Two a penny

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South Auckland police are hunting a suspected serial paedophile sex offender who has already attacked two young girls. . The attacks started early last month.

Detective Senior Sergeant, Daryl Harper said he had concerns “for the escalating nature and frequency of offending.

The Mangere CIB and Child Abuse Team Detectives are leading the hunt and say the attacks all happened around a walkway between Cape Road and Mascot Avenue in Mangere.

In the first attack on Tuesday September 8, about 2.”

Police are urging parents to walk with their children to and from school in the area.45pm, the man dragged a 12-year-old girl to the ground and indecently assaulted her, said Mr Harper.

The eight-year-old was attacked while her younger sister screamed for help.

Then on Monday October 19 he attacked an 8-year-old girl and her 6-year old sister as they went home from School on the same walkway.

He saw a man and chased him into a close toby park where he lost him. The girls’ father heard the cries and ran into the walkway.

The attacker grabbed her top.

In the last attack, on Thursday October 22 a 28-year-old mother was pushing her son in a pram in the walkway. She punched him and he ran off. She punched him and he ran off.5ft high.

The offender is described as Polynesian man aged 18-20 years, 5.

. On one occasion he wore a dark green hoodie sweat shirt and dark jeans on another he wore a black baseball cap, white hooded sweat shirt with a black or dark collar

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New Zealand and Australia will each give $NZ6.18 million to the Samoan Government for tsunami recovery and reconstruction efforts.

The money will help Samoa rebuild its infrastructure, restore essential services, and begin the process of economic recovery, foreign ministers Stephen Smith and Murray McCully said today. More than 150 people, including eight New Zealanders, died in Samoa, Tonga and American Samoa.Samoa was devastated by huge waves which struck on September 29 following a massive quake.The ministers said while emergency aid was provided by both countries soon after the tsunami struck, the priority would now be rebuilding communities, including housing, water, power, and roads.New Zealand has already donated $2m. .”The Samoan Government had effectively co-ordinated the response to the disaster and was quickly identifying priorities for recovery and reconstruction.”Australia and New Zealand will continue to co-ordinate our Samoan recovery and reconstruction efforts over the coming weeks.”Waikato sisters Rebecca, 24, and Petria Martin, 22, were among the New Zealanders who died.”This $A10 million trans-Tasman package of budget support provides Samoa with the ability to rebuild its infrastructure, restore essential services, and begin the process of economic recovery.Their father, Kerry, gave the eulogy and questioned why his daughters – the middle two of four sisters – died.They were farewelled in Matamata yesterday, with about 800 people turning out for their service.”Why Rebecca and Petria? We may never have the answers to these questions,” the Herald on Sunday reported.”Why Rebecca and Petria? We may never have the answers to these questions,” the Herald on Sunday reported.They had saved enough money to buy a house together and had found one shortly before they left for Samoa.”Rebecca taught at Rototuna Primary School, 9km north of Hamilton, and Petria was a team leader at Matamata’s sports centre.It is taking 10 containers of equipment to the islands courtesy of the fund-raising efforts and donations here by New Zealanders – many with relatives caught up in the tragedy.The navy ship HMNZS Canterbury departed for Samoa and Tonga yesterday laden with supplies.

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Police want to hear from anyone who sees unexplained damage on a four-wheel-drive vehicle with bull bars following an incident which left a Tokoroa teen in hospital. .

Detective Sergeant Kevan Verry said it appeared the incident happened after an altercation in the centre of the Waikato township between two groups.30am yesterday.

It was not known if the vehicle had sustained any damage in the incident.

Police were treating the incident as a serious assault.

The scene examination had been completed and several witnesses spoken to.

“If any person knows of someone who drives or owns a vehicle of this type that has some unexplained damage, they are urged to contact police,” Mr Verry said.

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The teenager remains in a critical condition in Waikato Hospital

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A jealous lover was today jailed for a claw hammer attack on a man who he believed to be his ex-girlfriend’s new partner.

Trevor William Grindrod, 34, was sentenced at the High Court in Wellington to seven years and nine months imprisonment.

The man barricaded himself in the bedroom and told Grindrod he had called the police, “but you were not to be denied,” attacking him with the claw hammer, Justice Gendall said.

Justice Warwick Gendall said that six weeks after Grindrod split with his girlfriend, he visited her house uninvited and saw her with a workmate, “you thought, in a mildly amorous situation”.

“You were fortunate you did not kill the complainant.

“This was an unprovoked, prolonged, gratuitous attack with a lethal weapon,” Justice Gendall said.

He smashed his way into the property through a window, broke through the bedroom door and began hitting the man in the head and body with the hammer, adding punches and kicks.”

