Two a penny

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A man arrested over the death of a Wellington man had his charge upgraded from assault to murder today.

The man, 43, was granted name suppression in Wellington District Court while a psychological assessment was carried out.

The killing happened on Tuesday at a halfway house, in suburban Newtown, which accommodates people suffering from mental illness or involved in drug rehabilitation.

The victim has been identified as Kelly Whakaneho, a 37-year-old Wellington man. .

A post mortem examination revealed Mr Whakaneho died of multiple stab woulds.

Detective Inspector Paul Basham said the investigation into Mr Whakaneho’s death was going well and a detailed scene investigation had been completed.

The accused man, who was remanded in custody, will re-appear for a pre-commital hearing on September 4.

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Investigators had spoken with several possible witnesses, he said

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REUTERS – Europe farm chief has allowed France more time to explain how it will retrieve hefty subsidies paid to its fruit and vegetable farmers that are deemed illegal by EU regulators, the European Commission said on Wednesday.

In January, the Commission&mdashthe EU executive arm&mdashruled that national funding amounting to some 338 million euros ($486.4 million) paid out by the French government between 1992 and 2002 to support producer prices and incomes had contravened EU farm and state aid policy. This week, EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel granted a French request for another extension to Sept.

France has already been given a deadline extension to July 29 for notifying Brussels as to how it planned to recover the cash. . 29.

It the French authorities that will have to recover this money, this is French money&mdashnot European subsidies.

In its original decision, the Commission said the payments favoured France fruit and vegetable sector to the detriment of that of other EU countries, so creating a national market policy superimposed over the EU own policy, and interfering with it. European subsidies did exist but this was on top of that, he said. It going to be difficult and in some cases, it will be painful, he said.

It very difficult for the producer, it not his fault&mdashhe has just accepted aid which was made available to him, Altafaj Tardio told a daily news briefing. Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire has promised to try and negotiate with Brussels a reduction in the final amount of cash to be returned.

NEGOTIATION

The Commission demands have sparked anger in France, among fruit and vegetable producers as well as farm organisations and unions….

If that report convinces us that part of the aid does not have to be repaid . then these are elements that can be taken into account, one Commission official told Reuters..

In its decision taken earlier this year, the Commission said France would have to recover all cash paid out, plus interest. France fruit and vegetable sector is Europe third largest.

The amount that Paris will have to recover is unclear although interest payments may bring the sum to 500 million euros, or possibly more, EU officials say. It also has to provide full details of beneficiaries and cash amounts, as well as proof that the beneficiaries have been ordered to repay.

The amount is something that will emerge from the report which the French authorities have to provide to us by September 29, he said.

We are interested in having a proper and open debate with the French authorities, Altafaj Tardio said.

agriculture – European Commission – France
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agriculture – European Commission – France

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An attack on convicted killer Clayton Weatherston is imminent even if he is in isolation in jail, the Corrections Association says. . He is being held in Christchurch men’s prison, which holds nearly 1000 medium to high-medium risk prisoners.

Weatherston was convicted on Wednesday of fatally stabbing his former girlfriend Sophie Elliott.

Newstalk ZB reported that prison inmates had taunted Weatherston from the moment he arrived at the prison, that a $55,000 bounty had been put on his head and that the price was expected to reach six figures.

The Corrections Department said prison managers could order segregation if a prisoner was at risk, but would not say if that was the case with Weatherston.

Department spokesman Lance Alexander said almost one in three prisoners were now in segregation either forced or voluntary. It is unclear who would offer the money.

However, isolation might not guarantee Weatherston’s safety, because prison gangs “control the life and death of other prisoners”.

Corrections Association president Beven Hanlon said Weatherston would not be in the general prison population because of his high profile and the media coverage surrounding his case.

Mr Hanlon, who has worked in prisons for 12 years, said he had only known of one case in which a segregation request was denied.

Gang members were also known to ask to be put into segregation, where they are able to associate with other segregated prisoners, with the potential for attacking them, he said.”

