Two a penny

Jess is sixteen and aware that she is in an impossible positionbeing the homosexual daughter of the president of the Mennonite college. She hits the road in search of a language and the freedom to speak it. On the train to Winnipeg she is found by Freya the Icelandic princess of her dreams. Halfsteinn fisherman and expert in the fine Paperback Jan Braun art of hand-rolling cigarettes enters Jess life helping her escape emotional captivity. Jess embraces pothead videogameplaying housemates in the world away from her Mennonite being. Then she meets Shea. Jess can barely utter the nameafraid of the word the woman the possibility and her own past.

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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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A plane flying from Great Barrier Island to Auckland with around 11 people on board was forced to turn back yesterday when one of its propellers broke apart shortly after take-off.

Traffic Accident Investigation Commission chief investigator Tim Burfoot said they knew very little about the incident involving the Great Barrier Airlines plane but an investigator had been sent to the island.

He said the rear-propeller of the tri-engine plane, believed to be a Britten Norman Trilander, had broken apart and either one or both blades had detached themselves from the rear engine’s propeller hub mid-flight.

Mr Burfoot said pilots were trained to handle such situations and it was standard practice for planes to find a suitable spot for an emergency landing.

“The plane made a successful return and nobody was injured,” he said.”

It was unclear what damage there was to the plane.

“The plane had three engines, that particular plane, so they obviously would have lost one and [the pilot] would have shut that down when it happened and he would have had the other two.

The investigation was expected to take several days. .

Great Barrier Island fire and police said they were not aware of the incident.

– By Michael Field and Clio Francis,

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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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A Poverty Bay teenager found dead in his
bed yesterday suffered head injuries in an fight at a party last week,
police say.

A homicide investigation has been launched, Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Scott of Gisborne CIB said.

Family members found Waylin Te Rau Aroha Ngarangione, 19, dead at his family home in Manutuke, 13km southwest of Gisborne, about 9am yesterday.

`We’re still trying to work out exactly what’s happened,” he said.

The teen had been involved in an fight during a small party at the house in Manutuke last Wednesday night, Mr Scott said. It was at a party of about eight to 10 people, a small group of family and friends.

“I think it was just a minor argument.

“We’re still working through it, talking to all the people who were there, just putting a picture together.

–

– Next Crime story: –
Body may be that of missing man

– National Homepage –

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New stage of Manukau police hub open

By NICOLA WILLIAMS – Eastern Courier Tuesday, 10 February 2009

TIMI TIKKANEN/Eastern Courier
GRAND OPENING: Police minister and Papakura MP Judith Collins opened the second stage of the Manukau policing hub complex today.

The second stage of a Manukau policing hub was opened today by police minister Judith Collins.
It features a tunnel between the Hub and the Manukau courthouse for prisoner transfers.
Part two of the Wiri Station Rd police station has a 24-hour cell block and will be home to team policing, road policing, a file management centre and a serious incidents room. .
The second stage cost $22 million bringing the total cost of the hub to $35 million.
"I am a firm believer that the foundation of any police service is officers out on the streets and the neighbourhoods where crime occurs.
"I am confident that this state-of-the-art new station will enable the police to serve the people of Manukau City and Counties-Manukau with professionalism and pride."
She expressed her pride in the New Zealand police and her belief they are among the finest in the world. Being visible and being responsive is one of the greatest deterrents to criminals."
Ms Collins says additional manpower, stronger legislation and community support will make a significant impact on the front lines of crime.
"However, there is no room for complacency, during my term as Police Minister I will be asking for even higher levels of excellence and professionalism.
The Hub is now the police headquarters for Manukau which was previously located in Otahuhu.
Among those at the ceremony were assistant commissioner Steve Shortland, district commander Mike Bush and deputy police commissioner Lynne Provost.

