Two a penny

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Police have arrested two men who allegedly stopped a car in Waikato and beat and kidnapped the driver for cash.

The victim was driving on Gordonton Rd, towards Hamilton on October 1, when he crashed into a car that did an illegal U-turn front of his vehicle, Detective Inspector Russell Le Prou said.

When he checked if the occupants of the other car were hurt he was set upon by a group of men armed with softball bats.

The victim was told the group took the money as a form of reparation or “anger money” before they released him, Mr Le Prou said.

They beat him, took his ATM cards, then held him at a close toby property while others drove off to take $1300 from his bank account.”

Officers from the armed offenders squad executed two search warrants in Taupiri and Morrinsville, because of the need to stamp out serious, unprovoked, violent behaviour, Mr Le Prou said.

“They seem to have been quite brazen about it, even informing their victim there were no hard feelings and that they were in the business of selling car parts should he want to repair his vehicle. .

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Further arrests and charges were likely, Mr Le Prou said

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A top New Zealand entertainer tried to force a young woman to perform a sex act, a court has heard.

The identity of the man will remain a secret after judge Eddie Paul granted him interim name suppression at the Auckland District Court today.

In August, the man pled guilty to one charge of performing an indecent act with intent to insult.

The court heard submissions from media organisations who wished to challenge the man’s request for permanent name suppression.

The man was due to be sentenced this afternoon, however Judge Paul reserved his decision until next Friday.

“To say that this is a day of great disappointment and regret for [name suppressed] would be a great understatement,” Mr Mansfield said.

The man’s lawyer, Ron Mansfield, said his client was very remorseful.

The charge relates to an incident earlier this year when the man had been intoxicated and walking home. The man and two of the females went down an alleyway.

He had encountered three young women who had asked to kiss him. “She was taken by the head and her head moved down to his genitalia,” Mr Mansfield said.

The third female later followed the others down the alleyway and approached him from behind.

Mr Mansfield’s client acknowledged he had acted inappropriately.

Some time after that the young woman contacted police.

The man had pled guilty at an early stage, had offered to pay reparations of $5000 to the victim and offered to take part in a restorative justice meeting with her.

The man had pled guilty at an early stage, had offered to pay reparations of $5000 to the victim and offered to take part in a restorative justice meeting with her.

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Asian school students as young as 16 are being offered $1000 a parcel to bring illegal drugs into the country in a trend which has grown alarmingly in the last few weeks, say police.

An Auckland Grammar School student is the latest to be charged.

He faces a maximum jail term of eight years for importing drugs and money laundering.

Police said the problem had “really escalated” in the last few months, and mostly involved young Asian students.

His appearance in the Auckland District Court yesterday prompted a heavy warning from police to Asian students that they could be jailed and deported if they were enticed into the drugs trade. He was remanded to appear again next month.

Zhu Kuan, 17, appeared yesterday on charges of importing the class C controlled drug Contact NT and money laundering.

Contact NT was a flu remedy which contains pseudoephedrine, one of the main ingredients of methamphetamine or P.

“We have a major problem with Asian organised crime groups using students as what are referred to as ‘catchers’ for the importation through the mail of Contact NT,” the head of the Auckland drug squad, Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Cahill said. It was sold legally over the counter in China but in New Zealand it was an illegal class C drug and was used in the manufacture of methamphetamine for sale in New Zealand. They could be paid around $1000.

Students as young as 16 allowed their addresses to be used, or used another address for the drugs to be sent to.

“The catchers get paid for the job they do but the main risk they take is that they are the ones who get caught holding the importation and face serious drugs charges.

“They retrieve it and it is then handed on to people higher up the chain.

“Some of them quite understand the seriousness of what they are facing.

“Some of them quite understand the seriousness of what they are facing. .

“But they know what they are doing is illegal.”

Up to 10kg of pseudoephedrine was being seized each week at the borders and most of it was being brought in by students, he said.

“We have dealt with them from a variety of schools in recent times.

Many catchers believed the drug importers and dealers, who said teenagers would not be jailed in New Zealand, he said.

Concerned police were trying to educate Asian communities on the dangers of getting involved in illegal drugs and the long-term effect a prison term would have on young people.

