Two a penny

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Dame Kiri Te Kanawa breezed into Sydney and made two things clear. Don’t mention John Farnham, or retirement.

Ironically the two are scheduled to perform in Sydney tomorrow night; Dame Kiri at the Opera House and Farnham at the Star City Casino as he kicks off a 31-date farewell tour.

New Zealand’s world famous soprano, scheduled to sing in two concerts with the Sydney Symphony this week, wasn’t best pleased when the Aussie pop icon’s name was raised.48) million lawsuit by promoter Leading Edge Events in the New South Wales Supreme Court after she withdrew from three scheduled concerts with Farnham – because she was uncomfortable at the prospect of female fans throwing knickers at him.

Two years ago, Dame Kiri beat a A$2 (NZ$2.

“This is about music and that’s not.

“Can we just drop that subject, thank you,” Dame Kiri told The Australian newspaper.

“I was concerned about the knickers or underpants and underwear apparel being thrown at him and him collecting it and obviously holding it in his hands as some sort of trophy.”

Dame Kiri – whose company Mattase was ordered to pay $A128,000 to Leading Edge in expenses incurred – told the court in 2007 she withdrew after watching footage of Farnham’s previous concerts.

Dame Kiri, 65, was quoted by London’s Daily Telegraph last month as saying a concert in the German city of Cologne next April “will be my last”.”

Asked about the coincidence of the pair performing on the same night in the same city tomorrow, Dame Kiri said: “Good luck, can we move on?”

Meanwhile, British reports of her impending retirement were also given the short shrift.

But she told reporters in Sydney: “No, I have not announced it (retirement).

She cited an exhausting schedule and was quoted as saying opera was “mainly for young people”. I didn’t say a thing.

“The press might have announced it. I’m not retiring. I don’t know why they’re trying to retire me.

“You don’t retire. . But retiring means you don’t do it any more. You just move on to something else if you want.. I’m working morning, noon, and. I mean, I do 20 concerts a year, I do charity. I mean, I do 20 concerts a year, I do charity… how can I retire?”

She said the door was open to more operatic roles, beyond her performance in Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier in Cologne.

Dame Kiri said she was kept busy through her work developing young New Zealand opera talent.

She planned to bring three of her students from the Solti Academy and Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation to London to perform alongside her at the Tower of London in September.

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A seriously ill man accused of sending MP Sue Bradford death threats says his Twitter account was hacked and he never sent the MP threatening messages.

Henk van Helmond, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and a heart condition, says his life has been made “hell” since Ms Bradford told media outlets of death threats made against her on the internet. .

Mr van Helmond says his Twitter account was hacked and the message had been sent to Ms Bradford without his knowledge. I’m a pacifist, I don’t believe in violence, I have MS and a heart condidtion, why would I make a comment like that?”

Mr van Helmond says his account was “picked on” because he hosts website CYFSwatch and is “absolutely anti her bill.

“Someone got into my account and made these death threats, I know it wasn’t me.

“I apologised to her because it came from my account, even though I didn’t say it, I caused it to be said.”

He said he had already apologised to Mrs Bradford on the website and sent out a tweet explaining the situation.

“If Sue had allowed police to do their job, this whole thing could have been sorted out straight away and the media wouldn’t have been involved.”

Mr van Helmond said he had not been contacted by the police.”

Mr van Helmond says he has no idea who would hack into his account, but has changed his passwords to prevent it occuring again.

“Sue is too keen on publicity of any kind, she’s a media hound.

He said he had not received such threats himself but had been the recipient of obscene and threatening emails.

Kiwi Party leader and pro-smacking advocate Larry Baldock told Radio New Zealand earlier today he did “certainly not condone” the threats Ms Bradford had received.

KEY SLAMS THREAT

Prime Minister John Key today said there was “no place” for threats to politicians in New Zealand politics.

Ms Bradford said she had not spoken with police about the tweet from Mr van Helmond’s account and was unsure of further action.

“People write stupid comments on social networking sites, so I don’t know whether there’s anything really sinister behind it, but there’s no place for it in our political debate,” he told Newstalk ZB.

Mr Key said New Zealand prided itself on having “fierce debates”, but “we don’t resort to political assassination”.

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Survivors of rape and sexual abuse will find it difficult to access therapy if proposed changes to ACC’s sensitive claims unit come into effect next month, according to rape survivor Louise Nicholas.

