Two a penny

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Murderers will no longer be able to claim they were provoked into committing their crime under a law change the government is planning.

Cabinet will consider the proposal in the next two to three weeks but Prime Minister John Key has given his approval, making it almost certain to go ahead.

Justice Minister Simon Power, in a speech to the Institute of Policy Studies in Wellington today, unveiled a raft of areas the government was looking at including updating the law around sexual crimes, better protection for children and the partial defence of provocation.

The jury yesterday found him guilty of murder.

The defence has sparked heated debate after Otago University tutor Clayton Weatherston argued he was provoked into stabbing girlfriend Sophie Elliott stabbed 216 times and was only guilty of manslaughter.

He told reporters: “I think (the defence has) had its time, I think there are other mechanisms on the statute book that deal with some circumstances that may arise”.

Mr Power said the defence “wrongly enables defendants to besmirch the character of victims, and effectively rewards a lack of self-control”.

Once Cabinet gave approval a bill would be drafted.

“It would be fair to say there would be lot of support around the Cabinet table for the move that Simon Power is leading,” he said.

Mr Key indicated Cabinet would be advancing it.

His defence argued that Mr Brown came on strongly to Ambach and might have attempted to rape him, leading Ambach to lose control and beat him with a banjo before ramming the stem down his throat.

Ferdinand Ambach this month favourably used the defence in his trial for killing Auckland man Ronald Brown, 69.

“It was on its own time track, I have been very careful to make no comment on the Weatherston trial or for that matter any other trial.

Mr Power denied today’s announcement was knee-jerk reaction to recent cases saying the work had been going on for some time.”

He would have delayed the speech had a verdict not been delivered.”

He would have delayed the speech had a verdict not been delivered.

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Two Americans have been convicted of money laundering and investment fraud in a scheme involving the sale of century-old railway bonds to investors, many of them said to be New Zealand farmers.

Steven Fishman, 59, of Corona, southeast of Los Angeles, and Joseph Thornburgh, 61, of Mounds, Oklahoma, were convicted in a Tulsa, Oklahoma court, Associated Press reported.

US Attorney David O’Meilia, of Tulsa said the two men bilked more than 400 investors worldwide – “many of whom were sheep farmers in New Zealand” – and including about 20 Americans.

Thornburgh and Fishman were indicted in November 2007 and will be sentenced on September 29.

The fraud was claimed to have collected more than $US4 million by promoting as risk-free the purchase of bonds issued by a Chinese government that was overthrown in 1949, and of bonds issued in the 1850s by a now-defunct railroad. He will be sentenced on August 28. In April, a third man charged in the case, Robert Searles, 71, of Loudon, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. .

Investors were told the railroad bonds were backed by the US government and Amtrak and included bonds issued by the Galveston, Houston, and Henderson (GH&H) Railroad – which raised funds to start track construction in 1853. A grand jury was last year told he was living in New Zealand at least part of the time the scam was run from 1998 through to 2003.

The bonds were actually worth no more than their value as collectors’ items.

Witnesses testified that Thornburgh and Fishman had said the bonds could be used to obtain lines of credit from European banks, which could then be used in high-yield investment programmes to reap millions of dollars of profit for investors.

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Job losses are mounting as the Government advised that the country is staring down the barrel of a $50 billion recession.

Inland Revenue staff were told yesterday up to 250 jobs would be axed as government departments are told to tighten their belts and Finance Minister Bill English has issued a stark warning of trade-offs in the May Budget, which will outline a plan to tackle ballooning debt. .

The recession was expected to blow a $50b hole in the economy during the next three years, plunging the Government further into the red as costs climb and tax revenues fall. But tax cuts in 2010 and 2011 would only go ahead if they were affordable, Mr English said.

Labour leader Phil Goff said the Government was softening the public up for a broken promise on tax cuts.

“That’s $50 billion we will not recover as a nation, and $50 billion that cannot be taxed by the Government,” Mr English told a business audience in Auckland.

“I think [Mr English] is making the situation as black as he can in order to justify breaking a promise on tax cuts and slashing services to New Zealanders. The union said the cuts coincided with an increase in workload because of tax changes and KiwiSaver.”

Layoffs at Inland Revenue have alarmed the Public Service Association.

Inland Revenue commissioner Robert Russell said the redundancies among the department’s 6000 staff were voluntary at this stage.