The headmaster of Auckland Grammar John Morris said he was not aware of a student facing drugs charges.

A kilogram of Contact NT would make slightly under 500gm of methamphetamine and that could be worth close toly $500,000 at street value, he said.

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More than 60 prison guards protested legislation,
which could lead to the privatisation of some prisons, outside Auckland’s
Mt Eden prison today.

The guards chanted slogans and held placards saying ‘Stop The Cell-Off’ and ‘No Profit From Crime’, Radio New Zealand reported.

Association president Beven Hanlon said New Zealand had one of the best prison systems in the world and privately run facilities would not deliver the same standards.

The Corrections Association, the union representing prison guards, said legislation currently before Parliament would lead to the private management of up to five prisons.”

Mr Hanlon said if prison management was privatised, guards would face the prospect of losing their jobs, only to be re-hired at reduced wages and under poorer conditions.

“We have low levels of escape, we have low staff-to-prisoner ratios which means we’ve got really low costs and we’ve got low suicide rates – and believe it or not we’ve got improving rehabilitation rates.

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A strong earthquake struck off Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, but no tsunami warning was issued, the country’s meteorological agency said.

The US Geological Survey measured the quake at 7.0 and said it struck near the Mentawai islands off Sumatra at a depth of 32 km. Pakaya, head of the health ministry’s crisis centre, said in a text message.

The tremor injured seven people in the West Sumatra capital of Padang and damaged a house, Rustam S.

“The quake was felt in Bukittinggi town, sending people rushing out of their homes,” Fauzi, head of the seismology centre at the agency, told .

The epicentre was 43km southeast of Siberut island off Sumatra’s west coast, the meterological agency said in a text message.

Fauzi said Indonesian authorities had not issued a tsunami alert but the Japan Meteorological Agency said in an email alert there was a very small possibility of a destructive local tsunami in the Indian Ocean.2, 5.

The quake was followed by at least three aftershocks measuring 5. .5 and 5.

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The union representing Air New Zealand staff has dropped plans to strike at Easter.

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union said today, however, the industrial action currently underway would continue.
The EPMU said Air New Zealand had applied to the Employment Court for an injunction to prevent the strike on the grounds that one aspect of the strike notice was unclear.
“Having received legal advice and participated in a directions conference with the Employment Court, the union negotiating team considered that the strike notice was unlikely to survive the court action and that with other litigation initiated by both the company and the union it was better to focus our legal resources on these other issues,” The EPMU said.
This related to the question of what constituted being “in New Zealand” while on flying duties, the EPMU said.
“The union negotiating team is considering re-issuing the strike notice that is the subject of the airline’s injunction and a decision will be made in the next two days.
Industrial action involving non-compliance with the airlines uniform policy and non-availability of staff for standby rosters would, however, continue indefinitely.

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Mother-of-two Kelly McIsaac stared her knife-wielding attacker in the eye and made a snap decision to fight to live.

Kneeling bound and gagged near the boot of her kidnapper’s car, she grabbed a screwdriver and stabbed him in the head.

Nigel Craig Whakarau, 39, pleaded guilty yesterday in the High Court at Wellington to assaulting, robbing and kidnapping Ms McIsaac, a real estate agent from Carterton. . She was attacked after being lured to a remote property by Whakarau who posed as a buyer last August.

Ms McIsaac, 42, said fighting her attacker was a risk she was prepared to take, inspired by thoughts of her two young sons.

The Crown is asking for the open-ended term of preventive detention.

All Whakarau wanted was money, which he believed he could extort from Ms McIsaac’s family by holding her hostage..

“I kept asking him, pleading, ‘What you want from me? . Take my purse and go, please.. I couldn’t breathe any more.’

“I thought I was going to die as he strangled me, his hands squeezing so so tightly around my throat.

“I just kept thinking, ‘Oh my God, I just can’t believe this is happening to me.

“I just kept thinking, ‘Oh my God, I just can’t believe this is happening to me. He tried to stuff me in there and all I knew is, `No, I am not going in there.

“He dragged me to the back of the car and, while my mouth was taped, my hands weren’t. If I took them and he got them off me, I knew it would be over for me.’

