Two a penny

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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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Setting a trial date for a man charged with murdering Grant “Granite” Adams has been postponed for two months as he is dying.

The case for Tauranga man Brett Michael Ashby, 50, was called in the High Court at Rotorua before Justice Judith Potter yesterday when his lawyer explained he was terminally ill.
“He is terminally ill.
Lawyer Elizabeth Hall said her client was under hospice care at home and it was likely he would not survive to stand trial and asked for a two-month stand down. . . . it is a critical situation with his declining health getting worse. If he is alive [in two months] it would be something of a surprise,” she said. .
It is believed Mr Adams was a methamphetamine user with gang connections
Mr Adams’ remains were found in June 2007 in a grave dug with a digger.
Police allege Ashby, a company director, shot Mr Adams in the upper back and head with a semi-automatic pistol before dumping his body at Wairakei, close to Taupo, in December 2005.
Another Tauranga man, Craig Cullen, 44, was sentenced to 12 months’ home detention on April 23, last year, on a charge of being an accessory after the fact of murder.
Justice Potter adjourned the case to be recalled in the High Court at Rotorua on June 4, for a trial date to be set if Ashby was still alive.
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A former ESR scientist says he found blood which could have come only from Laniet or Stephen Bain on David Bain’s socks.

Peter Cropp, now an independent forensic scientist, told the High Court in Christchurch hearing murder charges against David Bain, he had tested socks taken from David Bain on June 20, 1994, the day of the murder of the Bain family.Each had blood staining on the soles and sock one had two stains visible on the sole’s edge. He had received the socks on August 4, 1994 and labelled them sock one and sock two. Blood grouping tests showed the blood was either from Laniet or Stephen Bain. The droplets had quite clear edges and the stains had soaked right through the material suggesting the blood was more likely to have dropped onto the socks than to have adhered to the sock by stepping into blood. He gave evidence yesterday of testing he carried out in 1994 of items taken from David Bain or from the Bain house.Cropp also told the court he could find no animal blood on the rifle used to shoot the Bain family.DNA tests showed all the blood spots tested on trackpants worn by Robin Bain were his own blood, the High Court was also told.The defence case is that David Bain fingerprints alleged to have been found on the rifle were placed there before the murders by a hand with animal blood on it.Two of the spots had a mix of DNA, one of which could have had a minor contribution from another Bain family member and the other had a minor contribution from someone outside the Bain family.Dr Stephen Gutowski, from the Victorian Forensic Services Centre (VFSC), said he tested the samples taken from the trackpants in 1997 and found all the samples contained Robin Bain’s DNA. His conviction was quashed by the Privy Council in 2007.Gutowski did his testing two years after David Bain’s first trial. Bain’s counsel Michael Reed has previously told the court that if blood from other members ofthe Bain family was found on Robin it would help to exonerate his client.The defence argues David Bain’s father Robin killed his wife and three children before turning his rifle on himself. He found human blood only on one part of the rifle, the sight.Nigel Hall, another scientist from the VFSC said he tested in 1997 samples taken from 13 areas of the rifle used in the killing.

During cross-examination Reed told Hentschel, who examined many items from the Bain house in 1994, that defence experts would say his lack of notes and diagrams of the examinations he carried out would be attacked as inadequate.

Retired ESR scientist Peter Hentschel today also gave evidence in the High Court trial of Bain.

Hentschel said he had relied on police officers in charge of each section of the Bain house to take notes and his recordings were of a standard used by ESR in 1994.

They would say, Reed said, that the shortcomings meant insufficient material was available for them to do proper reviews of the examinations.

Reed concentrated much of his cross-examination today on the murder weapon, a .

It would be different now, he said.

Hentschel examined the rifle in the week of the murders and said he had not made a diagram of where he saw four fingerprints because he relied on the fingerprint expert to do that.

Hentschel examined the rifle in the week of the murders and said he had not made a diagram of where he saw four fingerprints because he relied on the fingerprint expert to do that.

