Two a penny

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A rugby referee has been king-hit by a spectator holding a baby, after a controversial end to a game in Auckland.

The attack happened during a Samoan United Rugby Shield game between the Auckland Eagles and Laulii Liona at Williams Park in Mangere at the weekend.

Tournament organiser Moe Mata’afa said the event happened after the Eagles scored the winning try in injury time before one of the Laulii players made a late tackle.

Auckland rugby referees manager Mike Elliott confirmed the incident and said it was being investigated by the disciplinary committee.

Mr Mata’afa said that, soon after, as the referee stood in the officials’ tent talking to some of the players, the man – understood to be a spectator – entered the tent and punched the referee from behind.

As the referee spoke with the Laulii captain after he awarded the Eagles a penalty, he was allegedly abused by one of the Laulii team’s support staff and ended the game. . The man then fled…”

“But it wasn’t a real [bad punch] because he had a baby in one hand. they were talking to him in the tent and someone just from nowhere punched the referee.

Mr Mata’afa said they had called police but the unidentified man had already fled.”

He believed the incident was sparked by the referee’s decision to end the game won by the Eagles 14-12, early.

The tournament is played following the regular rugby season and consists of teams made up by players from the same villages in Samoa.

He said the incident was the first of its kind in the tournament’s six-year history.

Mr Elliott said the referee had not suffered any serious injuries and would referee again this weekend.

It was made up of Auckland and Counties Manukau club and secondary school rugby players.”

Otahuhu Senior Sergeant Laurie Culpan confirmed the assault but said they had not located the offender.

“We would like to find the culprit but a member of the public is pretty hard to find when they disappear into the woodwork.

Mr Culpan said since it was not a serious assault, the enquiries were being left to the Auckland Rugby Union, with police to act on any information provided by them.

“Police were called but obviously by the time we got there the spectator had disappeared, which is fairly common for these sort of things,” he said.”

He said the rugby union had measures they could take such as bans on individuals or standing clubs down in order to get the person to come forward.

“As you can imagine from our perspective, everybody’s gone, there are that many lines of inquiry for a minor assault, it would chew an inordinate amount of police time.

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A Masterton man who achieved a degree of fame through a near-death experience last year was today convicted of assaulting his former partner.

John Edmonds’ heart stopped beating for 25 minutes after a collapse in November.

After his recovery he fielded requests to share his story from a United States radio show, an author and the New York Times.

He was now a illness beneficiary, and the only way he could make money was by capitalising on the interest generated by his survival, she said.

At sentencing in Wellington District Court today, lawyer Louise Elder pressed for Edmonds to be discharged without conviction.

But Judge Stephen Harrop said Edmonds had three previous convictions dating back to 1986, including one for assault.

A conviction could prevent him travelling to interviews or speaking engagements overseas. .

He was also convicted of intentional damage to his former partner’s paintings and fined $1200 reparation.

He convicted Edmonds and sentenced him to six months supervision for assault with intent to injure and fined him $500 in emotional harm reparation.

The pair were getting along until Edmonds received text messages from one of his former partners, Judge Harrop said.

On August 5 this year, Edmonds had visited the home of his on-again off-again partner Sarah Alexander, 33, an amateur artist.

She snapped the phone – which Edmonds had borrowed – and this made him snap as well, Judge Harrop said.

Ms Alexander asked to look at his phone and was annoyed to see who the messages were from.

“You got very angry and you punched one of her paintings two or three times.

“You got very angry and you punched one of her paintings two or three times.”

Ms Alexander told police Edmonds had kicked her about four times in the legs as she collapsed under his blows.

“You then punched her a number of times in the head and face.

She said Edmonds was a high profile member of the community and other cases like his were heard every day and went “entirely under the radar”.

Edmonds’ lawyer, Ms Elder did not hide her contempt for “the press”, telling the court a Wairarapa Times-Age interview with Ms Alexander following the attack, which ran on the front page, had been “a huge punishment in itself”.

Since his heart attack, Edmonds could no longer work in the fitness industry and was now a illness beneficiary, she said.

It had a huge impact on Edmonds, and his teenaged children had received a barrage of text messages “which destroyed them”, Ms Elder said.

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Judge Harrop noted a discharge without conviction was opposed by police and by Ms Alexander who, in her victim impact statement, said she felt “gutted” by Edmonds’ continued denial of what happened and the lack of an apology

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Three New Zealanders have been confirmed as killed in the Pacific tsunami, with another presumed dead and grave concerns held for two others.

The only New Zealander so far identified isMary Ann White, 54, of Raglan, whose family was trying last night to get her body home.

The injured are being accompanied by six family members, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said. .

Acting Prime Minister Bill English said earlier today that three Britons and two Germans who were also injured would also be evacuated.

They are expected to arrive at Auckland’s Whenuapai Airport early tomorrow morning and will then be transported by a fleet of ambulances to local hospitals for treatment.

There were initially reports that a two-year-old Auckland boy had been officially identified as one of those killed.