“As he was pushing me in I saw a screwdriver and a jemmy bar and that was the hardest decision I have ever had to make in my life.

“We ended up on the ground fighting and tumbling and I think we just wore each other out in the end.”

She grabbed the tools and lashed out, stabbing him in the head with the screwdriver.”

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Whakarau grabbed her bag and left. He just got up and backed away.”

Whakarau was arrested later that day. “I watched him go, repeating his number plate over and over and over. I will never forgive him. I will never forgive him. I hate that he thought that he could do that to me. How dare he. He could have destroyed me. I want him in jail for the rest of his life.”

Prosecutor Ian Murray asked Justice Forrie Miller to order reports from at least two health assessors about the likelihood of Whakarau committing further serious violent offences. The reports are needed if the judge is to consider preventive detention.

Preventive detention is intended to protect the community from offenders who pose a significant and continuing risk. It is an open-ended sentence from which an offender cannot be paroled for at least five years, or a longer period if the judge orders.

Justice Miller remanded Whakarau in custody for sentencing on June 19.

MEMORIES OF CAR BOOT ORDEAL COME FLOODING BACK

When Roy King heard Nigel Whakarau had attacked a real estate agent, memories of his own kidnapping ordeal at Whakarau’s hands came flooding back.

“It didn’t surprise me. It was only a matter of time before he did it again,” he said.

Mr King was taken hostage at knifepoint by a balaclava-clad Whakarau in 1996. He was bound, robbed, and driven around the North Island for 11 hours in the boot of his car.

That attack was the second kidnapping by Whakarau, then aged 26. In 1988 he broke into an elderly Wanganui couple’s home carrying knives and with his face hooded. He tied the couple up and stole their car and credit cards.

He had also amassed a string of other convictions and there were common themes: weapons, balaclavas, and demands of cash.

In April 1996, he set his sights on Mr King, a Taranaki businessman whom he believed to be a millionaire, attacking him in his Kaponga home. He bound his hands and feet with nylon rope and held him captive for more than six hours, demanding money, car keys and eating his food.

About 5am the next day, he shoved Mr King in the boot of the car and began to drive. For Mr King, the long hours lying alone in the darkness of the boot were interspersed with macabre interactions with his knife-wielding jailer.

Whakarau got the stolen car stuck in a paddock north of Wanganui and wanted help to push it out and bought drugs in Patea, offering Mr King a smoke.

He also made Mr King call his neighbours to explain why his front door was left open.

The ordeal eventually ended in Napier. A police patrol saw Whakarau pulled over by the sea and asked if he owned the car.

Whakarau sat on the boot to hide Mr King but the officer demanded to look inside. “And there I was,” Mr King said.

Speaking now about the incident, Mr King can laugh. But the experience rattled him. “For the first few weeks I didn’t fancy walking inside and up the stairs.”

Whakarau served 10 years, seven months for the kidnapping. He was freed in December 2007 and eight months later attacked again.

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Sex abuse doctor seeks anonymity

Wednesday, 18 February 2009

An Auckland doctor has pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting three young girls – but wants permanent name suppression so he can return to the medical profession.
The 59-year-old man pleaded guilty to the three charges of indecent assault against girls under the age of 12 at the High Court at Auckland earlier today.
The charges related to events between 1979 and 1988 involving three women who, when children, lived or holidayed in a small community on the Coromandel Peninsula, where the accused lived when not in Auckland.
Two further charges, including rape, were withdrawn by the crown.
"We have been talking with the victims concerned about this for a little while now," he said.
Detective Sergeant Andy King, who heads the adult sexual assault team at Auckland police, said the victims, one of whom was in court, were delighted at the guilty pleas."
Mr King said the victims were not concerned that the rape charge had been dropped.
"They are feeling incredibly relieved and so pleased that the guilty pleas have been made.
"They feel that wasn't really an issue. ."
Mr King said the investigation had been a difficult one due to its historic nature and he was delighted at the outcome. They just wanted vindication and acknowledgement that they were telling the truth and they feel that they have that.
"The impact [if suppression was lifted] on him is quite significant.
The man's lawyer, Peter Winter, said his client was seeking permanent name suppression so he could return to a medical career.
Prosecutor Philip Hamlin said the Crown would oppose permanent name suppression. He was a practising general practitioner, this would affect his ability to continue to practise," Mr Winter told the court.
Judge Graham Lang has granted the man interim name suppression until sentencing in August.
The New Zealand Herald reported that the doctor voluntarily withdrew his practising certificate when charges were laid in February, 2008.
– with