“Our concern is that job cuts in the public service will push workloads to unmanageable levels that will threaten the provision of essential public services like those at Inland Revenue,” national secretary Richard Wagstaff said. Normally it would try to avoid redundancies by applying a sinking lid, but with the economy so uncertain, staff were staying put.

The department, like other businesses, was having to tighten its belt, he said.

“People who used to be very confident about being able to leave a job today and getting a new one tomorrow just don’t have that confidence.

“People who used to be very confident about being able to leave a job today and getting a new one tomorrow just don’t have that confidence.

Ports of Auckland said yesterday that it was cutting 30 jobs. Public service layoffs are expected to accelerate during the next few months as spending is scrutinised by a Cabinet razor gang.

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With no change in policy, debt would reach 70 per cent of gross domestic product by 2023 equivalent to $30,000 for every New Zealander.

Mr English warned that with the economy now in what was likely to be its sixth quarter of recession, and government gross debt set to double in the next three years, the Government had no choice but to bring debt under control or leave the country “especially vulnerable”.

“We will not let that happen.

If left to rise to those levels, it would eventually require “radical steps to bring it under control”.”

– TRACY WATKINS and VERNON SMALL,

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Plastic fantastic, but price tag a drag

By CHARLIE GATES – Thursday, 26 February 2009

KIRK HARGREAVES/
COMFORT STOP: the newly designed lounge for bus passengers at the Christchurch bus exchange.

A $1 million Christchurch bus exchange makeover, including a space-age waiting room, has delighted commuters but some are shocked at the price tag. .
The $1m budget includes the new waiting area, complete with colourful moulded plastic seats, as well as revamping the Colombo St bus stops removing bus shelters and installing new railings and bins.
"I reckon it is really awesome.
Commuter Reremoamarua Diaz, 14, praised the new waiting room, but was amazed at the cost. That is a lot of money though. It is really nice to have more space, because the bus exchange is really full.
Diaz also liked the workbench and stools, presumably installed to allow waiting students to make a start on homework. I reckon it is a bit too much to spend," she said.
"I think it is probably not worth it.
Bethana Hercock, 17, liked the new waiting room, but was surprised at the price. They should spend it on something more worthwhile as most people don't wait here too long," she said. $1 million is a lot of money.
"It seems a crazy thing to spend money on, especially during a recession," she said.
Tasha Bylenok, 18, said it was too much to spend in a time of economic uncertainty.
Real-time bus information is displayed on screens in the new lounge so commuters can wait in comfort rather than on the street.
The new lounge was built in an empty shop and was designed by council architect Crispin Schurr.
However, he said he preferred that to the "absorbent" seating in the old bus exchange.
John Irving, 24, said the glossy seats looked "a bit sterile and wipe down".

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$80m paid out on medical accidents

Tuesday, 03 February 2009

Patients want more protection

Compensation to patients who suffered surgical errors, missed diagnoses and other "treatment injuries" may have topped $80 million last year.
Figures given to The under the Official Information Act show the biggest individual payout of more than $550,000 went to a patient blinded as a result of a treatment injury. Figures were unavailable for the last three months of 2008.
Between January and September, the ACC paid more than $63 million in new and continuing claims an average of $7 million a month.
ACC's director of clinical services, Kevin Morris, said the increasing number of claims did not mean hospital staff, dentists, pharmacists and other health workers were making more mistakes rather, it reflected greater openness. The cost of treatment injuries and medical misadventure has risen more than 250 per cent since 2001, from $26 million for 2643 claims to $69 million for 7235 claims in 2007. "In cases of medical error, there was a tendency for lawyers to get involved, which strung out the process considerably.
In July 2005, ACC replaced "medical misadventure" with the treatment injury category, meaning claimants no longer had to prove an error had been made. "As a result, there are more claims, but we see that as positive."
The average time to settle a claim had dropped from five months to 20 days."
Dr Morris said ACC data was fed back to health providers and professional groups, who now had a clearer picture of where errors occurred and could better prevent them. It's possible that some events were not being disclosed previously but now health professionals are happy to co-operate.
Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson agreed the "no fault" approach was fairer for patients.
Wound infections were the most common injury, followed by allergic reactions, bruising, nerve damage, skin infections, damaged teeth, skin tears, pressure sores and incisional hernias blowouts in the abdominal wall which formed when surgical cuts failed to heal properly."
However, he suspected health workers still hestitated to report incidents that could trigger disciplinary action. "It's not that health professionals wanted to stand in the way of patients getting compensation, but they would fight the claim because they didn't want a black mark beside their name.
"Doctors understand they have to be open and transparent. ."
Wellington lawyer and ACC specialist John Miller said the new system was fairer, but some inequities remained. We're all human and mistakes will always happen, but the only time that the medical profession gets into trouble is when it is less than open.

