Two a penny

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Police have charged Paremoremo inmate George Baker after he allegedly took another man hostage in the Auckland prison the previous month.

Baker, 28, will appear in North Shore District Court charged with kidnapping, assault with a weapon and threatening to kill.

He was believed to have been armed with a makeshift knife and was demanding a transfer to a less secure unit.

The charges are in relation to an incident at Paremoremo prison the previous month when Baker, who has a history of mental health problems, allegedly took another man hostage with weapons improvised from the prison’s recreation room. .

Baker eventually freed his hostage, believed to have been an elderly sex offender, and gave himself up peacefully.

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Baker is due to appear on 18 September

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A Wairarapa mother who crashed her car, killing her four-year-old son, was today found guilty in the High Court at Wellington of his manslaughter. .45pm, after beginning their deliberations at 4pm yesterday.

Her four-year-old son Konrad Truger was thrown about 30m from the vehicle.

Wendy-May Connon was behind the wheel when her car left the road in Featherston, flipping and rolling several times, on January 16 last year.

In his summing up, Crown prosecutor Mark O’Donoghue told the jury Connon was impaired from the cannabis in her system, she had also been speeding, and Konrad was only secured by a lap belt and wasn’t sitting in a booster seat. He suffered severe brain injuries and died three days later.

Connon’s lawyer Jock Blathwayt said there was no evidence she was affected by the cannabis and Konrad would have died regardless of whether he was in a booster seat.

He remanded Connon on bail.

Before the verdict was read, Justice Joseph Williams said it was a tense time and urged those present to remain calm.

Leaving the dock, Connon said: “Thanks for nothing. Sentencing was set for September 24.

Detective Mana Faraimo said there were no winners from the outcome.”

Outside the courtroom, tearful family members consoled each other.

“We still have two grieving families grieving over their four-year-old son.

“We still have two grieving families grieving over their four-year-old son.

–

.”

Speeding and taking drugs were a dangerous combination, he said

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At least 156 people have been killed in rioting in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, with the government blaming exiled separatists for the traditionally Muslim area’s worst case of unrest in years.

Hundreds of people have been arrested, the official Xinhua news agency said, after protesters from the Uighur minority took to the streets of the regional capital on Sunday, burning and smashing vehicles and shops, and clashing with anti-riot police. .

“In terms of China’s domestic economy, it is in a remote place and it does not have a big impact on things generally unless there is some evidence, of which there is none, that the government is in some meaningful way losing control,” said Arthur Kroeber, Managing Director of Dragonomics, a research and advisory firm in Beijing.

No figures have been given on the ethnic identity of the dead but a senior security official said that many of the bodies he saw were Han Chinese, suggesting an explosion of pent-up anger against the economically dominant group.

But minorities have long complained that Han Chinese have reaped most of the benefits from official subsidies, while making locals feel like outsiders in their own homes.

By late Monday order was restored.

“It was like a war zone here, with many bodies of ethnic Han people lying on the road,” Xinhua quoted Huang Yabo, deputy director of the Urumqi Public Security Bureau saying.

But if the violence triggers scrutiny of Beijing’s policies in Xinjiang or if officials launch a harsh crackdown, China’s standing as a global power may take a hit, analysts say. Anti-riot police patrolled clean, quiet streets, a reminder of the strength of the Chinese state in an area which has long had a heavy security presence. Coercion alone will not solve the problem.

“This will bring a negative impact on China’s image as a responsible power.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, when asked about the rioting on Monday, urged governments to respect their people’s right to protest. If you use coercion alone it will worsen the problem,” said Zheng Yongnian, director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore.

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“All the differences of opinion, whether domestic or international, must be resolved peacefully through dialogue,” Ban told a news conference in Geneva

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Sean Headifen hugged his girlfriend as he took his dying breath after a brutal attack which started over a $5 cocktail in a Bali bar.

Sarah Whitburn, 19, arrived home in Palmerston North on Wednesday night after dealing with her boyfriend’s death on her own in a foreign country for four gruelling days.

The brawl started over a free cocktail coupon.