Mr Alexander confirmed that segregated prisoners had access to each other.

“We have a number of murders in the prison system every year and that’s done on the instruction of other gang members and that’s how powerful they are in prisons.

Mr Hanlon said every prisoner in the country had the option of saying, “I don’t feel safe,” and being placed in isolation.

“Prisoners on voluntary or directed segregation are usually able to mix freely with other segregated prisoners.”

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“If we were allowed to handcuff them, we wouldn’t have these problems

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The 42-year-old paraplegic man killed during a shoot-out with police in the Christchurch suburb of Burnside was a licensed firearms holder. .nz

Shayne Sime’s body was removed from the scene this afternoon but police caution their investigation is likely to be lengthy.co.

Detective Superintendent Brett Kane said that Sime had been a licensed firearms holder since 2006, which gave him a licence to Category A firearms (sporting shotguns and rifles).

A post mortem on Sime will start this evening and continue into tomorrow. He had a shot gun and a high calibre fire weapon,” Mr Kane said.

“He belonged to a gun club.

A report that police had previously been called to the address over a firearms incident had been clarified, Mr Kane said.

He said an examination of Sime’s house had not yet been started so it was not known if there were any other weapons. No offence was established.

“In February this year a neighbour reported shots, this was investigated and Sime was found to be firing his son’s bb gun at a cardboard box.

“We are mindful this will be disruptive but we will be working thoroughly,” Kane said.”

Police said cordons remained in place and about 40 residents evacuated from their homes were not likely to be allowed back to their homes for a day or two.

A neighbour blasted with shotgun pellets from his shoulder to his groin was also in a stable condition.

He said the police officer shot in the incident had minor surgery this afternoon to remove pellets from his face and would make a full recovery.

The sequence of events was yet to be confirmed but police said they were called around 8pm and the armed offenders squad set up a cordon around 8.

Police had not yet interviewed the man who had been standing close to his front door and escaped over a rear fence.

Kane said negotiations were started and continued for about two hours.20pm. The number of shots will be confirmed from the investigation however a neighbour counted at least 82 shots.

“There was indiscriminate shooting throughout the event.

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The Warriors have paid the price for their lack of finishing as they failed to score in the second half and slumped to a successive home defeat in the NRL, this time beaten 22-16 by the resurgent Rabbitohs.

The Warriors’ inability to convert almost total dominance of the third quarter into points was going to cost them dearly as they tried desperately to improve a vulnerable 16-12 halftime lead.

Raid after raid came up short and eventually they coughed up a long range try to Souths’ left wing Fetuli Talanoa and a short range touchdown to right wing Nathan Merritt in the final 10 minutes.

It was a draining match played in afternoon heat and in front of a packed Mt Smart Stadium.

The Rabbitohs’ defence against a wealth of possession was quite remarkable and formed the basis of their courageous fightback.

Another loss has left the Warriors hurting after their promising two wins to open their 2008 campaign. But the Warriors aren’t helping themselves or their faithful fans right now.

There may have been a lack of finishing but there was no lack of effort from Ivan Cleary’s side.

The Warriors were without seven players including stars Steve Price, Brent Tate, Manu Vatuvei and Lance Hohaia. .

They are getting plenty of hard graft from the likes of Russell Packer, Jacob Lillyman, Ian Henderson, Simon Mannering and Michael Luck.

You sense that every game that goes on without a mix of them returning leaves the Warriors in trouble despite their talk of a new depth to their squad.

But it’s a lack of a bit of X-factor that is hurting them right now.

And the new breed are doing their part too with young Ukuma Ta’ai producing the best performance of his young career.

Souths had that in the form of lively halfback Chris Sandow who was a constant handful and skipper Roy Asotasi’s workload was immense.

Souths had that in the form of lively halfback Chris Sandow who was a constant handful and skipper Roy Asotasi’s workload was immense.

The Warriors got an early let-off when Souths second rower Ben Lowe dropped the ball with the line open after a good attack down the left.

