Two a penny

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Gang show of force at court

By LYN HUMPHREYS – Friday, 16 January 2009

BRADLEY AMBROSE/
BACKED IN BLACK: More than 30 Taranaki Black Power members turned out in support of five of their gang members facing charges of murder.

Five Black Power gang members accused of murder will stay behind bars because of fears of witness intimidation.
The five have been in custody since being arrested in December.
Peri Niwa, 31, a scaffolder, was stabbed to death on November 16 in the New Plymouth suburb of Moturoa.
Judge Roberts said that on the night of the alleged murder, the five had travelled across town, as members of Black Power, literally to confront another group.
In the New Plymouth District Court yesterday, Judge Allan Roberts declined Adrian Fenton and Rangi Rick Brown release on 24-hour electronic bail, saying the risks to witnesses were too great.
It would be much easier for the gang members to track down and intimidate witnesses if they were out on bail, the judge said.
"There was a shotgun and a knife or other sharp object utilised to stab Mr Niwa," he said.
The judge replied, "Won't that intensify activity to find out who they are?"
Judge Roberts said police had now charged Fenton with illegal possession of a sawn-off 12-gauge pump action shotgun and a knife.
For the two men, defence lawyer Barry Henderson argued that there could be no fear that his clients would intimidate witnesses because they had no idea who the witnesses were.
"I do not consider e-bail will prevent this person (Fenton) from avoiding his obligations.
There was also a risk that Fenton and Brown would not turn up to court if released on bail, the judge said."
"(Brown) can walk out the door. I'm not prepared to grant bail even on the most stringent terms. E-bail doesn't keep him there. If he walks out and scoots he's gone.
All five faced new charges yesterday, including possession of weapons and participating in a criminal group that was reckless in their criminal activity. It doesn't act as a GPS," the judge said.
The five gang members return to court on March 10 for a hearing during which the Crown will argue for the court to give full anonymity to prosecution witnesses. .
Outside court, Taranaki Black Power turned up in force to support the five accused.
All four defence lawyers stated yesterday that they intend to challenge the Crown's application.
During the court hearing, large numbers of police filled the courtroom after the front benches of the public gallery were cleared. Many wore patches and blue bandannas covering the lower part of their faces.

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Controversial fundraiser returns

– Tuesday, 06 January 2009

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON
CONTROVERSIAL: Fundraiser John Peters in Christchurch.

A controversial professional fundraiser is back selling pens on Christchurch streets for a little-known Canterbury charity that has not spent a dollar of the $20,000 raised.
Since first appearing in in May 2006, he had featured in other newspapers and was criticised in Parliament for his fundraising methods which included sitting in a chair, his legs apparently useless, to give the impression he was disabled.
Former ACT candidate John Peters travels New Zealand selling $20 pens, of which $5 from each goes to charity.
He would not give a card or contact number for the trust's director, saying it could be found on the internet.
When approached by in City Mall on Friday, he said his current charity was the Disabled Children's Trust, for which he had raised $20,000 over the past year.
Williamson has another charitable trust registered under his name called the Hope for Children Charitable Foundation.
However, internet searches found no trace of the trust except on the Companies Office website, which said it had been registered to Christchurch man David Williamson since 2002.
None of the money had been spent and it was sitting in a bank account, he said.
Williamson confirmed Peters' claim that he had raised $20,000 for the Disabled Children's Trust over the past year.
Ferndale School chairwoman Annie Barnes said she had never heard of Williamson and, to her knowledge, the school had never received a donation from him.
He planned to use it to buy wheelchair swings for Ferndale Special School in Merivale, which he said he had donated to in the past through a person he knew there.
"This has just come out of the blue. .
Williamson said he had no problem with receiving just 25 per cent of donations made to the trust and did not have any other way of fundraising before Peters started doing the work. If he's planning to do that, that would be very nice," she said."
He said his other charity, the Hope for Children Charitable Foundation, raised money from local businesses and donated it to several causes, including the Canterbury Charity Hospital and buying "kids laptops".
"He (Peters) came and saw me one day and told me his background and I thought why not give the man a second chance and that's what I'm doing.
Peters said all the negative publicity over the past couple of years was giving people the wrong idea about him.
Hospital manager Lorraine Proffit said she could recall Williamson making a donation, but could not say the amount.
In 2006, Peters was reported as owning a property portfolio worth between $1 million and $1.
One man had physically attacked him after reading an article in the paper, he said.
He confirmed to the in July that his turnover from fundraising was more than $40,000 a year, which required him to register for GST.5m.