The couple, together five months, had been on the perfect holiday until the bar brawl that led to 22-year-old Mr Headifen’s death.30am Sunday, they tried to redeem the coupon at the Bounty Bar.

About 2.

As they walked away Mr Headifen accidently knocked over a glass. Staff sent them upstairs and downstairs, and then the bartender swore at them and ignored them.

“It hit him on his right temple.

Miss Whitburn turned to see the bartender pick up a fishbowl glass and throw it at Mr Headifen.. [I believe] . that is what ultimately killed him..” Silence fell over the bar, and when security staff grabbed Mr Headifen a fight broke out.

“Sean sort of stood there all confused.

“They had his arms held behind his back and the boxer guy was punching him in the stomach, that’s where the internal damage was done.

Mr Headifen was allegedly punched repeatedly by six men, including Indonesian champion boxer Andreas Seran, 29, who was “good mates” with the security staff.”

Seran took a swing at Miss Whitburn and injured her wrist, which is now bandaged. I jumped on his [Seran's] back to try and pull him off.

“I was trying to push in and get him out but they just wouldn’t let me.

Mr Headifen was pushed to the ground and hit the back of his head on stairs.”

They were pushed outside by the mob. He started to get up and they started punching him and kicking him again.”

Mr Headifen had a bleeding split lip and a lump the size of a golf ball on his right temple.”

Mr Headifen had a bleeding split lip and a lump the size of a golf ball on his right temple.

“Before it happened he was drunk, but he was talking fine. After that he was slurring all of his words, he couldn’t walk straight and he was flopping over.”

Miss Whitburn said he was talking to her during the one-minute walk back to their room where she lay him on the double bed at Sari Yasa Samudra Bungalows.

“I said: `I can’t look after you by myself I need to get help’.”

She pleaded with reception staff to ring an ambulance.

“They rang the number and gave the phone to me and I said: `I need an ambulance, my partner’s been hit in the head and he’s bleeding. I think he needs stitches and he’s got a lump on his head’. They said: `Does he have travel insurance?’ and I said: `No’.”

The ambulance staff said it would cost more than three million rupiah, equivalent to NZ$500, but the couple didn’t have this sort of cash on them.

An ATM withdrawal was limited to one million rupiah at a time, she said.

“They never mentioned a free ambulance.”

Worried, she rushed back to Mr Headifen. “He was sitting on the side of the bed and had just thrown up on the floor, that would have been from all the punching in his stomach.

“He took off his T-shirt and threw that on the floor and lay back down. I thought he’s talking to me, he’s thrown up, he’s taken his own clothes off so he’s not too bung in the head.”

She told him she was going to find help.

“On the way out he said: `I love you’ and I said: `I love you too’.”

By now she was frantic. She went to find a pay phone, and going out of the hotel bumped into an Australian man, Sam Rohan, 24. They rushed to his hotel five minutes away to get his mobile phone.

Miss Whitburn called her travel insurers, Southern Cross, to see if Mr Headifen could be covered by her insurance.

The answer was no.

She didn’t call for another ambulance as she believed her efforts would be futile.

When she returned to Mr Headifen he’d vomited again.

About 4am, 90 minutes after the attack, Miss Whitburn had a shower to wash the blood off, put on her pyjamas and got into bed with Mr Headifen.

“He woke up and I thought if he’s got a head injury the best thing to do is keep him awake.”

But all she could do was make sure he kept breathing.

“He had his arm around me and I had my head on his chest so I could hear him breathe.”

He was breathing “really fast”, she said.

“I tried to stay awake for as long as I could .. . just after 5am I fell asleep for maybe 10 or 20 minutes. When I woke up his breathing was slowing down real fast.”

He finally stopped breathing between 5.30am and 5.45am.

“He was still hugging me.”

She couldn’t feel his pulse, his pupils had dilated and his mouth had turned blue.

She ran to the reception and told them he wasn’t breathing and they needed to call an ambulance.

“I ran back to the room and was yelling at him and shaking him trying to wake him up.”

It took another hour for an ambulance to arrive. She stayed in bed with him.

“I knew he was dead but I wasn’t going to leave until the ambulance got there.”

Ambulance staff started doing CPR.

“For a couple of minutes I thought it was working.”