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The Warriors’ record against the Rabbitohs is now 14-6 and 6-4 at Mt Smart.

A Stacey Jones kick was charged down but the little maestro regathered it an saw a chance down the right where he fed Patrick Ah Van whose pass put wing Aidan Kirk over in the corner with Denan Kemp providing the extras.

They then made the Rabbitohs pay at the other end in the eighth minute.

Down 0-12 Souths had to strike back and they did that with ease, getting a penalty to get them field possession and then putting fullback Luke Capewell through for the try.

Things got even better when the Warriors defence forced a dropout from the visitors and Packer used that possession to charge through for McKinnon and Henderson to combine to put Luck over by the posts.

Sandow’s conversion tied the game up at 12-all after 26 minutes.

Mannering made a superb try-saving tackle for the Warriors as Nathan Merritt broke free but when Kirk tackled Talanoa as the Rabbitohs wing was within reach of a loose ball in the ingoal there was no option but to award a penalty try.

The Warriors started the second half strongly but had three raids at the Souths’ line repelled.

The tight tussle continue through to the stroke of halftime when the Warriors set up an attack on the South’s line and a sweet in-pass from Jones allowed McKinnon to cross with an angled run for a 16-12 lead at the break.

It was South’s ability to defuse a Jones bomb 10 minutes from the end that finally gave them the lead.

It was South’s ability to defuse a Jones bomb 10 minutes from the end that finally gave them the lead. Wing Talanoa rose to claim a clean catch and then sprinted 80m to the posts with Sandow’s conversion putting them two points clear.

It was heart-breaking for the Warriors and that pain turned into the realisation of a likely defeat immediately after when the Rabbitohs took a more conventional method to put their other wing Nathan Merritt over in the corner.

The Rabbitohs might just be serious about being a threat this year.

They started the season by thrashing the Roosters 52-12, they then lost to the Eels 8-14 and bounced back to eventually overcome the Knights 22-12.

They will treasure this win against the Warriors considering the work they had to do without the ball.

In the early game the Junior Warriors beat the Junior Rabbitohs 42-32.

Rabbitohs 22 (Luke Capewell, Fetuli Talanoa, Nathan Merritt tries; penalty try; Chris Sandow 3 goals)

Warriors 16 (Aidan Kirk, Micheal Luck, Wade McKinnon tries; Denan Kemp 2 goals).

Halftime: 12-16.

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An Invercargill City Council manager is pushing for a law change that would allow dog control officers to immediately kill dogs that have attacked people.

The move comes after thieves broke into the Invercargill pound, in what has been described as a planned commando attack, and stole two mastiff dogs that mauled an elderly woman last week.

The 68-year-old victim, Noeline Shaw, had been delivering pamphlets in Holloway St when the two large mastiff dogs got out of their property and lunged at her, biting her arm.

A recommendation was to be put before the environment and planning committee meeting next month to lobby for a law change that would allow dog control officers to immediately destroy animals responsible for attacks, Mr Watt said.

After the dogs were taken from the pound, Ms Shaw said the council should have put them down straight after the attack and has won the support of the council’s environmental and services director, William Watt.

If the policy was adopted, occasionally mistakes might be made but the greater good of the community had to be considered, he said. Currently unless the owner consents to their dog being destroyed the council has to prosecute and get a court order to put the animal down, at a cost to ratepayers.

“My feeling all along has been that the law puts too much on the rights of the dog and not enough on the victims.

“Every day these dogs are out in the community they are a danger and I believe we need more direct authority to put them down on the spot where an attack like this has occurred. The woman that was attacked was right, they should have been put down.

However, New Zealand Kennel Club president John Perfect said there were serious flaws with the proposal.”

If the council agreed with its recommendation it would be forwarded to the Local Government Association to get a law change, Mr Watt said.

“Sometimes it’s not the dog’s fault .

“I’m very conscious of dog attacks and the effect it has on the public but what I do have some difficulty with is giving a territorial authority carte blanche right to kill dogs… . it might have been protecting its property and are they going to kill dogs for doing their job?”, he said.

