday evening after attempting to fend off a man who was allegedly attacking a female relative.
The accused made a brief court appearance, charged with one count of male assaults female but police said more serious charges were imminent.
As Austin attempted to call police from his cellphone he was stabbed in the chest, allegedly by a man who was located the following morning at a south Auckland flat.
But yesterday her parents spoke of hearing about the Mills Lane tragedy the street where their daughter worked and "immediately" thinking she was the slain victim.
The 25-year-old woman Austin tried to help was last night in hiding with a close friend.
"I was just so shocked, so upset.
"I thought `that is my baby girl, my little girl is dead'," the mother told from her west Auckland, home.
The woman's parents had been praying since Austin's death. How could this have happened?"
The mother said the arrested man was a distant relative. He saved my daughter's life.
"We are spending much time thinking about Austin.
"My girl is the person who always helps everyone else, so to see other people coming for her rescue is just amazing. How can I ever repay that kindness," the father told .
The head of the police homicide inquiry last night confirmed the fears of the woman's family."
The Western Samoan parents said they haven't spoken to their daughter whose name is suppressed but planned to attend church as a family tomorrow.
Asked if the accused had been in a relationship with the woman, Whitley responded: "I can't make any comment about that.
"He has gone there specifically to see her," Detective Senior Sergeant Gerry Whitley said."
has learned armed police guarded the home of the woman until the accused had been apprehended.
"I would like to but that is a purely operational matter.
Meanwhile, members of Grey Lynn Samoan Methodist Church which the woman's family have attended since she was born will this morning meet and pray for Austin's family.
"We didn't want another fatality on our hands," said one police source.
He would offer to participate in Austin's funeral service.
Reverend Ioane Tuupo said the congregation had been severely affected by the tragedy but their faith in God would help them get through.
"It is not a nice feeling knowing that a member of your church could have died," Tuupo said.
"It is not a nice feeling knowing that a member of your church could have died," Tuupo said.
"She is a very courageous, supportive and helpful young lady. I rely on her in this church."
The deeply religious woman says on her social networking page that "too many" people "go around not knowing" or being "scared" of the "unknown".
Nalesoni Tupou, one of the lawyers representing the accused, last night attacked media coverage of the incident, saying he was "greatly concerned" by the public sympathy for Austin.
"I respect the loss of the father but with all the emotions running like this you have to wonder how we will get a fair trial."
Tupou had not yet discussed with his client the events of Thursday but said he was "pleased to be in custody".
Meanwhile, Austin's family wife of 25 years, Jenny, daughters Meghann, 19, and Jessica, 17, and son Gareth, 16 said they planned to scatter his ashes in Israel.
"He wanted to go to Israel," said Jenny, an art teacher at Takapuna Grammar. "He just wanted to see where a lot of the Bible happened walk where Jesus walked. So what we're going to do, he's going to be cremated and we're going to do that trip for him."
Jenny said she hoped her husband's death would inspire more people to find God.
"I want everyone to be talking about Austin … We have got too much violence in our society. The only way to change that is to change what's in our hearts.
"One of the greatest wishes in Austin's life was that people come to know God. And he had to die to get his message to the nation."
Austin's funeral will be held at Holy Trinity Church, Devonport, on Wednesday at 1.30pm.

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Orca saved after beaching in Papamoa (+pics)

Sunday, 28 September 2008

Photo 5 of 5

An orca whale that stranded on Papamoa Beach early yesterday morning was refloated after a massive rescue attempt by locals and marine experts.
The adult male whale – nicknamed Nobby – was last seen swimming towards Taumaihi Island, apparently none the worse for his 10-hour ordeal.
Nobby was spotted by fishermen shortly before 6am yesterday.
"I was in the water with him and he was swimming especially strongly," said orca expert Dr Ingrid Visser, who jumped into a surf boat and followed Nobby for about 15 minutes as he made his way out to sea. A digger was used to remove sand from around the whale, while volunteers poured water on him and gave him fresh water. A team of people, including Visser, Project Jonah and Department of Conservation staff, spent the morning trying to refloat him.
Visser said Nobby, who is well-known among New Zealand marine experts, was probably chasing a stingray in shallow waters when he became stranded. More than a thousand people flocked to Papamoa Beach to watch the rescue mission unfold. Once we managed to get him turned around and pointed out to the ocean he was very keen to swim away.
"He was probably so focused on the ray that he just made a mistake.
"We can follow him that way and see where he goes."
Visser is keen to keep track of Nobby and is urging anyone who spots a whale to ring 0800 SEE ORCA."