The confirmed death toll from Wednesday’s tsunamis, caused by an 8 magnitude undersea quake, stood at 149 in Samoa, 31 on American Samoa and nine on neighbouring Tonga.

The toddler was swept out to sea as he was playing on the beach with his parents at Lalomanu when the 6m wave came ashore on Wednesday. This is incorrect, and it is understood he remains missing, presumed dead.

MFAT earlierconfirmed it was providing support to the toddler’s parents. His parents swam to safety.

The husband and wife, originally from Britain, now live in Auckland.

They were taken to hospital yesterday with minor injuries and later discharged and are staying at the New Zealand High Commission in Samoa. Tsunami warnings were given and they were trying to escape to higher ground when the waves struck. The family was holidaying at a resort close to the village of Lalomanu.

GRAVE CONCERNS

MFATsays grave fears are held for two New Zealanders who had been staying at the Taufua Resort, Lalomanu.

Plans are underway to medi-vacinjured New Zealanders on a RNZAF plane to New Zealand as soon as possible.

However, the Martin family of Wardville, outside Matamata, was this morning preparing to fly out to Samoa in search of their two daughters who flew to Samoa on Monday for a holiday. The ministry has not released details of the pair.

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The sisters, Petria, 22 and Rebecca, 24, were holidaying with their cousin, a Hamilton travel agent and her friend, and had been due back tomorrow

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MPs found guilty of serious criminal offences will lose their travel perks, a decision sparked by Taito Phillip Field’s recent conviction for corruption.

The former Mangere MP was last month found guilty of bribery and obstruction of justice after being found to have accepted work on properties in return for immigration assistance.Under the Electoral Act, an MP convicted of serious criminal offences must vacate their seat.An amendment to the rules would require MPs convicted of serious criminal offences to give up their travel privileges, Speaker Lockwood Smith announced today.However, they are not required to give up travel entitlements available to former MPs .”I have followed a process that included consultation in arriving at my final decision.”I felt it was appropriate that the travel privileges of former members be stopped where someone was convicted of an offence that would require them to vacate their seat in Parliament,” Dr Smith said. .The decision would apply to travel entitlements available to former MPs who entered Parliament before 1999.The amendment was expected to take effect by the end of next month, Dr Smith said.He could also have claimed a 90 percent discount on international travel, as long as it did not exceed the cost of a return business-class flight to London on Air New Zealand – about $10,000.Having entered Parliament in 1993, Field could have claimed up to 12 free domestic return air fares a year.

.Former MPs have come under fire for the ir travel expenses after they were revealed last month

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A Queenstown river boarding company has entered two guilty pleas in the Queenstown District Court to charges arising from a fatal river boarding incident last year, after earlier denying fault. .

Parent company Black Sheep Adventures Ltd and director Brad McLeod had each denied three Health and Safety in Employment Act charges.

She was on a river boarding excursion with Queenstown company Mad Dog River Boarding.

He entered guilty pleas on behalf of the company to one charge of being an employer, failing to take all practicable steps to protect employees; and one charge of being a person in control of a place of work failing to take all practicable steps to ensure no hazard harms customers.

Today, after five days of proceedings last week, defence lawyer Michael Parker told Judge Brian Callaghan his client wished to change pleas on two charges.

Sentencing will take place this afternoon.

In reply, prosecution lawyer Brent Stanaway told the court he was withdrawing one other charge against Black Sheep Adventures Ltd and all three charges against McLeod.

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Each charge carries a fine of up to $250,000

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Frustrated AC/DC fans have had to deal with Ticketek blunders today which saw many buyers ending up with more tickets than they wanted and others struggling to buy any at all.

But the Ticketek country director said it had been a successful day and the problems that some people experienced were not large-scale faults and were to be expected with large customer demand.

Many customers have expressed their frustrations at Ticketek, the agent for AC/DC concert ticket sales in Wellington, saying they experienced website problems earlier today.

“I was pretty frustrated earlier today,” he said.

Weta Digital visual artist Dave Abbott was one of the people affected by the meltdown.

“The cornerstone of their business (should be) making sure that that whole stuff is flawless but it just completely fell apart under pressure.

While he had managed to finally get tickets, at least six other people in his office experienced the same problem, he said.”

Though the website had said not to book any more tickets and to ring to check whether his purchase had been successful, he had spent half an hour trying to get though only to have an automated message tell him the phone lines were overloaded, he said.”

Ministry of Health analyst Brett Lousich wanted five tickets but ended up with 15 – costing him $2,700 in what he called an “absolute debacle”.

“I tried to (book tickets) twice so potentially I could’ve spent $700 on tickets.

He said when he finally got though to Ticketek he was told he had ordered five tickets successfully but a call to his bank showed he had paid for 15 tickets and been charged $2,700 worth of charges.

He said he had thought his efforts to buy tickets had been aborted twice before a message told him not to buy any more after his third attempt and to call them to see whether his order had gone through.

“I guess the thing that annoys me is they haven’t put anything on the website explaining at all what’s gone wrong.