When the medics called his death, Miss Whitburn fainted.

She came to and Mr Headifen had been placed on the single bed in their room.

She phoned her parents, Peter and Marie Whitburn of Palmerston North, then police arrived.

She spent the next four days dealing with police, liaising with her insurance company, trying to contact family and friends back home and coming to grips with the fact that her boyfriend would never hold her again.

Seran, along with bartender Doni Suastika, 30, and security staff member Nengah Suastika, 34, are in police custody.

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Tax cuts that come in on Wednesday will deliver a billion dollar a year boost to the economy while changes to the business tax regime will help companies get through the recession, ministers said today.

April 1 is the date for personal tax cuts that will increase the income of a worker on the average wage of $48,500 by $18 a week.

“These changes form a central part of the Government’s Jobs and Growth plan and will provide a shot in the arm for our economy at a vital time,” Finance Minister Bill English said.

A range of changes making it simpler and less expensive for small and medium-sized business, passed by Parliament last week, also take effect on that date.”

Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said the income tax cuts took New Zealand one step closer to a 30/30/30 per cent alignment of the top personal, company and trustee tax rates.

“The tax cuts we have delivered will stimulate the economy in the short term by putting cash people’s pockets, and in the longer term by encouraging people to invest in their own skills to earn and keep more money.

“In regard to small and medium-sized businesses, the tax assistance initiatives will make it easier for them to manage their cash flows and meet their tax obligations during tough economic times.

“That is something I have long advocated and I’m pleased it is now a medium-term government priority,” he said.

The ministers said close toly every business would benefit in some way from the changes, which allow companies to keep their money longer, reduce the interest they pay on underpaid tax and cut compliance costs.”

For earners, the changes mean tax rate cuts and threshold changes, as well as a new Independent Earner Tax Credit which will give an extra $10 a week to those earning between $24,000 and $44,000 a year who do not receive a benefit, Working for Families tax credits or national superannuation. The minimum level of contributions will drop from 4 per cent of a worker’s pay to 2 per cent.

There are also changes to KiwiSaver from April 1.

WHAT YOU’LL GET

Weekly tax cuts for workers who do not receive the Independent Earner Tax Credit:

Salary.

The employer tax credit and $40-a-year member fee subsidy will also cease. . . … . . . .tax cut

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$25,000… . …0.00

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$45,000. . .. . .$11.54

$50,000. . .. . .$18.46

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$60,000. . .. . .$18.46

$65,000. . .. . .$18.46

$70,000. . .. . .$18.46

$75,000. . .. . .$19.42

$80,000. . .. . .$20.38

$85,000. . .. . .$21.35

$90,000. . .. . .$22.31

$95,000. . .. . .$23.27

$100,000. . …$24.23

Annual tax cuts for workers who receive the Independent Earner Tax Credit:

Salary. . .. . .. . .tax cut

$25,000. . .. . .$520

$30,000. . .. . .$520

$35,000. . .. . .$520

$40,000. . .. . .$520

$45,000. . .. . .$990

-

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Woman subjected to txt abuse after radio prank

By CLIO FRANCIS – Monday, 23 February 2009

The Edge radio station has been ordered to pay $1500 to a woman who received abusive text messages after her mobile phone number was broadcast live against her wishes.
A complaint about the incident was made to The Broadcasting Standards Authority, which today announced the complaint had been upheld. The BSA's report says:"After hearing certain comments on The Edge, the complainant wrote to the studio to ask that they stop making such comments. The complainant had asked whether she was on the radio. The hosts then telephoned her and she expressed concern that the hosts were making inappropriate remarks about people from other countries, such as India and America. However, the conversation was in fact being broadcast. They told her that she was not."Later when the conversation had ended, one of the hosts said:"If you would like to learn to be a better person, 021… He was interrupted by the other host who told him not to give out her phone number, however he continued to read out the last three digits. .RadioWorks, who owns the station, said they had upheld a subsequent complaint by the female listener, who said the broadcast of her telephone number breached standards of fairness and privacy.The woman said she received around 60 text messages after the public broadcast of her phone number- some of which were "highly offensive".They told the Authority that; a manger had reprimanded the radio host involved, the station had formally apologised and also offered to pay any costs incurred.They told the Authority that; a manger had reprimanded the radio host involved, the station had formally apologised and also offered to pay any costs incurred.