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BIGGEST PAYOUTS
Biggest individual payouts in 2008
– Blindness $552,435
– Osteomyelitis (bone infection) $483,359
– Adverse drug reaction $452,246
– Paralysis after spinal cord injury $295,485
– Ovarian cancer spread due to delayed diagnosis $206,644
– Stroke $190,910
– Lymphoma spread (delayed diagnosis) $188,215
– Brain haemorrhage $182,026
– Blindness $166,219
Payouts include ongoing medical and rehabilitation costs, as well as compensation paid directly to victim

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Broken vertebra missed

– Friday, 16 January 2009

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LAID UP: Glenn Daniels was discharged from Christchurch Hospital’s emergency department with an undiagnosed broken vertebra.

A man has been discharged from Christchurch Hospital's emergency department with an undiagnosed broken vertebra.
He was taken to the emergency department by ambulance and discharged with a diagnosis of "back strain and sprain".
Electrical engineer Glenn Daniels hurt his back on Sunday when he fell about three metres from a ladder on to a concrete floor.
"The physio said, `Man, I can't touch you while you are in so much pain; you need an X-ray'," Daniels said.
A few days later, Daniels had a pre-arranged appointment with his physiotherapist.
The Canterbury District Health Board has defended its treatment of Daniels, saying everything was done "by the book" and that there would always be some misdiagnoses.
The X-ray showed a broken vertebra in his lower back. .
Daniels said he was grateful he did not suffer worse injuries. "You would have thought it would be a pretty obvious test to do for someone who had fallen 3m on to a concrete floor.
"I'm really disappointed they didn't give me an X-ray," he said. He spends the day either lying on the couch or standing."
Because of his injury, Daniels cannot sit down and cannot go back to work for at least two weeks.
Daniels was seen by a "very senior doctor" who made a judgment on whether to do an X-ray.
Christchurch Hospital emergency medicine specialist Professor Mike Ardagh said he had reviewed Daniels' file and had no problem with his treatment.
Daniels was checked and told to visit his doctor if the pain increased, Ardagh said. Doctors had to weigh up the cost and potential damage exposure to radiation could cause, he said. Internationally, there was about a 1 per cent to 2 per cent rate of misdiagnosis, but Christchurch tended to be better. Emergency departments would always miss some cases, he said. Ongoing pain would cause patients to see their GP or return to the emergency department. Ardagh said L2 fractures, which Daniels had, could be severe but would not typically cause long-term damage.
A report by the Health and Disability Commissioner said the health board failed in its duty of care for Carroll.
The department was criticised for its misdiagnosis of Canterbury man Dean Carroll, who died in April 2007 of acute blood poisoning a day after being discharged.

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Girlfriend saw Sonny Fai swept out to sea

– Monday, 05 January 2009

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AWFUL NEWS: Left to right: Warriors Director of Football John Hart, Warriors Football Manager Don Mann, Sonny Fai’s sister Lalelei Fai and girlfriend Jenna Frost.

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JENNA FROST: Sonny Fai’s girlfriend, who saw the rising NZ Warriors star swept out to sea.

SWEEPING SEARCH: Sonny Fai’s Warriors teammates were among the people searching for any sign of him on Bethell’s Beach.

Photosport
RISING STAR: Sonny Fai.

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HIGH AND LOW: The search for Sonny Fai was called off for the following day no trace of the Warriors player was found.
Fai, who was due to start training with the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium earlier today, had gone to Bethell's Beach on Auckland's wild west coast late yesterday afternoon for an extra training run, to burn off some "Christmas excesses".