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‘Air NZ family’ gathers at Canet beach

– Wednesday, 03 December 2008

Fairfax
SAD GATHERING: Families of the crash victims and Air New Zealand staff hold a simple ceremony, including a waiata, on Canet beach. ‘This will be a special place for the rest of our lives,’ airline chief executive Rob Fyfe said.

Wait for answers may take years

It wasa poignant piece of New Zealand on a Mediterranean beach. All seven people on board died, five of them New Zealanders.
Just five days earlier, an Air New Zealand Airbus A320 had smashed into the Mediterranean Sea seven kilometres off the coast of France. For a short time it was ours.
Canet beach, beneath the snow capped Pyrenees, is better known for its summer influx of the rich and famous.
Relatives of the crash victims and Air New Zealand officials arrived at the beach by bus yesterday afternoon. Citizens paused along the foreshore and on the breakwater to respectfully watch the sad huddle of people. A big squad of gendarmes were there. Remains of three people have been recovered, but hope is slim that the others will be found.
In an eerie moment, an A320 plane flew across, going over the site on the horizon in which the remains of the aircraft, and most of the dead, lie. "This will be a special place for the rest of our lives.
Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe told the gathering they would all now be connected to the beach."
Cultural adviser Andrew Baker spoke briefly in Maori and then, alone, sang a waiata."
Cultural adviser Andrew Baker spoke briefly in Maori and then, alone, sang a waiata.
As the "Air New Zealand family", as they now like to call themselves, moved from the beach up to the port, some scooped Canet sand into bags. We were all tangata whenua on that beach. The lifeboat crews had been among the first to reach the wreckage last week.
They boarded two volunteer lifeboats and were taken out to sea, to the spot that is now officially a crime scene, to cast flowers on the water.
Earlier, Mr Fyfe and two family members spoke of the losses.
Air New Zealand staff members performed a haka at the site. "I feel I really needed to do it for myself and him, I wanted to bring Murray home," she said, and then her voice trailed away, "but perhaps not".
Emma Gould, of Auckland, who lost her partner Murray White, began to say how important it was to bring Murray home. "I have come to that reality.
Bill Marsh, of Invercargill, whose engineer son Noel Marsh died, said he was accepting that they may return to New Zealand with nothing."
His son had just built a new home in Christchurch and Mr Marsh and his wife were ready last Friday to help the family move."
His son had just built a new home in Christchurch and Mr Marsh and his wife were ready last Friday to help the family move. Then they heard of the air crash and knew Noel had probably gone.
Now their main aim was to take their son home if they could.
Noel's pregnant wife, Tracey, was examining after the couple's two young children and could not come to Canet beach.
"It was her wish that we visit the site."
Mr Marsh said the flight to France had been the longest of his life. It was comfortable and he slept, but like other members of the families "you still have your moments, and at one point we all woke up blubbing our eyes out".
Often, in the past, as others experienced tragedy, he had reflected on how lucky his family was. Then this.
"Losing a son is something different again – you never expect to bury your own children, and that is the hardest thing in our lives."
Last year, Noel had written a long list of things that needed to be done before his family was ready to move into their new home.
At the top he wrote that when he died he wanted his organs donated and his body to be cremated.
Mr Marsh praised the way Air New Zealand had looked after the families.
Ms Gould said she had not hesitated about getting on a plane and coming to France. "What's happened to our guys is a freak accident. On our journey, we did have a few laughs. That was important to me because Murray and I felt the funny side of life. Murray was always smiling."
Most of the photos she had of Murray and herself had been on his laptop computer which went down with the plane.
"As my brother pointed out, the photos have gone with Murray. .
Like the Marsh family, she and her partner had been building a home and were close toly ready to move in.
"I've lost parents, but I did not expect to be on my own at 34 like this. I've got a long and lonely road ahead … I am gutted that I've lost my soul mate, that my stepson has lost his father, who was his ultimate, my kids have lost out on a step father.
"Murray's parents have lost a special part of their unit. I am not angry, yet. I probably will be, at some stage."