.However the BSA said the breach of privacy was serious enough to justify compensation and ordered RadioWorks to pay $1500 to the woman

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Coal firm pays for emissions report

Monday, 12 January 2009

A report highly critical of the Government's climate change policy was partially bankrolled by one of the country's largest coal miners and state-owned companies.
Information issued under the Official Information Act reveals Solid Energy paid hundreds of thousands of dollars towards the report into the impact of the emissions trading scheme (ETS).
As a miner of coal, which produces greenhouse gas, Solid Energy faces higher operating costs and potentially dwindling demand.
To encourage use of more environmentally friendly energy sources, the scheme imposes taxes on anything that emits greenhouse gases.
The final report said the emissions trading scheme would impose a heavy economic cost on the country, costing households about $3000 a year by 2025 and reduce average wages by $90 a week.
Solid Energy gave $240,750, including GST, to the $1 million project by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) on the economic impact of the controversial legislation.
"We pride ourselves on being the best informed we can be," a company spokeswoman said.
Solid Energy has defended the spending, saying it regularly commissioned research to remain fully informed about its business environment and the implications of any regulatory changes."
But Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said the spending was inappropriate, as it was effectively taxpayers' money and the coal industry funding may have "coloured" the report's findings.
"It needs to be remembered SOEs are businesses like any other enterprises. It's effectively taxpayers' money as it would have come back to the Government in its dividend," she said.
"It's not an SOE's job to spend money to try and undermine government policy.
The National Government has refused to wade into the issue.
The mining company incurred the ire of the Labour government in 2007, when it used a paid informant to spy on a group of West Coast anti-mining protesters.
Industries NZIER predicted would be hit by the legislation included agriculture, petroleum refining and mining. .
A review of the institute's report by economic consultants Infometrics found its "conclusions follow logically" and the conclusions were "robust".
"Mining and quarrying is most impacted by reduced demand for coal from the electricity industry," the report said.
The company defended the funding in a briefing note requested by then state-owned enterprises minister Trevor Mallard, saying it was to enable it to understand "optimum climate-change response options". However, it did draw some criticism from Victoria University Climate Change Research Institute director Martin Manning, who said the institute used too narrow a scope with its economic modelling.
Greenpeace NZ executive director Bunny McDiarmid said it was appalling that a coal company funded by the taxpayer could finance a report that potentially could influence the Government's climate change policy.
It also spent a further $27,000 on another institute research project, but has refused to reveal the project's subject matter on the grounds of commercial sensitivity. It's public money that's going into that. "There was a clear conflict."

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Nelson man carried 100m in raging torrent

By HELEN MURDOCH – Wednesday, 26 November 2008

HELEN MURDOCH/
SWAMPED: A car belonging to retired school principal Rod McKenzie lies stuck on the edge of a weir in the Collins River, north of Nelson, yesterday.