The Crown alleges the fingerprints were made by David Bain while the defence says the fingerprints were made by fingers covered in animal blood.

Nor had he made notes or made a diagram of where he saw smearing on the rifle which did not extend to the fingerprints, the retired scientist said.

Hentschel maintains the smearing over the rifle was “shielded” by the fingerprints.

He could not explain how tests done in 1997 found blood smearing between the fingerprints but the rifle must have been handled many times in the intervening three years, he said.

Hentschel agreed he had not made a diagram showing where he took a sample of blood from the firearm where the fingerprints were.

The sample was taken from smearing 5mm to 10mm from the fingerprints.

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Hentschel said he had not told the jury in David Bain’s trial he had taken the sample from the fingerprints themselves. .

When re-examined by Kieran Raftery for the Crown he said he found extensive smearing of blood on the butt of the rifle and its forearm.

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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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The air force was rushed in early earlier today to airlift a possum hunter to hospital after he apparently ingested cyanide paste.

A search and rescue team including Rotorua Police Search & Rescue Squad members, SAR volunteers, and Department Of Conservation staff entered the Whirinaki Forest Park after police were notified of the ill man at about 7pm last night.
Police said the man was found at about 12.
Ambulance staff were also at the road end close to the scene waiting to give first aid once the 47-year-old man was located. .30am.30am.
The air force was contacted and a helicopter was despatched from 3 Squadron and arrived on the scene at about 2.00am. However, due to adverse weather the ill man was not able to be airlifted from the scene until about 3.
The hospital said his condition was stable.
He was then transported by ambulance to Rotorua Hospital for treatment.

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Tortured Kiwi sailor’s family awaits justice

By JUDITH HUGHEY Thursday, 19 February 2009

MAARTEN HOLL/
ROB HAMILL: Looks forward to ‘some sort of justice’.

KAING GUEK EAV: Ran torture centre.
Now justice is close as the first United Nations-backed trial of one of the notorious Cambodian leaders gets under way in Phnom Penh.

Thirty years ago Kiwi trans-Atlantic rower Rob Hamill's brother suffered a cruel fate, tortured to death by the brutal Khmer Rouge after his yacht blew off course. He was sailing from Singapore to Bangkok with the yacht's co-owner Stuart Glass, from Canada, and the charterer, British man John Dewhirst.
Kerry Hamill was 28 when he was killed in 1978. This was where Mr Hamill, Mr Dewhirst and possibly 10 or more Westerners, among more than 10,000 Cambodians, were tortured and killed.
On the stand at the trial this week is prison chief "Duch" – real name Kaing Guek Eav – who ran Tuol Sleng, the former primary school that was turned into a torture centre and prison.
Mr Hamill, who represented New Zealand at the Olympics in 1996 and rowed the Atlantic Ocean, setting a world record with Phil Stubbs, plans to go to Cambodia for the trial once it gets under way. Mr Glass was killed when the yacht was captured. He has spent several years trying to find out what happened to his brother.
"We look forward to seeing some sort of justice as far as the family goes," Mr Hamill said."
Four Americans and two Australians are among the Westerners murdered by the Khmer Rouge. "We think the weather blew him off course and he got into territorial waters.
The Tuol Sleng prison, also known as S21, is now visited by most travellers to Phnom Penh.
The regime ruled Cambodia, which they renamed Democratic Kampuchea, from 1975 to 1979, when the Vietnamese gained control and forced them into hiding.
"Duch" – now 66 – is charged with overseeing the torture and extermination of more than 12,000 men, women and children at Tuol Sleng. Photographs taken by the Khmer Rouge of their captives are displayed alongside "confessions" to being CIA operatives. . He was formerly a maths teacher.

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Trio building up Wellington fan base

The Monday, 09 February 2009

MAARTEN HOLL/The
PHYSICAL GRAFFITI: Terence Turner (top) and Harley Durst are watched by Tiago Miranda as they bounce around buildings in Wellington’s Civic Centre in an exhibition of the French discipline of parkour.