Detective Sergeant Mark McCloy, of Invercargill CIB, said police had received a file on the theft.

The two mastiffs had not been found yesterday and the city council was advising dog control authorities throughout the country in case the dogs had been taken out of the area.

The owner of the two dogs did not want to comment yesterday.

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“We’ve made some inquiries but the dogs have not been recovered yet,” he said.

One a Penny, Two a Penny … Good Friday. I burnt our hot-cross buns at breakfast.

Read more here:
How to Survive a Recession: One a Penny, Two a Penny …

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New data has revealed the extent of the mortgagee-sale wave sweeping New Zealand and reveals which parts of the country are hardest hit.

Figures released exclusively to the Sunday Star-Times show there were 150 forced sales in January a whopping five-fold increase from January 2007′s 28 sales, when the property market was robust and the economy stable.

And experts say the crisis is starting to hit average Kiwi families who can no longer meet mortgage payments due to job losses, stalling business growth and mounting debt.

There is no question that mortgagee sales are on the rise.

This is only the second month that Terralink, New Zealand’s leading land and property information service, has released mortgagee sales data the first of its kind to be based on actual sale transactions, so painting the most reliable picture of what’s happening in the market. Such sales hit a 14-year high in December. From 2007 to 2008 the number of sales forced by the inability of a mortgage-holder to meet repayments increased 275%, climbing off the back of four years of relative stability.

The January data reveals year-on-year increases around most of the country. Waikato recorded 12 sales (up from five) and Wellington clocked up seven sales (up from five). Auckland continues to be the worst affected, with 76 mortgagee sales in January a 192% increase from the 26 in the same month last year.

In the South Island, Canterbury had 11 sales (up from seven), Otago saw eight (up from five) and Nelson (four sales up from two).

There were increases too in Northland (10 sales up from four), Hawke’s Bay (seven sales up from one), Manawatu (four sales up from one), Wairarapa (two sales up from zero) and Taranaki (one sale up from zero).

Terranet says the nationwide surge in mortgagee sales is far from over. There were small drops in Bay of Plenty, Marlborough and Southland.

January is typically a slow month for mortgagee sales so Terralink managing director Mike Donald was surprised they reached as many as 150 up 82 from January 2008.

January is typically a slow month for mortgagee sales so Terralink managing director Mike Donald was surprised they reached as many as 150 up 82 from January 2008.

The nature of mortgagee sales is also changing.”

Preliminary figures for February also suggest the upward spike is continuing. But in January this dropped to 58%, meaning an increasing number of forced sales are being initiated by banks. In December more than 70% were pushed by second-tier lenders such as smaller finance companies, many of which collapsed last year.

Budget advisers say the prospect of being forced to sell a house is a very real fear for their clients.“Now that a lot of the finance companies are out of the picture, more and more mortgagee sales will be driven by the major lenders,” said Donald. “The kind of people we are talking to, that’s their only investment. Raewyn Fox, director of the Family Federation of Budgeting Services, says most callers to worried about meeting mortgage payments.”

The latest mortgagee figures come on the back of two years of global credit crunch and recession, sparked by the collapse of the United States “sub-prime” mortgage market, where loans were given to people at a high risk of defaulting. Losing their house means they don’t have anything else to fall back on.

Brokers say sourcing finance is becoming increasingly difficult, especially for highly geared borrowers who have less than 30% equity in their property. .

As the Star-Times revealed last week, many homeowners, desperate to swap to lower interest rates and slash their weekly repayment amounts, are discovering that break fees charged by the banks are prohibitive.

Massey University banking expert David Tripe said the biggest risk factors leading to mortgagee sales were loss of income and the amount people owed compared to the value of their house the less equity you hold in your house, the greater your risk. Unemployment in New Zealand is predicted to rise to around 7% by the end of the year that’s 160,000 people out of work.

Experts say the best remedy is preparation. Banks encourage customers to talk to them at the first sign of trouble. And taking account of your financial position and preparing a budget is vital. Auckland First Rate Mortgages broker Steve McGowan says people need to work out where their money is going.