Rod McKenzie has covered a 100m section of Nelson's flooded Collins River in record time in his car.
"One minute I was on the road; the next I was in the river," he said.
McKenzie, a retired primary school principal, was driving to Nelson from his Okiwi Bay home in torrential rain on Monday when he aquaplaned over an 8m bank into the normally slow-flowing river.
He estimated he was carried another 100m by the swollen waters.
McKenzie was tossed down the "raging, roaring torrent" for about 100m before he fled his car. The worst part was trying to grab the blackberry bushes and clamber out, the river was moving so fast," he said.
"It was only when I got out that I thought I may be in trouble. .
Picked up by a farmer who took him home for a hot shower and a change of clothes, McKenzie then continued his journey to Nelson to collect his wife and take her to the airport.
"I suspect if I had stayed with it something bad would have happened.
"I've been told it continued down the river and got jammed under a bridge for a while before it popped out," he said.
The heavy rain also trapped three Tasman District Council hydrologists in the Upper Lee Valley on Monday night and caused flooding in Golden Bay and Nelson City."
McKenzie escaped with only scratches but faces an unpleasant aftermath police yesterday told him they were considering charging him with dangerous driving and he has to figure a way to get his car out of the river.
The trio bunked down for the night in a council ute, dined on a few biscuits and watched the Upper Lee River flood over a bridge, said Doyle.
Hydrologist Martin Doyle and two of his colleagues were measuring flood and sediment flows at the proposed Upper Lee Valley dam site when the heavy rain made the ford crossings impassable.
The ranges between Takaka and Collingwood were lashed by 328mm of rain in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday.
The persistent rain was pushed into the hills above Nelson and Golden Bay by strong northerly winds, dumping 136mm above the city and 257mm above Upper Takaka. Some schools closed early, while shops and homes were sandbagged to prevent flooding as water flowed down Takaka's main street.
In Golden Bay, roads were closed, stock were rescued from low-lying areas and the army ferried stranded motorists. "We were lucky to get away without major flooding.
"People haven't seen that sort of water across the road for some time," said Golden Bay Senior Constable Crispin Lee, of the East Takaka area.30pm high tide."
Nelson came within 30 minutes of a major flood when the rain stopped just before Monday's 8.
"We were concerned about the high tide, but the rain stopped about an hour before it came in," he said.
"We were concerned about the high tide, but the rain stopped about an hour before it came in," he said.

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Man in hospital after Upper Hutt stabbing

Monday, 03 November 2008

A man has suffered a punctured lung in an overnight stabbing in Upper Hutt.
The 31-year-old was found in the city early yesterday morning with life threatening injuries.
“We could have quite easily been investigating a homicide.
Detective Sergeant Tony Heathcote said the stabbing happened on Main St, close to the intersection with Royal St.”
The victim had surgery and is now in a stable condition in Hutt Hospital. The victim has stab wounds to the side of his chest, one of which has punctured his lung.
“We believe there was a large group of people in the area who saw what happened or who have information about the stabbing,” Mr Heathcote said.
Police believe at least three people were involved in an altercation with the victim, and are interested in talking to witnesses. .
A 19-year-old man was arrested at the scene of the stabbing and was charged with possession of a knife in a public place.

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Policeman’s conduct ‘truly outrageous’

– Saturday, 01 November 2008

A judge has slammed the "truly outrageous" conduct of a Christchurch police officer who elbowed a man three times in the face while he was handcuffed in a patrol car.
Judge Colin Doherty said Constable Nathan Connolly committed a "gratuitous assault" and awarded $5000 to victim Steven Fredericks.
Fredericks, 23, of Taylorville, and friend Ronnie McGee were driving out of Revingtons Hotel, in Greymouth, on September 8, 2005, when the incident occurred.30pm, they were stopped by a police patrol, which included Connolly.
Leaving the carpark about 10.
Although the judge found McGee was "obstreperous" during the incident, he concluded Fredericks was a "reticent and relatively subdued personality". McGee took a breath test, which he failed.
Earlier this month, the Greymouth District Court heard that Connolly tried to get Fredericks out of the car and a scuffle developed which ended with him being handcuffed on the ground and then put in the police car. .
As Connolly put the seatbelt on Fredericks, the officer elbowed him in the face, the judge found. His conduct carried with it a sense of retribution; of reinforced arrogance.
"Constable Connolly was in my view frustrated and wanted to teach the plaintiff a lesson as a result of his earlier resistance.
Connolly denied he hit Fredericks and a fellow officer said he had not seen anything "untoward"."
The judge said "right-minded people" would find these actions "abhorrent".
The judge said the case came down to one man's word against the other's, but that Fredericks' evidence had "the ring of truth about it".
The judge said the case came down to one man's word against the other's, but that Fredericks' evidence had "the ring of truth about it".
Fredericks' co-counsel Jonathan McCarthy said the judgment gave him the "greatest confidence in our justice system"."
A doctor said the injuries to Fredericks' face were consistent with being hit in the eye socket and nose. was told yesterday that he was taking "extended leave".
Since the incident, Connolly has moved to Christchurch. The officer was being dealt with under a human resources employment process.
Police spokesperson Jon Neilson said the case was still "in the court process in terms of a right of appeal".