They run up walls, bounce off balustrades, leap across roofs and all but defy gravity.
Spiderman-like exponents of the French discipline of parkour Harley Durst, Terence Turner and Tiago Miranda ran and bounced around the architectural features in Wellington's Civic Centre on Saturday.
They were the star act in New Zealand's first national parkour meet – a showcase for a sport that combines balance, speed, agility and strength in an athletic mix of running and climbing obstacles in the quickest way possible. .
Tutoring was provided by a top Australian exponent.
Shahir Daud, the group's cameraman, said more than 50 young people interested in the sport turned up to get tips on how it was done, starting with instructions on how to jump safely as well as jumping and rolling on hard surfaces without suffering injuries.
"I've been filming them for a year and they're very safety-conscious and I've not seen one injury."
The sport, which originated in France more than a decade ago, has become popular through films such as The Bourne Identity, Casino Royale and Die Hard 4. The whole point is training the body to absorb impact and fall correctly.

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Canterbury leads with tickets for boy racers

– Saturday, 31 January 2009

Canterbury boy racers received almost half of all tickets handed out nationally by police for noisy vehicles last year.
Canterbury's acting road policing manager, Senior Sergeant Neville Hyland, said that last year more than 3800 noise-infringement tickets were handed out nationwide. More than 1700 were given to Canterbury drivers.
A demerit system was introduced last year where police could issue infringement notices to people with excessively noisy cars, he said.
The high number of infringement notices issued in Canterbury was possibly due to police vigilance, Hyland said. Previously, drivers of noisy cars could be given just a fine, he said. If drivers got more than 100 demerit points they could lose their licence.
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker has taken a stand against boy racers, banning them from certain areas on the outskirts of the city and introducing night-time no-stopping restrictions on Deans, Harper and Moorhouse avenues.
This month, Parker called on the Government to tell Christchurch residents what it would do to address the problem of boy racers. .
Parker called for urgent legislation to:
Use demerit points for offences such as unpaid fines, speeding, noisy vehicles and false or obscured registration plates.
"The ball is now in the court of central government to introduce legislation to curb the problem of young hoons terrorising our community," he said.
Police being able to ticket immediately without having to warn drivers at unruly gatherings.
Licences suspended for unpaid fines.
Third-party insurance for all vehicles.
Third-party insurance for all vehicles.
Transport Minister Steven Joyce said he would visit Christchurch in the next six weeks to see the problem at "ground level".
Lowering the legal level of blood-alcohol for drivers.
The Ministry of Transport is writing a report for Joyce on proposals to curb noisy cars.
He said he would talk to Police Minister Judith Collins on whether current laws gave police enough power to act against boy racers.

. The report should be finished mid-year

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Family wins second Madagascar trip

The Thursday, 22 January 2009

PATRICK HAMILTON/
WHAT ARE THE CHANCES: Chrystiana, 8, and Chase, 5, Wright are old enough this time to accompany parents David and Shelley after the family won a trip to South Africa for the second time in a Madagascar movie promotion.