Crown prosecutor Kate Feltham said Grindrod walked from Wainuiomata to the workmate’s Lower Hutt house, “picking up” the hammer on the way.

Grindrod told police he was trying to kill the man and was initially charged with attempted murder.

The attack spilled into the bathroom where Grindrod ripped a vanity from the wall and attempted to beat his victim with it.

His victim suffered numerous injuries including a broken nose, but after months of physiotherapy escaped long term physical damage.

This was later reduced to injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

“You are a violent man with a low anger threshold and when slighted by others, or you think you are, you attack.

Justice Gendall noted Grindrod had 20 previous convictions, four of which were for assault and included two attacks on children between late 2007 and early 2008.”

A starting point of 10 1/2 years jail was given, but Grindrod was given a “generous discount” of one-third for his early guilty pleas.”

He said Grindrod had attended an anger management course, “but it appears to have had little effect.

Grindrod was also sentenced to five years for aggravated burglary and two years for grievous damage, to be served concurrently, and ordered to pay $3269 in reparation for property damage on his release. A further nine months was added in light of his previous convictions.

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Justice Gendall said Grindrod was fortunate the crown had not sought a minimum jail period

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The Government is planning a stocktake of valuable minerals in the conservation estate but it isn’t going to dig up pristine landscape, Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee says.

Conservation land is protected by Schedule Four of the Crown Minerals Act and Mr Brownlee said he wasn’t considering changing the legislation.”What we’re examining at is the type of land that needs to be in Schedule Four,” he told reporters today.”Mr Brownlee mentioned the stocktake at a mining conference in Queenstown yesterday.”All we’re saying is there may be some places where the conservation values of the land are significantly less than the high standard put on Schedule Four.The estimated value of untapped minerals in New Zealand has been put at about $140 billion and around 70 percent of that involves conservation land.He said today there seemed to be “a degree of panic” about it which was not warranted.”New Zealand has some of the most pristine landscape in the world.”What we’re saying is where there are new lands added to that we need to balance both aspects of economic and conservation values. It is recognised in Schedule Four of the Crown Minerals Act as being impenetrable,” Mr Brownlee said. This is a stocktake, which is perfectly reasonable. .”What New Zealanders need to know is that New Zealand is similarly endowed,” he said.”He said the previous government spent nine years explaining the economic gap between Australia and New Zealand was as a result of Australia’s mineral wealth.”It’s going to be a very public process.”It’s going to be a very public process

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A man was crushed to death in an elevator shaft at the Fonterra plant in Edendale, Southland, this morning.

An ambulance communications spokesman said it received a report at 11.08am of a worker gone missing in an elevator shaft.

A Fonterra spokeswoman said the man was a contractor working on installing the plant’s ED4 drier, as part of a $212 million expansion due to be commissioned in the next two weeks.

The man was found dead by ambulance services, from a “crushing injury,” the spokesman said.

The Labour Department has confirmed it is investigating the fatal accident.

“Our thoughts are with the contractors family, colleagues and friends at this terrible time,” the spokeswoman said. . Theodorus Rangihu Blake, 52, of New Plymouth, was crushed to death at the company’s Hawera, Taranaki, plant in January.

It it the second incident this year where a Fonterra employee died while at work.

-By MICHAEL FORBES and DEBBIE JAMIESON,

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LATEST:
Lock Jason Eaton and wing Hosea Gear have been handed international recalls as Graham Henry today unveiled his 30-strong All Blacks squad for the Tri-Nations.

The selection of Eaton and Gear, who both toured with the All Balcks at the end of last year, and the return from injury of experienced performers Richie McCaw, Rodney So’oialo and Sitiveni Sivivatu are the features of the squad named this morning by Henry and his assistant coaches Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen.

Dropped from the Iveco Series squad is exciting young Counties Manukau wing Lelia Masaga, who could claim to be hard done by after being given only a fleeting chance to shine, and Waikato loose forward Liam Messam who seems to have paid the price for a shoddy performance in Dunedin against France.

Toeava has been named in the squad but Henry confirmed he will miss the first three tests of the Tri-Nations with a stress fracture in his foot.

The squad has a 17-13 forwards-backs split, but it continues to be dogged by injury with utility back Isaia Toeva the latest to join the list of walking wounded.

The return of All Blacks captain McCaw will be a massive boost, with the skipper now fully recovered from the knee injury that kept him out of the Iveco Series. Five-eighth Stephen Donald is also carrying a hamstring strain that may put his participation in the July 18 competition opener against the Wallabies in doubt. .

Both last played for the All Blacks on the 2008 Grand Slam tour, with the pair returning to New Zealand yesterday after helping the Junior All Blacks to victory in the recent IRB Pacific Nations Cup in the Pacific Islands.

