Two a penny

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The Auckland actor shot by police in suburban Auckland lured officers to the scene with false claims of domestic violence before advancing on attending officers with a meat cleaver and two knives.

Rob Mokaraka, 36, was shot by a police officer in Smale Street, Pt Chevalier on Monday afternoon.

Detective Superintendent Rod Drew said police telephone records had revealed the man enticed police to his home after making false reports of a violent domestic incident involving a man armed with a concealed gun.

“After some verbal interaction with police he advanced into the street and threatened police who had responded to the 111 calls, with what appeared to be a firearm wrapped in a towel.

“It is now apparent that, having given a distinctive description of the ‘angry man’ he said was armed with a concealed firearm, the man dressed himself to fit the description and waited for police to arrive,” Mr Drew said. . When he refused to stop, an officer fired one shot and the man was disarmed. He is in a stable condition and is expected to remain in hospital for a week or more.

The officer who fired the shot is expected to complete a formal interview today, as are the other officers involved with the incident. A decision regarding charges will be made in the next day or so. He has not been stood down from duty. The officer is off work while he completes the full medical and psychological de-briefing required by the Police Trauma Policy.

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The investigation continues

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A young student’s search for a job ended with a blunt email: “Sorry we don’t hire blacks, no offence meant”.

The racist reply stunned Albany student Julia Eru, 20, who says words can’t explain how horrible the email was.

“I thought that kind of stuff was in the past.

“It’s so offensive in so many ways,” she says.”

Ms Eru had applied online for a retail job but got a surprise response. The person needs to know it’s not right. Lots of love Andria.

She sent a second email using her sister’s English name and the response was entirely different: “Hi honey, positions are now closed. She studies hospitality management at the North Shore International Academy and is examining for part-time work.”

Ms Eru is part Maori and English.

Ms Eru says she is still waiting for a reply to her complaint to the Gumtree website that ran the job ad, which remained online until it was taken down after the contacted them. .

One email said a junior receptionist had acted inappropriately and had been fired.

The received a strange series of responses to questions put to the emailer.”

But another email read: “In the mean time kindly f*** off. “All apologies to those concerned and God Bless. The computer hacker. Cheers Li Wu. It was registered until June 23 this year.”

One email referred the to a website for Penrose-based importer and wholesaler Jin Bill International Ltd but the Companies Office website lists the company as having been struck off.

The company did not respond to phone messages and there is no listing for the director.

Despite that a company director’s name, Fanmao Zeng, appears on emails sent to the from the bright startltd2002 address.

Gumtree says it did not receive a complaint from Ms Eru and removed the job listing when it was reported.

When the paper visited the Penrose address we were told the company hadn’t been operating for at least a year.

Gumtree says the advert did not breach its policies but the subsequent abuse was “unacceptable”.

Gumtree says the advert did not breach its policies but the subsequent abuse was “unacceptable”.

– LIZ WILLIS/

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Heavy rain and thunderstorms and possible tornadoes are set to strike northerneastern parts of the country over the next 24 hours.

The MetService said a “very active front” was expected to move across Northland from later today before hitting the Coromandel Peninsula early tomorrow morning.The low is expected to bring severe thunderstorms along mainly coastal areas along with “damaging” wind gusts and possibly tornadoes. It was then predicted to move over the Bay of Plenty on Friday morning. The snow could settle as low as 400m, the MetService said.Cold rain is also forecast to sweep the South Island, with heavy snow falls of up to 25cm predicted for the hills from South Canterbury to South Otago starting tomorrow.The MetService warned that some roads in the area may be affected. .”Snow is likely to spread north into the high ground of Kaikoura, Wairarapa and Hawke’s Bay and a low pressure system is expected to bring some more squally showers to places north of Taupo, and more rain to the Gisborne region,” he said.MetService spokesman Bob McDavitt said the period of unsettled weather was likely to last through the weekend. The unsettled weather may give rise to hazardous driving conditions, so please check the latest weather details before setting off.”There are likely to be extra travellers on the roads this weekend given that the school holidays are kicking off.”

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A man was beaten so badly he received two tears to his bowel after he commented that a relative of someone he boarded with in Richmond was chubby, a court has heard.

A trial for Vietnamese nationals Quang Van Nguyen, 50, and Binh Van Tran, 47, opened in the Nelson District Court yesterday.

Nguyen is also charged with assaulting the complainant.

Nguyen and Tran are jointly charged with resulting in grievous bodily harm with intent to another Vietnamese man, Thanh Van Nguyen, 39, on May 27 last year.

After dinner on the evening of May 27, the complainant made a call to Vietnam and spoke with his family in his bedroom.

In his opening address, Crown prosecutor Craig Stevenson said that in April last year, Thanh Van Nguyen was boarding at a Richmond house where the two defendants lived along with the wife of one of the defendants.