The lucky dip gods might soon start examining twice at a Stoke family. They will soon pack their bags for a second trip to South Africa as winners once more of a national competition run in conjunction with the launch of a movie.
The Wright family has won national competition draws more times than the odds would normally allow.
Last week, they learned they had won again, after entering a competition to promote the sequel, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.
Four years ago, their names were drawn from the barrel of entrants in a nationwide competition run through the TV Guide to promote the animated movie Madagascar. The family then sent in a couple of entries, tempted by the smaller prizes available, Shelley Wright said.
The competition involved counting the number of times the logo of the movie's character Alex the Lion featured during a recent television screening of Madagascar."
Last week they got a call from the movie's distribution company, Paramount Productions, announcing them as winners.
"I thought it would be a waste of time entering, but they had such great runner-up prizes, and the kids love the movie.
Paramount Productions spokesperson Matt Andree Wiltens said the competition, run with TVNZ (TV2) and the TV Guide, had a great response, with thousands of entries.
"Never in our wildest dreams did we expect to win again," said her husband, David Wright, operations manager at the Nelson City Council. I know they put in more than one entry to the competition, and I guess it goes to prove the adage that you've got to be in to win.
"The Wright family were the lucky winners drawn out of the barrel.
He said that while there were many memorable highlights from their first trip to South Africa, sharing a picnic with other winners from around the world, who were then gatecrashed by a mob of 20-30 hungry baboons, stood out."
The Wrights' two children, Chrystiana, 8, and Chace, 5, were too young to travel the first time, so the second opportunity was a rare blessing, Mr Wright said. They attacked the van, and the authentic African barbecue we were having.
"They came charging over the sand dunes. . One baboon grabbed the bag of an Irish lady, but she held on and screamed loudest and the baboon let go," Mr Wright said. I had four because no one else was eating anything," Mr Wright said.
"That day we went to an ostrich farm and got offered steaks for lunch. The couple also won their honeymoon to Sydney in 1995, and then a competition in December 1999 to meet American actor and comedian Robin Williams while he was in Auckland promoting his movie Bicentennial Man.
Mrs Wright has the lucky hand and regularly enters competitions.
The family plans to take up their latest prize during the April school holidays.
The family plans to take up their latest prize during the April school holidays.

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Family wins second Madagascar trip

The Thursday, 22 January 2009

PATRICK HAMILTON/
WHAT ARE THE CHANCES: Chrystiana, 8, and Chase, 5, Wright are old enough this time to accompany parents David and Shelley after the family won a trip to South Africa for the second time in a Madagascar movie promotion.

The lucky dip gods might soon start examining twice at a Stoke family. They will soon pack their bags for a second trip to South Africa as winners once more of a national competition run in conjunction with the launch of a movie.
The Wright family has won national competition draws more times than the odds would normally allow.
Last week, they learned they had won again, after entering a competition to promote the sequel, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.
Four years ago, their names were drawn from the barrel of entrants in a nationwide competition run through the TV Guide to promote the animated movie Madagascar. The family then sent in a couple of entries, tempted by the smaller prizes available, Shelley Wright said.
The competition involved counting the number of times the logo of the movie's character Alex the Lion featured during a recent television screening of Madagascar."
Last week they got a call from the movie's distribution company, Paramount Productions, announcing them as winners.
"I thought it would be a waste of time entering, but they had such great runner-up prizes, and the kids love the movie.
Paramount Productions spokesperson Matt Andree Wiltens said the competition, run with TVNZ (TV2) and the TV Guide, had a great response, with thousands of entries.
"Never in our wildest dreams did we expect to win again," said her husband, David Wright, operations manager at the Nelson City Council. I know they put in more than one entry to the competition, and I guess it goes to prove the adage that you've got to be in to win.
"The Wright family were the lucky winners drawn out of the barrel.
He said that while there were many memorable highlights from their first trip to South Africa, sharing a picnic with other winners from around the world, who were then gatecrashed by a mob of 20-30 hungry baboons, stood out."
The Wrights' two children, Chrystiana, 8, and Chace, 5, were too young to travel the first time, so the second opportunity was a rare blessing, Mr Wright said. They attacked the van, and the authentic African barbecue we were having.
"They came charging over the sand dunes. . One baboon grabbed the bag of an Irish lady, but she held on and screamed loudest and the baboon let go," Mr Wright said. I had four because no one else was eating anything," Mr Wright said.
"That day we went to an ostrich farm and got offered steaks for lunch. The couple also won their honeymoon to Sydney in 1995, and then a competition in December 1999 to meet American actor and comedian Robin Williams while he was in Auckland promoting his movie Bicentennial Man.
Mrs Wright has the lucky hand and regularly enters competitions.
The family plans to take up their latest prize during the April school holidays.
The family plans to take up their latest prize during the April school holidays.