Photo 5 of 5

Sonny Fai’s girlfriend watches in despair

Sister grieves for Sonny Fai

NZ Warrior presumed drowned

Fai fans and friends commiserate on Bebo site

The girlfriend of missing New Zealand Warriors star Sonny Fai watched as her man was snatched by the sea.
He then headed into the water off Ihumoana Island about 7.
His sister, Lalelei Fai, said all but two managed to get out of a rip and back on to the safety of the beach.30pm with girlfriend Jenna Frost and several family members.
"I heard that they were all together, holding hands, but then somehow my younger brother drifted away from them and Sonny went back to get him," she said.
"I have a younger brother and a younger cousin that are a bit too weak, they couldn't swim that hard so some of the bigger boys and Sonny jumped in to save them," she said. .
Sonny told his little brother to let go of his hand, then he drifted back to shore and Sonny got stuck in the rip."
Ms Frost, Fai's girlfriend, watched from the beach unable to do anything to stop the sea take her man."
Ms Frost, Fai's girlfriend, watched from the beach unable to do anything to stop the sea take her man.
"He's a really good guy, he has a good kind heart," she said.
Fai was the type of person who also put other people first, Ms Frost said.
They returned at 5am earlier today to find his Warriors teammates already scouring the beach.
Lalelei Fai said the family went out to the beach last night, as soon as they heard what had happened, and stayed about 2am when searchers told them to go home.

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The search has been called off until tomorrow

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Killed photojournalist’s family seeks justice

By LYN HUMPHREYS – Monday, 05 January 2009

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SEEKING ANSWERS: Nikki McKinnon, sister of New Plymouth photographer Trent Keegan, has returned home to be with her parents in the wake of her only sibling’s brutal death in Kenya last May.

TRENT KEEGAN: Found in a ditch with severe head injuries.

Trent Keegan's family is calling for the New Zealand Government to honour its promise and fully investigate his unsolved murder in Nairobi, Kenya.
But two men charged with assaulting and robbing the 33-year-old have recently been acquitted on the charges.
The Taranaki photographer was found bashed to death in a ditch in Nairobi in May.
Trent's sister, Nikki McKinnon, has just returned with her Australian cameraman husband from London, England, to live in New Zealand.
No one has been charged with his murder.
Her says her mission is now to support her parents – her mother lives in New Plymouth and her father in Auckland – and to fight to get the Government to assist in unravelling the mystery of his death.
"We're wanting to hear from the New Zealand Government on their promise to investigate further pending the outcome of the Kenyan inquiry," she said yesterday.
To date, the family was deeply disappointed that any government assistance had been totally absent and that their friends, working in Africa on their behalf, had been treated badly, she said.
"They issued a press release and we never heard from them again," Ms McKinnon said.
Shortly after Trent's death, former Prime Minister Helen Clark had called for a thorough investigation, she said.
Foreign Affairs is seeking further information from the Kenyan authorities in regard to the court case and whether an appeal or further investigations are being undertaken. .
The minister declined to comment on the verdict or Kenyan justice system saying it would be inappropriate at this time, his spokesperson said.
The minister declined to comment on the verdict or Kenyan justice system saying it would be inappropriate at this time, his spokesperson said.
"We (New Zealand) have only one representative for the east coast of Africa and they are based in Pretoria. New Zealand's closest embassy is in Pretoria, South Africa.
"To date they have been pretty uninterested.
"You wouldn't want to find yourself in a position that you wanted help from the New Zealand Government in Africa, that's for sure," Ms McKinnon said.
Ms McKinnon believed it was unlikely now that anyone would continue with his work." Trent, who was working on a Tanzanian story, documenting local people's lives, had been concerned that his life was in danger. There's a lot of very powerful people affected and they have a lot of interests at stake.
"It's almost too big a story for some people. The arrested men recently acquitted had been in possession of Trent's cellphone.''She believes that Trent was probably the victim of muggers. Certainly, did you have to kill the guy? It's very final. Certainly, did you have to kill the guy? It's very final.''
Several friends in Africa had continued to follow the case through on behalf of the family. One, Brian MacCormaic, was concerned enough for his own safety to leave Nairobi, she said.
Mr MacCormaic had been treated "pretty poorly'' when he tried to contact New Zealand's representatives in Pretoria, Ms McKinnon said.
Mr MacCormaic told a weekend paper, "it very much looks like the police in Nairobi and the New Zealand High Commission in Pretoria are not interested in putting any more effort into finding the true killers of Trent''.
Ms McKinnon said she and her husband had been in New Zealand for just two weeks. "My first focus had been my family.''
They realised that bringing anyone to justice would not bring Trent back. While Christmas had been hard for them, "it's tough every day,'' she said. Ms McKinnon said she and her husband were yet to decide where in New Zealand they would live and work. "Certainly New Plymouth is on the list.''
She has worked as Walt Disney's director in London for nine years.