Mr Stevenson said the three men were the only ones at home and the complainant was talking with the two accused about family photos of Tran’s when Thanh Van Nguyen made a comment about Tran or a relative looking “somewhat chubby”.

After ending the call, he returned to the lounge area, where both the accused were sitting.

Mr Stevenson said that after that comment was made, Nguyen hit the complainant around his nose and eye with sufficient force to make him feel dizzy. . He was then repeatedly punched and ended up lying on the floor, where he felt a severe blow to his stomach, which he thought had come from someone’s foot.

Thanh Van Nguyen tried to get up and leave the lounge to go to his bedroom but was held back by one of the men.

He did not know who had hit him.

He also received several blows to his shoulder, back and thigh.

The following morning he was still in pain and asked Tran to arrange for him to go to hospital.

Mr Stevenson said Thanh Van Nguyen fainted and, after regaining consciousness, returned to his room in pain.

Mr Stevenson said Tran gave him something to rub on his stomach. He was told he wouldn’t get a doctor’s appointment.

At the hospital, surgeon Graeme Skeggs discovered the complainant had two tears to his bowel consistent with blunt trauma to his stomach. About 3pm or 4pm that day, an ambulance was called and the complainant was taken to Nelson Hospital.

Thanh Van Nguyen spent two weeks in hospital recovering after surgery.

Mr Skeggs also noticed a degree of bruising around the man’s head.

Thanh Van Nguyen said he had commented to Tran that a relative in one of his photos was “as big and fat as you are” and Tran had laughed.

Giving evidence, the complainant told Mr Stevenson that before the assault, they had been having a good time…. I said your skin doesn’t look too healthy.”

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One of the men accused of bashing a New Zealander to death during a brawl in a Bali nightclub is a champion boxer.

The family of 22-year-old Sean Headifen were shocked at the news last night. .
He suffered head and internal injuries and died in his hotel room about 6.
Mr Headifen, a former soldier, was allegedly attacked by 29-year-old Indonesian top- ranked middleweight boxer Andreas Seran at the Bounty Disco in Kuta early on Sunday.
Family friend Colette Drew said officials had told the family they needed to pay about $8000 to bring Mr Headifen back to Palmerston North.30am that day. “What’s going to happen to him if we can’t afford to get him home?”
Seran, along with Doni Suastika, 30, and Nengah Suastika, 34, a bartender and security staff member, are in custody. CCTV footage from the bar showed the men beating Mr Headifen and throwing bottles and glasses at him.
Police said Seran was drunk and became involved in the fight.
Miss Whitburn, 19, was due to leave Indonesia yesterday for her home town of Palmerston North.
Witnesses, including Mr Headifen’s girlfriend Sarah Whitburn, who tried to stop the brawl by jumping on the shoulders of one of the attackers, have also identified the men.
Mrs Drew said the family was feeling desperate knowing that his body was in a hospital morgue in Bali, and they wanted him brought home.
It was still unknown yesterday when the body of Mr Headifen, who served as a peacekeeper in East Timor, would return home.
“Why can’t the Government bring him home and bill us later?” she said.
“Why can’t the Government bring him home and bill us later?” she said.

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.”
The Foreign Affairs Ministry pointed to advice on its website, which says that all costs associated with the death of a New Zealander overseas, including the repatriation of remains and the return of personal effects, were the responsibility of next-of-kin

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Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws has separated from his partner, Leonie Brookhammer, the mother of his three youngest children.

The breakup comes as their four-year-old daughter, Lucy, continues her year-long battle with leukaemia and six months after the birth of the couple’s son Theo. Their other child is two-year-old Zoe.
Ms Brookhammer, a former Manawatu-Wanganui regional councillor, is the president of Plunket Wanganui.
Mr Laws and Ms Brookhammer were together for seven years and have children from previous relationships. .
The couple announced their engagement last year. It changes nothing in terms of our love and devotion for our beautiful children”.
Meanwhile, Lucy’s condition continues to fluctuate.
Ms Brookhammer declined to comment.
Despite responding well to chemotherapy, she has suffered from high fevers caused by a lack of immunity and had spent the three weeks leading up to Easter in isolation at Wanganui Hospital. The leukaemia was diagnosed last February and, at the time, she was given a slim chance of survival.
He was due back this week but took further leave yesterday afternoon after Lucy developed a rash.
During that time, Mr Laws took intermittent leave from his mayoral duties and position as a talkback radio host to care for her.
An update on his website said she was being flown to Auckland’s Starship children’s hospital today for a likely bone marrow biopsy after blood tests conducted yesterday showed worrying results.
An update on his website said she was being flown to Auckland’s Starship children’s hospital today for a likely bone marrow biopsy after blood tests conducted yesterday showed worrying results

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Geraldine Brophy bows out

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Geraldine Brophy bows out

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By CHRIS SCHULZ

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Last updated 22:30 07/04/2009
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BACK IN BLACK: Geraldine Brophy performs the rumba on Dancing with the Stars.