The big movers have been 26-year-old Hurricanes and Taranaki lock Eaton and 25-year-old Hurricanes and Wellington winger Gear who have both been whistled up out of the Junior All Blacks. They will then reassemble in Auckland next Sunday to start preparations for the competition opener.

The All Blacks squad will get together in Wellington for a two-day camp next week (Wednesday and Thursday) with four players added as cover.

Players not considered for selection due to injury include lock Ali Williams (Achilles), wing Rudi Wulf (shoulder), flanker Adam Thomson (hand), centre Richard Kahui (shoulder), lock Anthony Boric (toe), halfback Andy Ellis (ribs), hooker Corey Flynn (forearm), flanker Scott Waldrom (back) and first-five eighths Daniel Carter (Achilles).

They are: Hurricanes and Wellington utility back Tamati Ellison, Crusaders and Canterbury first five-eighths Stephen Brett and 2008 All Blacks Ben Franks and Anthony Tuitavake, who were all members of the victorious Junior All Blacks squad.

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A Yemeni Airbus A310 jet carrying 153 people crashed into rough seas as it came into land in the Comoros Islands on Tuesday but rescuers plucked a child survivor from the water, officials said.

There were 142 passengers and a crew of 11 Yemenis on board when the Airbus A310, which had set off from the Yemeni capital of San’a, went down shortly before landing in Moroni, on the main island of Grand Comore, Yemeni civil aviation deputy chief Mohammed Abdul Qader said.

It was the second time in less than a month that an Airbus has crashed into the ocean.

Bodies and wreckage from the Yemenia airline flight were spotted in the Indian Ocean near the capital, Moroni, aviation officials said. This time French authorities said the Yemeni carrier had been under surveillance and that problems had been reported with the jet.

The child was being taken to land where an ambulance waited to take the child to hospital.

But a child among the 142 passengers and 11 crew on Flight IY 626 was rescued alive, a surgeon at the main Moroni hospital said.Most of the passengers were from Comoros, returning from Paris. France said 66 on board were French nationals. Those on board included families with children and there were at least three babies on the flight, he added. She said that three bodies have also been retrieved, along with debris from the plane, but that no other survivors have been recovered so far.Comoros immigrations officer, Rachida Abdullah, told The Associated Press that a child was rescued from the sea. He said it was too early to speculate on the reasons for the crash, adding that the flight data recorder hadn’t been found.Abdul Qader, the Yemeni official, said the child was 5 years old.”The weather was very bad .”The weather was very bad . the wind was very strong,” he said, adding the windy conditions hampered rescue efforts..Gen. Abdul Qader said wind speed was 40 miles per hour (61 kilometers per hour) as the plane was landing.2 miles) north from the Comoran coast and 18 nautical miles (21 miles) from the Moroni airport. Bruno de Bourdoncle de Saint-Salvy, the senior commander for French forces in the southern Indian Ocean, said the Airbus 310 crashed in deep waters about 8 nautical miles (9.m.And on the Indian Ocean island of Ile de la Reunion, an official statement from the French prefecture said the crash occurred at 02:50 GMT Tuesday (10:50 p.French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said French aviation and naval support was heading to help in search operations at the Comoros government’s request. EDT Monday).Kouchner expressed “sincere condolences” and said the French Embassy in Moroni was “fully mobilized” to help families.Kouchner expressed “sincere condolences” and said the French Embassy in Moroni was “fully mobilized” to help families. The French junior minister for cooperation, Alain Joyandet, is heading Tuesday to Moroni, the statement said.The Comoros is an archipelago of three main islands situated about 2,900 kilometers south of Yemen, between Africa’s southeastern coast and Madagascar.Christophe Prazuck, French military spokesperson, says that patrol boat, the Rieuse and fregate Nivose, a reconnaissance ship, were being sent to crash site as well as Transall, a military transport plane. The French were sending divers as well as medical personnel on the plane, he said.In Paris, a crisis cell was set up at Charles de Gaulle airport. Most of the passengers on board were from the French city of Marseille, which has a large Comoros community.Another crisis cell has been established in Marseille, according to Stephane Salord, the consul general of the Comoros in the Provence-Alps-Cote d’Azur region of France.”There is considerable dismay,” Salord said. “These are families that, each year on the eve of summer, leave Marseille and the region to rejoin their families in the Comoros and spend their holidays.”In France, this week is the start of annual summer school vacations.An Airbus statement said the plane that crashed went into service 19 years ago, in 1990, and had accumulated 51,900 flight hours. It has been operated by Yemenia (Yemen Airways) since 1999.Airbus identifies the plane’s serial number as 535, and said it was sending a team of specialists to the Comoros. . There are 214 A310s in service worldwide with 41 operators.France’s transport minister Dominique Bussereau said French aviation inspectors found a “number of faults” during a 2007 inspection of the plane. He told France’s i-Tele television that the Airbus A310 was inspected by France’s civil aviation agency DGAC and “they noticed a certain number of faults.”On May 31, an Airbus A330 operated by Air France ran into thunderstorms after leaving Brazil and crashed into the Atlantic. Fifty-one bodies were recovered from that flight, which was carrying 228 people.