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Harder times expected in job market

By EMMA PAGE – Sunday, 18 January 2009

It's shaping up to be a tough year for Kiwi workers as the New Zealand job market continues to weaken during the global financial crisis.
Experts say there will be more competition for fewer jobs, with unemployment picked to hit 6 percent for the first time in eight years, and the latest figures from the Institute of Economic Research revealing that close toly one-third of firms expect to lay off staff. Unions are expecting wage negotiations to be tough this year while Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O'Reilly says pay claims will "moderate significantly".
And workers with secure jobs shouldn't budget on a pay rise. .
"I would be very surprised if they were anything like as high as they have been for the last year or two.
Although some of the drop can be explained by seasonal differences and the numbers didn't factor in part-time listings, TradeMe Jobs head Jimmy McGee says they indicate the market is deteriorating.
Fulltime job listings on the site dropped around 15 percent in the second half of 2008 while a surge of job seekers saw the number of applicants per vacancy increase 32 percent.
Auckland and Wellington were the best places to land a high-paid job, and IT workers and doctors were netting the best pay.
The study, which looked at 61,000 jobs, found customer service roles and the banking and finance sector had been worst-hit, while central and local government, and engineering were showing growth.
McGee predicts that pay rates will stagnate this year and workers will become reluctant to change jobs. Kitchen workers, baristas and caregivers were paid the least."
Thousands of Kiwis have already lost their jobs in recent months, and BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander warns there will be further layoffs across all sectors. "It's entirely reasonable to expect that things are going to get worse.
"I'm pretty confident overall that workers' expectations will be moderate because they're reading the same newspapers as their bosses.
O'Reilly expects the minimum wage will remain at $12 and that workers, aware of the current economic climate would not ask employers for more money.
And they say the minimum wage should keep rising."
But the major unions, which have hundreds of contracts up for renegotiation this year involving close toly 50,000 workers, say they will continue to push for pay rises to keep in step with inflation picked to be around 3 percent this year.
"If businesses can't survive by paying reasonable and acceptable pay increases, then they're probably not going to survive anyway and there's no reason for workers to cop that and underprice themselves.
Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union chief executive Andrew Little says accepting low or no wage increases did not typically save jobs.
"If the value of wages isn't keeping pace with what's happening worldwide and we become a low-income country to work in, we'll simply lose golden talented people as we have been."
He didn't want to see a repeat of the 1990s when New Zealand became a low-wage economy.
And it wasn't all bad news."
National Distribution Union president Robert Reid said the government was partly relying on consumer spending to pull the country out of recession, so a "healthy wage increase was the best and most just mechanism to get the economy growing again".
And the TradeMe Jobs figures show some professions still demand high wages.
And the TradeMe Jobs figures show some professions still demand high wages. McGee says advertisements for six-figure jobs have remained relatively constant.
"Even in the current climate, high-calibre revenue generators are in demand and paid accordingly."

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Man in court over attack on Dutch tourists

Saturday, 17 January 2009

A 25-year-old man facing a charge of raping a Dutch tourist at Tuatapere has made a brief appearance in the Invercargill District Court.
The man, who was granted interim name supression, appeared before Justice of the Peace Fraser Clark on the charge which stems from an attack on the 22-year-old woman and her partner, 25, at the Five Mountains Holiday Park in the western Southland town on Thursday morning. .
Lawyer for the man Hugo Young said he sought a remand for his client, and made no application for bail.
Yesterday, the man in charge of the police investigation in to the attack, Detective Sergeant Dave Nelson said the rape charge was likely to be followed by other charges.
Mr Clark remanded the man in custody to reappear in the Invercargill District Court on Friday.

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Scared cat causes jail stabbing

Friday, 02 January 2009

A convictedrapist and murderer nearing the end of his prison sentence stabbed a fellow inmate six times in the neck for scaring his cat.
The Boxing Day attack was sparked after a prisoner entered the living room he shared with another man in Wellington's Rimutaka Prison, startling a feral cat the pair had befriended. . The man would have been killed if a third prisoner had not stepped in, Corrections Association president Beven Hanlon said.
The cat scampered away when the prisoner entered the room."
It is understood the attacker was in prison for rape and murder.
"That prisoner is lucky to be alive.
Corrections acting southern assistant regional manager Tony Howe confirmed there had been an attack with a "makeshift weapon" during a dispute over a feral cat the prisoners had befriended.
His attacker is now in a high-security area.
The injured prisoner was taken to Hutt Hospital under escort but returned to Rimutaka on December 28.
Violence in the self-care unit was rare.
Police are investigating, and Mr Howe said Corrections would begin its own investigation.