Ms Nicholas, an advocate for rape prevention education, said she was shocked that ACC believed shorter term therapy was more beneficial for clients than longer term therapy.

She explained that currently, survivors had four sessions with a counsellor to discuss their abuse experiences before their claim was assessed for ongoing therapy.

“Many survivors, including myself, speak about the difficulty in being able to open up and talk about their experiences which needs to be at their own pace and with someone they trust which is vital in their healing process,” Ms Nicholas said.

Ms Nicholas said the new clinical pathway proposed to come into effect on September 14 would mean survivors having to tell their story three times to three different professionals. Survivors would often choose to have ongoing therapy with the counsellor with whom they had already built up a relationship. .

She said they could also be declined help at any stage in the process, and would also have to prove they had a mental injury which fits the criteria for a psychiatric problem.

After attending ACC’s draft clinical pathways provider workshop in Auckland earlier this month, Ms Nicholas said it was not about seeking better services for survivors, it was about cutting costs.

“Finding someone who they can trust to disclose to is often a major issue as there are many barriers that need to be dealt with before they even get to the stage of being able to talk about the actual abuse incident,” Ms Nicholas added.

“Rape and sexual abuse is a crime that is committed upon a person by another person deliberately causing harm.

“I viewed it as taking vital resources away from counsellors and specialist service providers and putting them into the costs of assessments by clinical psychologists.

She believed the effect of the new clinical pathway would be detrimental to not only survivors of rape and sexual abuse but also to agencies, mental health services and other specialist service providers who would have to take on many more survivors who may be declined for subsidised counselling through ACC. It is not like a self-inflicted recreational or sporting injury,” Ms Nicholas said.

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“These agencies are also likely to be weighed down by the extra workloads that will inevitably see even more specialist services crumble under the weight of inadequate funding and resources,” Ms Nicholas said

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Two teenagers have pleaded guilty to bashing to death a New Zealand man at a Sydney sporting oval.

The offenders, who were 16 at the time of the man’s death in 2007, were originally charged with murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in the NSW Supreme Court.

A court had previously been told Christopher Leichester, 20, was on his way to a party in Woolooware in Sydney’s south on November 24, 2007.

According to a police statement of facts, Mr Leichester suffered a severed artery between his brain and central nervous system.

As the New Zealander crossed an oval he was set upon by a group of teenage boys who punched him to the ground and kicked him several times in the head.

Court documents revealed the attack appeared to have occurred because the teenagers mistakenly believed Mr Leichester had abused them a short time earlier. .

But a witness told police it was two other men who chased and hurled abuse at the teenagers’ car.

– AAP

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Both youths remain in custody

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The death of a forestry worker in the Waikato tonight is the second workplace death in the area in 24 hours, police say.

Te Kuiti sub-area manager Senior Sergeant Rob Van Kalken said police and ambulance staff were making their way to a remote location in the Rangitoto Ranges, east of Te Kuiti, after reports of a forestry worker being killed about 5pm.Mr Van Kalken said police hoped once preliminary investigations were completed the body could be taken back to Te Kuiti and identified.There was little radio and cellphone coverage in the area and police were attempting to establish what had happened.A contractor working on a sewage line replacement was killed about 24 hours earlier after the trench he was working in collapsed.The dead worker’s name would not be released until next-of-kin had been notified. .Piopio father of three Mark Williams, 43, was digging a trench with colleagues on Williams Street, Te Kuiti, when the trench suddenly collapsed, burying him chest-deep in dirt about 5pm.Mr Van Kalken urged workers in the area to ensure their safety while working.Department of Labour inspectors were at the trench site today carrying out an investigation.”Obviously these incidents are unrelated, however we don’t want to be facing any similar tragedies and we’re asking people to ensure safety is their number one priority.”

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A juror in the trial of Clayton Weatherston has been rushed to hospital, bringing a halt to proceedings this afternoon.

Justice Potter has adjourned the High Court in Christchurch after the juror was taken away by paramedics at about midday.

The judge told the jury she would get updates on the juror’s condition this afternoon and make decisions on the continuation of the trial in consultation with Crown and defence counsel.

The juror collapsed in the jury room at the morning adjournment.

Earlier a former girlfriend of Weatherston gave a tearful account of a letter she sent to him in prison, urging him to stay resilient.

The trial was adjourned until tomorrow morning.

She said that when she wrote the letter she “did not realise the extent of what he [Weatherston] had done”.