“Even to this point in the day I still haven’t received any confirmation that my order’s gone through via email,” he said. They could have emailed all the people that have had issues,” he said. They could have emailed all the people that have had issues,” he said. .

He said there had been such high demand that problems were inevitable.

“I now have 12 bloody tickets when I only wanted two.

A number of comments from readers expressed frustration at the issue. Their system obviously couldn’t handle that many people on the site. Ticketek is completely useless.

. And I can’t get hold of them for refunds,” said a poster called Tom

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The number of deaths involving swine flu has risen to seven, after a Taranaki man who died earlier this week was confirmed as having the illness.

The man had an underlying medical condition, but his family had asked that no details about him be released to the public, a Ministry of Health spokesperson told .

Swine flu has become New Zealand’s dominant flu strain, accounting for about 75 percent of confirmed flu cases in the week ending Sunday, the reported.

The number of confirmed cases of swine flu was unchanged at Friday’s total of 1555, because the system that collated the figures was down for scheduled maintenance, he said.

The illness was more serious than it had sometimes been portrayed, with the country’s death rate likely to be about the same or higher than the roughly 400 deaths from seasonal flu each year, Massey University mathematical biologist Professor Mick Roberts said.

Swine flu has rapidly replaced seasonal influenza, and was putting health services under particular pressure in Wellington, Taupo and Rotorua.

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At least 15 people were killed and 50 injured overnight in Italy when a freight train hauling liquefied petroleum gas derailed and exploded as it passed their homes, officials said on Tuesday.

About 1000 people were evacuated following the blast just before midnight on Monday, which shook people from their beds in the Tuscan seaside town of Viareggio, about 350km north of Rome.It was Italy’s most deadly rail accident since 17 people were killed in January 2005, when a passenger train collided with a freight train near the northern city of Bologna.Thirty-seven people were injured, seriously or very seriously, rescue workers said, including a 2-year-old who was badly burned and was being transferred to a hospital in Florence.GATX Rail Europe, a unit of the US-based GATX Corp, which owns the rail cars – each one made of a gas tank attached to a wagon – told it did not know the cause of the explosion and was gathering information from news reports.Firefighters battled overnight to contain blazes started by the explosion and, as a precaution, were emptying liquefied petroleum gas from other, unexploded tanks in the wrecked train.Television showed the fire spreading down city streets, setting cars and nearby buildings alight.Chief Financial Officer Werner Mitteregger said the tanks being transported on the Italian railways were new.At least two children were among the dead, officials said. Rescue workers set up along the roadside to provide first aid to burn victims.Rescue workers pulled bodies from the rubble of damaged buildings.”Let me see him! Let me see him!,” screamed one man trying to see his grandson, who was among the dead, ANSA news agency reported.State railways said the accident occurred when one carriage derailed, pulling another four with it. ANSA said two nearby buildings collapsed. . Liquefied petroleum gas escaped from a tank on one of the carriages and caught fire

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Rachel Hunter has been dumped by her toyboy lover less than two months before they were due to wed, British tabloid The Sun reports.

Ice hockey star Jarret Stoll stunned the New Zealand model by walking out without even saying the reason, the newspaper said.

It reported that Stoll told guests by email that the star-studded ceremony on August 14 was cancelled. Everything was in place for their wedding – she had the venue, the designer dress, the guest list.

A source close to Hunter, who was formerly married to rock star Rod Stewart, told the paper: “She is absolutely devastated. It sounds like it could be a classic case of cold feet.

“She has absolutely no idea why Jarret has done this. He is a fair bit younger than her.

Hunter and Stoll met two years ago through Hunter’s son Liam, 13, a talented ice hockey player coached by Stoll. .

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High art or a load of poppycock?

A Spanish artist left some of his Wellington audience bemused after presenting a creation that consisted of a man with his fly undone and penis hanging out.
The work, put on by visiting artist Santiago Sierra, was staged in a Dixon St building for most of Saturday.
Art lovers were told the piece was R18 and to queue outside a door before entering the room alone.
“When I went in the door, there was a man standing there with his fly undone and his penis hanging out.
One woman, a local artist, said her expectations were raised by the queue but the reality was less impressive.
“It was quite a funny thing .”
The man, who may have been the artist, had a “brooding” look, but the woman stayed only “about 10 or 15 seconds”, she said.. In terms of an event, it was quite an occurrence..
“I don’t know about [justifying] it economically .”
However, she said that kind of nudity was boring and she would be concerned if a lot of money had been spent bringing Sierra to town… . that sort of stuff isn’t really that shocking in art circles.
Sierra, who lives in Mexico, left New Zealand yesterday.
One Day Sculpture curatorial director Claire Doherty said the Wellington show was Sierra’s own project and not part of the year-long festival. He once paid drug addicts by giving them the drug of their choice to allow themselves to be tattooed. His works sometimes involve paying people to perform unpleasant tasks.
Et al’s earlier works had included a toilet that brayed like a donkey.
In 2005, an artwork by et al caused a stir when its creator refused to speak publicly about the Venice biennale exhibit.

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