MAN IN PINK: Tamati Coffey dances the foxtrot on Dancing with the Stars.

UPSIDE DOWN: Barbara Kendall performs the cha cha on Dancing with the Stars. .

BEND AND STRETCH: Josh Kronfeld performs on Dancing with the Stars.

GREEN THING: Tamati Coffey performs on Dancing with the Stars.

GREEN THING: Tamati Coffey performs on Dancing with the Stars.

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It’s wild out there on the lino

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Hobbs’ fairytale ends

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An injured Geraldine Brophy has become the fifth person eliminated from Dancing with the Stars, leaving just three contestants in the running.

The former Shortland Street actress had been nursing injuries for much of the season,but with partner Stefano Olivieri she scoreda respectable 18 points for her tango and 20 for the rumba.

“I have to tell you, I no longer have to prove I’m as good as I never was,” said Brophy after her elimination.

“It’s been a wonderful experience … we’ll bring scones in on Monday.”

She was praised by the judges for creating extravagant themes for her dances, but criticised for her lack of technique.

“There was a lot of drama but we’re at that point in the competition where we need to see technique,” said Craig Revel Horwood after her tango.

Olivieri caused controversy last week by making an off-colour sexual remark.

Boardsailer Barbara Kendall topped the leaderboard after last night’s episode, earning 35 for her tango and 32 for the cha cha.

“I really loved it,” said Horwood. “You demonstrated strength and control … a triumph.”

But Cole said Kendall’s cha cha was missing “gooey sexiness”.

A surprised Josh Kronfeld came second, earning 31 points for his rumba and 25 for the foxtrot.

“It’s time we awarded this season’s most improved player award,” said Alison Leonard about the former All Black’s efforts in the rumba. Paul Mecurio said: “That sizzled.”

Breakfast weather presenter Tamati Coffey had a disappointing night, earning just 23 for his cha cha and 27 for his Pink Panther-themed foxtrot.

“I would like to have seen a lot more movement over the floor,” said Horwood about Coffey’s cha cha.

“There was absolutely no ‘wow’ factor whatsoever.”

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The finalists will be decided next week out of Kronfeld, Coffey and Kendall.

* Did Geraldine Brophy deserve to leave Dancing with the Stars? below.

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The Government is promising its $3 billion broadband plan will deliver “quantum faster” internet speeds for Kiwis.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Steven Joyce said a new Crown-owned company would work with private sector partners as a key part of its plan to deliver ultra-fast broadband to 75 per cent of New Zealanders’ homes, workplaces and places of study within ten years.

The Government has committed up to $1.

Prime Minister John Key said the initiative would give internet speeds of up to 100 megabits per second – “for most people, speeds which are quantum faster than anything they currently have”.5 billion of taxpayers’ money for the roll-out and expects that to be at least matched by the private sector. .

“They will be able to watch TV comfortably and easily over their computer screens, they will be able to run businesses from home. .

“We are a small country, we are a long way away and if we want to connect with the world in the cheapest, most efficient way possible, we have to have world-class broadband capability. .

Those in areas outside the 25 identified would eventually get better services but that would be in the second phase of the initiative.”

Twenty-five towns and cities would be covered by the initiative.

Partners would be selected based on:

* the amount of additional fibre coverage being proposed;

* the proposed capital structure;

* commercial viability of the proposal;

* consistency with Government objectives;

* and the company’s track record. They could expect faster broadband but would not have the fibre enabling the ultra-fast broadband, Mr Joyce said.

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Selection would be based on the amount of additional fibre coverage being proposed, the proposed capital structure, commercial viability of the proposal, consistency with government objectives and the potential partner’s track-record.

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Selection would be based on the amount of additional fibre coverage being proposed, the proposed capital structure, commercial viability of the proposal, consistency with government objectives and the potential partner’s track-record.

A key element is “dark fibre” – fibre optic cable in the ground or on poles but which is not yet active.

The Crown-owned company would be called Crown Fibre Investment Co, or CFIC, and would focus on providing the cables needed to enable private companies to connect to it to provide the service.

“Internet service providers and other telecommunications providers can purchase access to dark fibre, add their own electronics and then use it to provide a retail service,” Mr Joyce said. The fibre becomes operational by adding optical electronics at each end, to provide a service to households and businesses.

“This approach will ensure that all decisions regarding active network technology options are left to private sector investors.