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Quick action saves toddler

By ALICE COWDREY Monday, 01 December 2008

MARTIN DE RUYTER/
LITTLE HERO: Ciarna Epiha’s alert saved Degan Broker from drowning.

The actions of a quick-thinking Nelson five-year-old girl helped to save a toddler's life.
Ciarna said she quickly ran inside to alert Degan's mother Cindy Broker, who had gone indoors to answer a phone call.
Ciarna Epiha, who attends Stoke School, was playing outside at a friend's house on Saturday when she found 18-month-old Degan Broker in an old bathtub used as a tadpole pond in the garden.
She pulled him out of the water and hit him on the back, and he vomited and started screaming and coughing.
Mrs Broker ran outside to find Degan on his back with water covering his face, his body floppy and his arms "flailing around". . Mrs Broker rushed him to Nelson Hospital's accident and emergency department, where he was checked and given the all-clear."
She hoped that other parents would realise just how quickly things could happen.
"He would have been dead if (Ciarna) didn't tell us.
She had talked to Ciarna about accidents, and said she had good common sense.
Ciarna's mother Letitia Friend said her daughter did not seem too fazed by her heroics and was more interested in telling her about Saturday's Richmond Santa parade.
"She is my little hero.
"I had told her, `If you see something bad happening, you find an adult and tell them straight away'."

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Fire leaves woman homeless

Monday, 17 November 2008

Investigators are still trying to determine what started a fire that gutted an 80-year-old house, leaving the tenant homeless and incinerating all her possessions.
Perched on the top of the western hills in Maungaraki Rd, Korokoro, overexamining Hutt Valley, the house was ravaged by the fire on Saturday afternoon.
Her brother, Daniel, 21, was surveying the burnt-out shell yesterday, and said that she had no idea as to the cause.
Tenant Paula Carswell was out when it started and returned home to find the building ablaze."
Most of her belongings had gone up in smoke and she was staying in a hotel provided by her insurance company, Mr Carswell said. "Nothing was on, no ovens or anything. "These things happen, you never know what is around the corner.
Owner Ron McMillan said he was upset at the loss of the house but thankful no one was hurt."
The three-bedroom house was built in the "late 20s or early 30s" by Mr McMillan's grandfather. It's just one of those freak things, who knows what [the cause] was. . "I was born and bred there, and so was my father.
The fire service was alerted just before 2.
"The fire spread through the interior [of the house] and caused extensive damage," a firefighter said.
Seven fire engines and police attended the fire, which was brought under control by 4pm.30pm on Saturday and the fire was "well involved" by the time firefighters reached the scene, a spokesman said.

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Nelson man jailed for attacks on Asians

Thursday, 06 November 2008

A Stoke man convicted of an attack on two Asians has been jailed for nine months.
David James McBain, 23, unemployed, appeared for sentencing in the Nelson District Court on Tuesday having admitted charges of careless use of a motor vehicle, assault, driving with excess breath-alcohol, obstruction of justice and threatening behaviour.
Judge Chris Tuohy said that at 11am on June 8, McBain was at the Shell service station in Rutherford Street, Nelson.
McBain raised his fist at the victim and continued to abuse him until an associate pulled him away. A 25-year-old Asian man was pumping up his car tyres when McBain approached him in an aggressive manner, abusing him.15pm the same day, McBain was driving in the carpark of Nelson's Countdown supermarket.
At 6. He drove towards a pedestrian crossing, where another Asian man was standing with two friends. He followed them and swerved towards them, attempting to pin the victim against a wire mesh fence. Judge Tuohy said McBain slowed down and yelled abuse at them. He ran off with his friends.
The man was struck by McBain's car and was thrown against the fence.
McBain was caught by police after crashing his car at 8. .20pm.20pm.
Judge Tuohy said it was "disgraceful behaviour" and it was essential the court denounced the offending because of its racial undertones. The legal limit is 400mcg.