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Swedish cop killed in camper crash

Holiday road toll now 15

Thursday, 01 January 2009

Police to target speedsters this year

One of the first people to die on the roads this year was a Swedish police inspector, who was killed when the campervan in which he and his family were travelling crashed this morning.
About 10.
He appeared to have been unable to make a left hand turn at the intersection, and skidded across SH 47 before rolling down a 20m bank into a small creek, said Sergeant Marc Clausen.15am today, the campervan driven by 50-year-old Goran Oskarsson left the road at the intersection of state highways 47 and 48, near the central North Island settlement of National Park. His wife was flown to Waikato Hospital with broken bones and head injuries, and his three teenage children were taken by ambulance to hospital with minor injuries.
Mr Oskarsson died at the scene.
Next of kin had been advised.
Identification on Mr Oskarsson indicated that he was a police inspector in Sweden, Mr Clausen said.
That involved the death of a motorcyclist found dead just outside Queenstown.
The new year has started badly with four road deaths, though the time one of those was killed is yet to be clarified.
About 1. The accident may have happened either side of midnight.
Around the same time, a 51-year-old Balclutha man failed to negotiate a moderate right hand bend on Cannibal Bay Road near Owaka, 27km southwest of Balclutha.30am, a 33-year-old Levin man was hit by a northbound car in the town centre while walking along the middle of State Highway 57, police said.
Emergency services were called about 10am after passing motorists saw the vehicle, but the accident was believed to have happened one or two hours after midnight.
His vehicle went down a steep incline, rolling a number of times before stopping about 50m from the road, police said.
Local police, the coroner and a serious crash investigator were investigating the cause of the crash.
The man was the sole occupant of the vehicle.
She was 28-year-old Lauren Leigh Stoneley of Hornby, Christchurch.
Meanwhile, police have named the woman killed in Canterbury on Tuesday.30pm.
Ms Stoneley was the passenger in a car being driven by her boyfriend when it left the road and hit a tree on Arundel-Rakaia Gorge Rd, near Alford Forest, about 8.
The Christmas-New Year road toll now stands at 15, with three and a half days of the period remaining.
The man suffered minor injuries.
The road toll for the whole of 2008 was estimated at 359, the lowest in 49 years, but may change when the timing of the Otago fatality is confirmed. .
The road toll was a decrease on the 421 deaths in 2007, and 393 in 2006, according to the Ministry of Transport.
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Shoplifter walks off with $5000 painting

By MELANIE VERRAN – East And Bays Courier Friday, 19 December 2008

A cocky thief who stole a painting worth close toly $5000 from a Newmarket gallery could be giving it away as a Christmas present.
An oil on canvas by Kiwi artist Rosemary Parcell was nicked from the Morgan St Gallery on December 9.
Gallery director Louise Reid says she was wrapping up an artwork in a back room at 10.
She didn’t realise it was gone until her business partner worked the next day and asked where it was.35am when "some asshole walked in and walked off with a painting worth just under $5000".
"He was very cheeky.
"We looked on the CCTV and saw the guy just walk in and take it," Mrs Reid says.
"He had to walk down the bloody street with it.
It is signed in the bottom left corner and is named Garrocha."
The painting – about 1 metre square – depicts a black horse and rider with an orange background.
Mrs Reid believes a middle-aged Pakeha couple was responsible for last year’s shoplifting and suspects last week’s thief may have been the same culprit.
A similar incident this time last year prompted the gallery owners to install a CCTV system.
"He’d have to have known it was here.
She says it was undoubtedly a calculated theft.
"He’ll give it away as a Christmas present.
"He’ll give it away as a Christmas present.
Newmarket senior sergeant Wendy Spiller says the shoplifter knew what he was doing."
Mrs Reid says artists rely solely on the income from their painting sales "so this is a particularly cruel crime at this time of the year".
"A lot of people wouldn’t realise it was worth $5000," she says.
"It’s the sort of painting that’s pretty specific.
"The market for resale is going to be very limited.
She says the theft is an "unusual occurrence" at a time when most shoplifters are targeting electronic goods such as cameras and cellphones.
"Perhaps he is going to give it as a Christmas present to an unsuspecting family member. ."
Anyone with information about the missing painting should call the Newmarket police station on 529-5630.
"Or maybe he’s going to keep it on his wall.