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Bashing can’t stop graffiti-buster

By KRISTIAN SOUTH – Sunday, 28 September 2008

A grafitti remover brutally bashed while painting over a tag earlier this month is back on the streets and determined to keep them clean.
Dave Campbell was hospitalised earlier this month after a thug smacked him over the head with a plank of wood, resulting in severe concussion.
"It was about 9am and I was on my knees crouched over, cleaning up some graffiti when a guy came up behind me and said , `You're wasting your time'," Dave said.
The 36-year-old was cleaning tags off the side of a central Wellington building on September 8 when he was clobbered by the unknown attacker.
"He must have smacked me over the side of the head with a plank of wood.
"The next thing I knew I was lying on the ground with a wound to my head. All I heard was him telling me I was wasting my time. I never even saw what he looked like.
"I was off work for about a week and a half with concussion," he said."
Dave was rushed to Wellington Hospital where he was treated and released several hours later.
"It just goes to show the mentality of these guys attacking someone at 9am on a Monday. "I still can't believe it happened.
Along with his graffiti-busting partner Ben O'Neill, he removes thousands of dollars worth of damage caused by tagging each week."
Dave works for Graffiti Removal Specialists, which cleans tagging from private, commercial and public property from Wellington to Palmerston North and the Wairarapa.
"A lot of it is a tag of pride for these guys and they're becoming a lot more aggressive about their work," he said.
Ben said the beating taken by his colleague demonstrated the territorial nature of the taggers."
Last week, Dave and Ben were called out to remove offensive graffiti on the Miramar Community Council's playground and art centre.
"They certainly don't take kindly to people like us removing their hard work. "They don't care about what they're doing or who they're offending and some of it is just sickening.
"They'd written across the windows, walls and even drew (male genitalia) on the children's play areas and wrote `f*** the police' in the area where they come to play," Ben said.
"We've cleaned up graffiti on places where they would have had to have hung a guy upside down off a bridge for him to be able to spray it," he said."
Dave said taggers were getting more creative to ensure their work stayed in place longer."
Churches were the worst-hit buildings.
"Things like that obviously makes it a lot harder for us to clean it up.
"But the most sickening thing is when they decide to tag a cemetery.
"But the most sickening thing is when they decide to tag a cemetery.
"I mean, what sort of person draws swastikas and penises on gravestones?
"I think a lot of it is being offensive just for the sake of being offensive."
Ben said tagging was a real problem in most neighbourhoods throughout New Zealand and one that needed to be urgently addressed.
"These guys seem to think that they're above the law and that they can do anything they want," he said.
"There needs to be a hard line put on these guys. They should be made to pay the consequence for what they're doing. If it's offensive … then the penalty should be more severe."
TAG ALERT: If you see a tagger in action, phone 111 immediately. Report all tagging to police. Take photos of tags to help police build a database.

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Playing with fire and sprinklers

Friday, 26 September 2008

ROSS GIBLIN/
HOT STUFF: Edward Chan, the owner of a Johnsonville house, and Ruban Young, 3, survey their handiwork. They deliberately set a fire in the house to demonstrate the value of home sprinklers.
The Clifford Rd property was set alight yesterday as part of a controlled fire to demonstrate the effectiveness of home sprinklers, after the fire service fitted one room with sprinklers and left one without.

Johnsonville is burning

Edward Chan was all smiles after he and three-year-old Ruban Young deliberately torched a Johnsonville house while firefighters watched.
Ruban was also in the room, which he said was hot and smoky.
Mr Chan donated the house to the fire service for training use and was inside the room fitted with sprinklers when the fire was lit."
Fire service engineer James Firestone said things had not gone entirely to plan – the sprinkler system activate, but failed to extinguish the first fire completely. "But then it rained inside.
Firefighters had to put the fire out manually. However, it did prevent the fire from spreading around the room.
The second fire, started in a room that was not fitted with sprinklers, took longer to take hold but was fully alight within five minutes.
"The sprinkler system did its job, protecting the house from the risk of the fire destroying it and keeping the means of escape clear," Mr Firestone said.
It eventually reached "flashover" – when the fire hits 600 degrees celsius – and Mr Firestone told the crowd that had gathered to watch that anyone who was still inside the house at this stage would be dead.
As the room's windows blew out, thick smoke bellowed out and flames licked the top of the house and set fire to an overhanging tree.
Mr Chan said the site used for yesterday's exercise would be used to build apartments.
He said New Zealand had about 4000 house fires every year, resulting in about $126 million in damage to property.