The woman, whose name is suppressed, broke down as she read the letter to the jury in the Christchurch High Court earlier today.

Weatherston admits the manslaughter of Elliott but denies her murder, saying he was provoked.

Weatherston, 33, allegedly murdered of his ex-girlfriend, Sophie Elliott, 22, by stabbing her more than 200 times at her Dunedin home on January 9 last year. .

The court has heard the letter from her said: “Dig deep, find those coping skills… Don’t over-analyze, that’s a strict order, okay. . .

“You have lots of people rooting for you out here…

“I understand you are being sent socks, it will be a turn-up for the books if you wear them. I’m worried about you but know that you will be fine. … I will send you letters, you should write back to me.

“Anyway, everyone … says hi and sends you a hug.

“You know that resilience is a wonderful thing.

“You know that resilience is a wonderful thing.”

The woman said that after she sent the letter, she did not go and see Weatherston in prison.

“I was in shock, I was coping as well as I could at the time,” she said.

“Up until then, I thought maybe a mistake had been made, as people do when they are in shock.

“When I found out what had gone on, I couldn’t believe it.”

She said she would not have written what she had once she found out what Weatherston had done.

The court also heard the full transcript of Weatherton wrote back in reply.

His letter said:

“I have been better and have also been thinking about you. This is a rough ride and it’s not looking like getting any easier. I am in a cell (3.5 x 2.5m) most of the day, getting some time for a shower and outside in a small yard.

“The food is pretty good! Knowing I have your support is crucial to me. I am so sorry for not seeing how great you truly are. I will see you and Mum and Dad et al. soon as possible.

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The former nanny of Michael Jackson’s three children said she regularly had to pump his stomach to remove cocktails of painkillers, British newspapers reported today.

Grace Rwaramba, who was abruptly sacked by Jackson in December, also spoke of her fears for the future of the children following his death and has flown to Los Angeles from Europe hoping to be reunited with them.

The Jackson family are angry at the unanswered questions surrounding the star’s final hours, amid reports that the singer’s doctor Conrad Murray injected him with the painkiller Demerol shortly before his death.

Dr Murray “helped identify the circumstances around the death of the pop icon and clarified some inconsistencies,” spokeswoman Miranda Sevcik said Saturday in a statement.

But a spokeswoman for Murray said that after a three-hour interview with detectives the cardiologist, who was with Jackson when he collapsed, is “in no way a suspect”.”

In comments reported by The Sunday Times Rwaramba, 42, said that the star was addicted to narcotic painkillers.

“Investigators say the doctor is in no way a suspect and remains a witness to this tragedy.

“I had to pump his stomach many times.

“There was one period that it was so bad that I didn’t let the children see him. He always mixed so much of it…”

She said she once appealed to Jackson’s mother, Katherine, and sister, Janet, to intervene and persuade him to seek treatment for his addiction, but Michael turned on her and accused her of betrayal. He always ate too little and mixed too much.

“He didn’t want to listen; that was one of the times he let me go,” she said. .

Tabloid newspaper News of the World – which is owned by the same company as The Sunday Times – said she had screamed with shock when she heard of the star’s death, while she was at the Swiss home of TV interviewer Daphne Barak.

She was finally dismissed in December last year, but claims she returned several times to see the children, making her most recent trip in April.

“I’m really distraught for them.

Rwaramba told Barak in an interview quoted by the tabloid that her first thought was for the children.

“Now the youngest has been saying, ‘Why Daddy? God should have taken me not him. Michael hadn’t been eating and the kids have been so scared for him.’

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A morbidly obese fraudster who argues he needs specialised medical treatment that can’t be provided in prison has lost his bid to be freed while he awaits further court action.

Max Heslehurst, who has been reported as weighing close toly 200kg, was earlier this year found guilty on 41 counts of fraud and sentenced to three years and nine months in prison a term partly reduced as a result of his obesity-related health problems.

But Heslehurst widely known as Mad Max or Fat Max has appealed the convictions, saying a note outlining one or more of his previous convictions was mistakenly handed to the jury. . He applied for permission to await the appeal’s outcome at home.

It was reported at the time of his sentencing in May that his obesity meant other prisoners had to help with his personal hygiene when he used the toilet.

Heslehurst had been found guilty by a South Auckland jury of fleecing at least 30 victims across the North Island of $344,000.

Meyrick told the Sunday Star-Times he would not appeal Heslehurst’s failed bail application to the Supreme Court, but his client’s condition meant he was “degraded” in the prison setting.