. He sentenced McBain to nine months in jail, and disqualifying him from driving for nine months

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Trust trying to sell Centrepoint’s soul say critics

By KAREN ARNOLD – Sunday, 26 October 2008

The lastremaining land once owned by the Centrepoint Community Trust is for sale, raising fears it could be bought by developers.
Felicity Goodyear-Smith, a spokeswoman for former members and residents, says the 7.
The Public Trust has administered the property for the past seven years as trustee of the New Zealand Community Growth Trust which was established after the Centrepoint Trust and commune fell apart.6ha bush-clad Albany property – which had a $4 million valuation in 2005 – was a jewel on the North Shore that could fall into private ownership.
Bayleys Realty Group sales consultant Nigel McNeill said the nature of the property and buildings opened up a huge range of potential uses.
At its height, more than 200 people lived there but it closed in 2000, soon after founder Bert Potter was released from a nine-year jail sentence for child abuse.
"Substantial infrastructure such as roading and bridges, have been installed over the years to create the basis of a very well serviced communal living setting.
Less than 40% of the land area had been cleared and the site included a large kitchen and dining area, recreational building, swimming pool complex, full-scale professional pottery studio with gas- fired kilns, dance/music/art studios, six wood and metal workshops, a creche and residential accommodation blocks.
"Alternatively, we envisage the land could be developed into a luxury hotel, health centre or retirement village."
McNeill said target market buyers included tertiary education providers, cultural groups, art patrons, adult education organisations, religious groups, larger community organisations, and environmental groups.
The site was the last remaining "exquisite" piece of land on the North Shore."
Goodyear-Smith said that would be the worst outcome, not only for those who had lived there, but for the wider Auckland community.
Former members had sold all their possessions and gifted the money to the Centrepoint community trust which was set up in 1977. Apart from its environmental value, it also had an emotional value for the people who had been part of the Centrepoint community, she said."
About 70 babies had been born there and their placentas had been buried in a special area. "They expected to live there forever.
"For the last couple of years our group [the Mills Lane stakeholders] has tried to get this land into public ownership. Other people had had their ashes spread at Centrepoint.
Public Trust spokesman Simon Dixie said several potential private buyers had inquired about Centrepoint during the past year, prompting it to promote the property to a wider market "to ensure a robust process aimed at achieving the best result for the trust". . "Ethically, this land belongs to New Zealand.
But Goodyear-Smith said her group was "disturbed" the Public Trust wanted to sell the property for the highest price although she acknowledged it had the legal right to do so.

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Tenders close on December 4

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‘Boys groomed for sex’ court told

Thursday, 18 September 2008

A bus driver who met two intellectually-challenged boys on his bus allegedly groomed them for sex, a court has been told.
In the Christchurch District Court, Robert James Ferguson, 59, denied two charges of grooming a young person for sex, doing an indecent act on a young person, and sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection or, in the alternative, sexual connection with a person under 16.
They alleged that what was originally a friendship progressed to sexual activity during a holiday.
Opening the Crown case, prosecutor Kathryn Dalziel said Ferguson met the two brothers on his bus.
Ferguson had befriended the boys over time, giving them his telephone number and showing them where he lived.
"The Crown says it will become apparent they are telling the truth about what the accused did to them in that week of the school holidays," Dalziel said.
Ferguson took leave and arranged to meet the brothers, buying them treats, taking them for drives and back to his flat to watch videos.
In April last year, one of the boys let Ferguson know his parents would be away on holiday.
Ferguson admitted paying the boys to massage his thigh.
He told them he had a steel rod in his thigh, which was painful, and asked them to massage his thigh with baby oil.
Both boys had a mental age much younger than their actual age and received learning support, Dalziel said. He said it was a silly thing to do and he should have known better, but he denied any sexual offending.
Ferguson denied any improper intention towards the boys, or that any sexual contact or touching occurred.
Opening for the defence, lawyer David Bunce asked the jury not to jump to any premature conclusions.

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The trial is expected to take about three days