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Country sizzles as temperatures soar

The Monday, 09 February 2009

/The
SPLASH DOWN: Luke Brown of Auckland cools off at the Wellington waterfront. New Zealand sweltered with temperatures in Wairarapa, Marlborough and South Canterbury climbing well into the 30s yesterday.
MetService reported readings of 37.

New Zealand sweltered with temperatures in Wairarapa, Marlborough and South Canterbury climbing well into the 30s.5C in Marlborough yesterday. .
The central North Island was only marginally cooler, with Taupo and Taumarunui breaking 30C while Paeroa reached 32C.
Wellington enjoyed a slightly less stifling 25C but Martinborough topped 33C.
"With all this hot, dry weather there could have been some real problems .
MetService forecaster Paul Mallinson said hot winds with gusts up to 100kmh roared across Otago and Southland, pushing up the fire risk to extreme levels…"
There was still a significant fire risk in Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa and Gisborne," he said. but it looks as if we got away with it.

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However, by tomorrow, bands of "high humid" air would sweep down the North Island and showers could be expected

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Bullying report reveals code of silence

By HARRIET PALMER – Saturday, 31 January 2009

Aculture of bullying among some boarding hostel students and a "code of silence" has been revealed by an inquiry into New Plymouth Boys' High School.
A report out this week points a finger at a former principal and notes that a "learned behaviour of bullying" exists in the school's boarding hostel.
"Serious breaches of behaviour should be dealt with by the principal.
The former principal, Lyal French-Wright, was principal at the 1300-student school for 13 years before taking an overseas posting to a school in Qatar last year. The investigators found no evidence of this happening," the report said.
The school's board of trustees commissioned an independent investigation last November after the reported an incident where a senior boarder was allegedly badly beaten by three other students.
Attempts to contact Mr French-Wright last night were unsuccessful. .
Copies of the full report of 42 pages are being withheld by the school to protect the privacy of people who chose to tell their stories.
Yesterday, a three-page "executive summary" of the report was released to parents after more than a month of delays by Tauranga-based company New Zealand Education Consultants.
In light of the findings, the school has pledged change and will establish a committee consisting of staff, board members and students to "address concerns identified" and report to the school monthly.
Forty-one participants were interviewed by investigators Lex Hamill and Wayne Gribble. It found no school-wide culture of bullying in the day school, and said staff were passionate about the pastoral care of their students.
The report highlights a difference between the day school and the boarding school.
Incidents of bullying in the day school "were generally dealt with in a systematic and well-documented fashion" and the school has sound policy and procedures.
Incidents of bullying in the day school "were generally dealt with in a systematic and well-documented fashion" and the school has sound policy and procedures.
"The code of silence that exists within the hostel plays a large role in sustaining the current culture.
But it said a culture within the hostel created a natural "filtering effect" for students who did not fit the mould of the hostel.
Speaking to the last night, report author Mr Hamill said the former principal's treatment of the hostel as a separate entity where problems were dealt with by the house master was a negative. The notion that discipline issues in the hostel remain in the hostel creates a safety barrier for more serious perpetrators of bullying," the report said.
Despite the report, Boys' High maintains while some students experience bullying there is no culture within the day school or hostel saying it is experienced by a very small number of boys.
"Our belief is because the hostel is on the school site it should be the ultimate responsibility of the board of trustees," he said.
"When there's serious bullying, that gets escalated to senior management in the school.
Board of trustees chairman Jamie Sutherland disputed some findings and said incidents in the boarding house were dealt with by the principal seriously and appropriately.
"That's wrong, what they've said that about the hostel. There is consistency there. When there is a serious instance of bullying within the hostel the head master is informed and participates in the decision making process and the discipline process. When there is a serious instance of bullying within the hostel the head master is informed and participates in the decision making process and the discipline process. The investigators didn't really investigate that side of it enough."