“You can’t live like we lived two years ago when employment was high. We all had equity and we all felt quite wealthy and were buying the latest plasma screens. If you don’t change the way you’re doing things then yes, you are going to get yourself into a bit of trouble.”

See www.zoodle.co.nz for Terralink’s mortgagee sale data

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Police, Interpol trace tourists’ jewellery trail

– Thursday, 26 February 2009

SUSPECTED THIEVES: Romanian tourists Ioan and Paulinas Kvec were arrested when police found jewellery believed to be stolen in their rental car. Police and Interpol are now working together to establish where more jewellery found with the Kvecs came from.

New Zealand Police and Interpol are trying to establish whether a haul of expensive jewellery found following the arrest of a Romanian couple recently is stolen or not. .
Ioan, 48, and Paulina Kvec, 44, were arrested at the weekend when police pulled them over for speeding and found over 40 pieces of jewellery including bracelets, diamond rings and necklaces.
Police were also investigating offences involving another jewellery store in Hamilton, a bank in Waipukurau and a liquor store in Pahiatua.
Police central communications manager Kim Perks said since the publicity about the case a further offence was reported by another jewellery shop in Tauranga.
However, police are trying to now trying to figure out whether the remaining 38 items, with a likely value in excess of $100,000 are also stolen.
Police said they began receiving reports of the theft of high value jewellery from shops along the east coast of the North Island around the time the Romanian-born British residents arrived in the country on February 11.
Detective David Burmeister said police are working with Interpol to establish whether or not it was brought into the country with the couple after they arrived from Brunei.
Earlier today police said a map found in the car suggested the couple travelled from Auckland through Hamilton, Tauranga, Hastings and Napier, Pahiatua, Greytown and Wellington.
They are now trying to piece together the couples movements from the time they arrived.
Mr Burmeister said they would like to hear from anyone who has any information that could help.
The map suggested that they were then en route from Wellington, headed for Stratford and New Plymouth, when they were stopped by a highway patrol car in Bulls.
"We also want to hear from jewellery retailers who have had anything stolen from their stores or other retailers who have been asked to do money exchanges by a Romanian couple," he said.
"We also want to hear from jewellery retailers who have had anything stolen from their stores or other retailers who have been asked to do money exchanges by a Romanian couple," he said.
The Kvecs are due to appear in Palmerston North District Court today.
Police said it was important that police identify whether the jewellery was stolen or legitimately owned "so that we can ensure any New Zealand-owned jewellery stays in New Zealand".

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Troubled Waikato school’s board quits

– Saturday, 21 February 2009

The Fairfield College board of trustees say they acted in the best interests of the school by resigning.
The board quit yesterday and the Ministry of Education will appoint a commissioner to replace them, although it is so far unclear who that will be.
"We wanted to improve the outcomes for those kids and the only way forward was to up the level of intervention in the school .
Board deputy chairperson Rodney Hartles last night said it had made the "appropriate decision in the best interests of the school going forward"…. we took the ultimate step and . resigned..
Ministry of Education spokesperson Gillon Carruthers said the Secretary for Education would appoint a commissioner as soon as possible."
The board would release a more detailed statement later, probably early next week.
He said the decision to resign was the board's own, and principal Julie Small was "absolutely" still at the school. .
At the time Mrs Small told the she was committed to raising academic achievement at the school.
The state co-educational Hamilton secondary school experienced a tumultuous end to 2008, with 80 per cent of PPTA staff members voting no confidence in the principal, the senior leadership team and the board.
Earlier this week about 200 people attended an emotional community hui at the school's marae to express concerns over the achievement of Maori students and management of the school.
But teachers said they worked incredibly hard and felt their professionalism was constantly being undermined and challenged.
The PPTA, which represents the majority of the teachers at the school, was unavailable for comment on the latest development last night.
On Thursday a student strike over the issues at the school turned heated as a teacher clashed with television cameras trying to film students.