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The Rimutaka Hill Road north of Wellington was open early tonight after being closed because of snow but may close again later tonight.

NZ Transport Agency highways manager for Wellington, Rob Whight said the agency’s contractor was clearing a further dusting of snow this evening, but there was potential for the road to close overnight.

Freezing weather has hit much of the country today.

If the road had to be closed overnight it would be reopened in time for morning traffic between the Wairarapa and Wellington, unless conditions were too bad.

New Zealand Transport Agency operating manager David Bates told Radio New Zealand there was a lot of ice and snow about, especially around Dunedin.

State Highway 87 in the South Island was also closed because of the chilly conditions.”

The agency was also urging caution on the Desert Rd, State Highway 1 between Waiouru and Turangi in the Central North Island, where up to 5cm of snow was expected on the road.

”This evening the problem’s going to be ice and we’re recommending in Dunedin and areas around Dunedin people don’t go out unless it’s absolutely essential.

Heavy snow falls in Dunedin caused a number of accidents and closed roads in and out of the city.

Snow, black ice and sleet caused traffic chaos in and around the hills of Dunedin earlier today.

Sergeant Ed Baker said Dunedin’s roads had quietened down this afternoon once people realised they shouldn’t be driving around in such conditions.

Schools were also closed because buses could not take students to school.

It had been so busy police were not attending minor accidents where cars slid off the road.

The Kilmog Hill, on SH1 north of Dunedin, was close to reopening but flurries of snow threatened to keep it closed, he said.

Snow also closed Dunedin Airport earlier today, cancelling a total of 10 flights and the travel plans of 480 people. There had been no serious injury accidents, he said.40am.

However, the snow cleared and flights were able to leave from 10. .

Dunedin Airport was only rarely closed because of snow, said Air New Zealand airport manager Alistair Bevin.

For the rest of Otago, Southland and Fiordland there would be snow to close to sea level, with snow levels rising.

Snow showers would clear by evening for a frosty night but it would be fine tomorrow for north and Central Otago.

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Court dismisses Gardner’s appeal

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Snow showers were forecast for Porters Pass, Lindis Pass and the Milford Road in the South Island

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Health board sued over car death

– Monday, 02 March 2009

A woman whose mother was killed by a drugged methadone patient near Picton is suing a South Island health board over the death.
Picton woman Mary Radley died in 2004 after her vehicle was hit by a car driven by a man with methadone and the equivalent of 500mg of a tranquilliser in his system.
The driver, who has name suppression, was a patient on the methadone programme run by the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board at the time of the crash.
Ford will claim, under human rights legislation, that the health board breached its obligations to ensure public safety by its alleged lax management of the driver who killed Radley.
This week, Radley's daughter, Rachael Ford, employed a Queen's Counsel to take legal action against the health board.
A recent coroner's court finding into Radley's death said the driver failed four drug tests in the year before the fatal crash and the health board was aware of his escalating risk on the roads.
Ford told she was taking legal action because she did not feel the health board fully accepted the impact of its actions.
Ford, who started the lobby group Campaign Against Drugs on Roads (Candor) to press for tougher laws on drug driving, said she wanted the board to acknowledge the effect its systemic failures had had on her family.
Under a behaviour management programme running at the prison between 1998 and 2004, inmates Christopher Taunoa, Alistair Robinson and Matthew Kidman were kept in solitary confinement for extended periods, denied regular clothing and bedding changes, and had their weekly toilet-paper use restricted.
The law that Ford will use in her claim is the same as that employed by three violent prisoners from Paremoremo prison, who favourably sued the Corrections Department for breaching their human rights.
Taunoa, a convicted murderer, was awarded damages of $35,000. .
Canterbury University public law expert Professor Stephen Todd said suing public institutions under human rights legislation was a "pretty popular thing", as a result of the possibility of financial payments. Aggravated robber Robinson was paid $20,000 in damages, while fellow aggravated robber Kidman was paid $4000.
The case of the three Paremoremo prisoners was one of the best-known recent examples, he said.
The case of the three Paremoremo prisoners was one of the best-known recent examples, he said