“The government investment will be in fibre networks that will operate only at the wholesale level, selling ‘dark fibre’-based services enabling telecommunications providers to design and specify their own downstream services.

“This model aims to provide government investment on favourable terms, while minimising government involvement in commercial operations which we believe the private sector is better positioned to direct.”

Mr Joyce said the model would ensure all telecommunications companies could use the fibre. Submissions close on April 27.”

The proposal is open to consultation.

– , , and BusinessDay

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The Hells Angels brother of a man bashed to death in a bikie brawl at Sydney Airport has been gunned down outside his Lakemba home. .45 last night.

He was treated by ambulance officers and taken to St George Hospital in a critical condition.

He had got out of his car to open a mesh security gate allowing entrance to the car park when he was shot.

“A 32-year-old-man stopped his motor vehicle in the driveway of a unit block .

As of 4am he was being operated on but was in a stable condition.. a number of shots were then fired, hitting the man,” Campsie local area commander, Superintendent Peter Lennon, said…

“Another man was seen . running from the unit block..”

That man was described as being about 175 centimetres tall, of large, muscular build, with collar-length dark hair and wearing dark jeans and a dark, long-sleeved jacket.”

That man was described as being about 175 centimetres tall, of large, muscular build, with collar-length dark hair and wearing dark jeans and a dark, long-sleeved jacket..

“A [white] motor vehicle . had to sound its horn to avoid colliding with the gentleman running across the road..

At 6am Peter Zervas’s white Hyundai Excel remained where it had stopped when he was shot.”

Police want to speak to both the driver of the white car and the man who ran across Punchbowl Road.

Nine yellow evidence markers were placed in an arc from the rear of the car towards the driver’s side front door.

Three bullet holes bunched together could be seen in the right hand side of the car’s rear window.

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Another bullet hole could be seen on the rear wall of the car park, about 15 metres in front of the car.

The driver’s door was open, the window shattered and blood could be seen spattered along the window frame.

It is not yet known whether another motorcycle club is responsible for the shooting.

It is not yet known whether another motorcycle club is responsible for the shooting.

The shooting comes only two days after Peter Zervas, along with family and members of the Hells Angels and Bandidos, buried his brother.

It is also the latest in a string of bikie-related shootings that has swept south western and western Sydney.

Both Zervas brothers were involved in a brawl with about 10 Comanchero Motorcycle Club members at Terminal 3 of Sydney’s domestic airport on March 2, along with Hells Angels Sydney Chapter president, Derek Wainohu, and other club members.

Anthony Zervas was killed after being hit with a metal bollard used in the fight.

Officers attached to Strike Force Raptor – the new squad created to combat bikie violence – are leading the investigation.

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Bashed veteran back home (+vid)

Thursday, 26 February 2009

/The
SWEET SPOT: Bashed war veteran Eric Brady, pleased to be back home in his favourite chair and his own bed, has a cuppa with daughter Joanne O’Rourke.

Eric Brady talks to Stuff

War veteran Eric Brady has returned to his South Auckland home vowing not to lose any sleep over the "coward" who brutally beat him in the car park of his local RSA. "He is a coward.
"I'm a survivor," the 85-year-old said from his favourite armchair yesterday.
He suffered serious facial injuries when a man beat him, dragged him from his car and made a failed attempt to steal the vehicle."
Mr Brady, a navigator on Lancaster bombers during World War II, was attacked last Wednesday as he left the Papatoetoe RSA where he had been having a quiet drink.
He suffered facial injuries in the attack, including a broken jaw, cracked cheekbones and severe bruising.
Mr Brady crawled from the car park back in to the RSA to get help.
Mr Brady said although he had all the help he needed in hospital, he was pleased to get back home to his favourite armchair and his own bed. He had surgery on Friday to have a plate inserted in his lower jaw and was discharged from Middlemore Hospital yesterday.
Having fended for himself since his wife died five years ago, the octogenarian will need home help for some weeks at least.
He was also keen to get back to his old life and take spur-of-the-moment ferry trips to Waiheke Island or Devonport. He would not be looking over his shoulder worrying about from which direction the next attack could come.
But he said he did not fear being left alone. "I'm not losing any sleep over it.
"I'm quite secure at home when I'm alone," he said.
"I can't drive for a wee while yet," Mr Brady said."
But he did concede he might take a little more care when out and about in future, and he would definitely take a taxi to the RSA when he returned next week.
In the meantime he would surround himself with the flowers, cards and good wishes sent from around New Zealand and take comfort in the knowledge that not all was bad in the world. Besides, the area was "quite bad for walking the streets". "What's happened has happened, I just hope it doesn't happen to anyone else. .

."
The 18-year-old accused of Mr Brady's assault has name suppression until he appears in Manukau District Court tomorrow