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Wellington buses back in action tomorrow

Thursday, 25 September 2008

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MARKING TIME: Commuters waiting in vain.

Bus strike causes chaos

Wellington's buses will resume service tomorrow morning after a last-minute deal saw Go Wellington lift its lock-out notice.
But the bus company and the Wellington Tramways Union will return to the negotiating table tomorrow, and buses will start again from 5.
Go Wellington's 222 buses were off the roads today, after the company locked out its 311 drivers in response to the hour-long strike during yesterday's morning rush hour.
Earlier today, Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce waded into the pay dispute, urging the two parties to resolve the issue for the good of the city.30am.
"The cost of this dispute is being felt more widely than the two parties concerned.
"This industrial action has caused considerable disruption to commerce in the city with employees arriving late for work and increased congestion reducing the efficiency of the transport network," chamber chief executive Charles Finny said today."
Mr Finny said the dispute had come at a bad time as Wellington was about to play host to visitors coming to see the World of WearableArt show.
"The loss of productivity and the damage to Wellington's reputation as a smoothly running city will impact on us all.
"Disruption would have been minimised had it occurred just a week later in the school holidays.
"It is also unfortunate that Nick Kelly and his Tramway's Workers Union have chosen to launch their industrial action during term time."
He added the dispute also sent a negative message to new commuters who had recently decided to give public transport a go because of high fuel prices. The targeting of school children as they are preparing for their end of year exams is a particularly low blow.
Police earlier warned motorists of heavy traffic in and around downtown Wellington.
"We urge both parties to come together and resolve this dispute for the good of the city as a whole," Mr Finny said.
Perhaps buoyed by fine weather, most commuters resorted to walking, cycling or car-pooling into work, and while traffic volumes were higher than normal the feared gridlock failed to eventuate.
However, the morning rush hour passed with few problems.
Tensions mounted between the two sides yesterday, with drivers planning to picket at the Kilbirnie depot and the company saying it had presented its final offer.
"We heard through the grapevine that there were a lot of people walking and cycling," said Sergeant Andy Dow of Wellington Police.
"If they've got an improved offer they can bring it to the picket line," Wellington Tramways Union secretary Kevin O'Sullivan said.
Wellington Tramways Union bosses refused to negotiate with the company unless its pay demands were met, and Go Wellington management said the situation would continue unless the union returned to the negotiating table.
Civic leaders urged people to adopt their "plan B" and walk, cycle or car pool into work.
More than 45,000 trips are made on Go Wellington buses every weekday, and there were fears that passengers would turn to their cars, creating gridlock and overwhelming city parking capacity.
Wellington City Council and Greater Wellington regional council said last night that they were examining at incident plans in case the dispute stretched into next week, including creating temporary parking on the outskirts of the city and organising shuttle services.
Wellington City Council and Greater Wellington regional council said last night that they were examining at incident plans in case the dispute stretched into next week, including creating temporary parking on the outskirts of the city and organising shuttle services.
Yesterday's strike led to frustrated commuters arriving at work late and others waiting at packed bus stops for up to 90 minutes.
"I was two hours late," said Stephanie Speirs, who waited for an Island Bay bus that never came. "And tomorrow I'll have to get up an hour-and-a-half early and drive myself to work, just so I can get a park and arrive at work on time. I'm quite annoyed."
NZ Bus chief executive Bruce Emson said he was optimistic a solution could be found today, but the company was firm in its final offer. "This isn't something we've got the deepest pockets on."
Acting Mayor Ian McKinnon said the issue was worrying for the 50,000 people who use public transport every day.
And the city was about to be inundated with visitors arriving for the World of WearableArt Awards set to begin tonight, he said.
THE OFFER
Seven per cent pay increase in the first year, 3.25 per cent for the following 10 months, and a gross cash payment of $250. The average wage for a Go Wellington driver working an average 43-hour week is $40,564. The seven per cent increase would take it to $43,403. The highest-paid Go Wellington driver is on $65,000.
THE DEMAND
Wellington Tramways Union wants an 8.6 per cent wage increase. It says this would bring wages into line with where they were before controversial roster changes in early 2007 that saw hours cut and less overtime offered. The union claims real incomes of its members have fallen by up to 19 per cent since then.
– with