Heslehurst reportedly duped his victims including a solo mother, a dentist, a racedog trainer and a group of Hamilton bankers by offering to sell them cars or televisions for bargain prices. He did not believe the Corrections Department was equipped to care for prisoners like Heslehurst who effectively had a disability. But there were no televisions or cars.

He told one of his victims he could get seven wide-screen televisions cheaply because they had belonged to failed finance company Bridgecorp and were to be auctioned the next day. A treatment plan was in place which “covers all aspects of his healthcare needs and he has an appointment scheduled with a cardiovascular specialist at Auckland Hospital shortly”.

In opposing bail, counsel for the Crown said health workers were monitoring Heslehurst’s condition daily. There was also an emergency care plan to transport him to hospital if necessary. There was also an emergency care plan to transport him to hospital if necessary.

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She added that evidence from Corrections Department health bosses suggested Heslehurst’s health needs were not enough to “tip the scales” in favour of granting bail

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Taito Phillip Field arranged a series of fictitious statements and documents to hide the fact that Thai workers he was helping with immigration matters were working on his property for little or no money, a jury has been told.

Crown prosecutor Simon Moore said the former MP arranged for the false statements and document creations to put a government inquiry and police investigators on the wrong scent.

Mr Moore was making his opening address at the trial of Field in the High Court in Auckland on 35 criminal charges.

Today Mr Moore began outlining the 23 charges of wilfully attempting to obstruct or pervert the course of justice, alleging Field took numerous steps to create a false impression of what happened at his properties.

Yesterday he outlined most of the 12 charges of bribery and corruption charges as an MP laid against Field, alleging that Thai nationals carried out tens of thousands of dollars worth of work on five of his properties in return for help with their immigration issues.

A few days before the election, Prime Minister Helen Clark ordered an inquiry into Field’s conduct, primarily over tiling work carried out at a house of Field’s in Samoa, to be undertaken by Auckland barrister Dr Noel Ingram.

Mr Moore told the jury how the allegations against Field broke in media in September 2005, during the general election campaign.

Mr Moore said there was also media coverage suggesting police were considering an investigation of their own.

They were to arrange false receipts or invoices to be created in relation to the work on the properties, arranging for witnesses to make false statements, and making false statements himself, Mr Moore said.

He said Field then took a series of steps which led to false or misleading information being presented to the Ingram inquiry.

“Mr Field embarked on this course in an attempt to conceal and hide what the true position was, and he did it for the purpose of preventing charges being laid against him.

Once the Ingram inquiry report had been released, Mr Field then arranged to have further false statements made to police and further false documents created once a police investigation had been formally announced, Mr Moore said.

“The circumstances that have given rise to the decision I do not propose to divulge,” he told the remaining jurors.”

Mr Moore was making today’s remarks to a jury of 11 after a man appointed jury foreman yesterday was discharged by Justice Rodney Hansen today.

“But what I do want to emphasise is that it involves no personal reflection in any way at all on the character of your foreman.

“But what I do want to emphasise is that it involves no personal reflection in any way at all on the character of your foreman. A further seven jurors, including the man discharged today, were empanelled yesterday and heard half of Mr Moore’s opening address yesterday.

Today’s development came after seven of the jurors originally empanelled on Monday were discharged the following day. .

The trial is expected to last 12 weeks

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Trade Minister Tim Groser said last night that he had just discovered he still held shares in a company he resigned from in February to avoid any possibility of conflict of interest.

Mr Groser was a director of Indian Overseas Group Ltd and resigned as a director after he was appointed trade minister.
The Labour Party has previously raised questions about the gap between his appointment in November and his resignation as a director on February 15, which was a few days before Mr Groser announced New Zealand was going to negotiate a free trade agreement with India.
“I discovered that I had 2000 shares in Indian Overseas Group Ltd, representing my initial start-up capital contribution,” he said.
Mr Groser said tonight that after receiving a media call he checked the companies register.
“I have taken immediate steps to divest myself of this shareholding.
“I was unaware that when I resigned as a director on February 15 2009 that I had a continuing financial interest, given that I believed the shareholding had no value because the company is inactive and there is no prospect of it becoming active. .
Mr Groser was once a director of New Zealand Aviation as well, but he resigned from it in January.
Mr Worth was reprimanded by Prime Minister John Key for going to India on a private trip and then speaking in his capacity as a minister while he promoted an aviation company he had an interest in.
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