Two a penny

.

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.

.

More New Zealand aid and specialist help has arrived in tsunami-ravaged Samoa today.

An Air Force Boeing 757 landed at the Pacific Island today carrying police dog search teams, medical personnel and a surgical team, including Samoan-speaking doctors and nurses.”We are working closely with Australian and Samoan health authorities, as well as the New Zealand Defence Force, to put people with the right mix of skills in place in a planned and managed fashion.”The timing is at the request of the Samoan authorities, so that the team will relieve some of the Australian team, and also allow local staff to take a break to be with their own families,” Health Minister Tony Ryall said.Their arrival will boost the numbers of New Zealand Defence Force personnel helping with the aftermath of Wednesday morning’s earthquake and tsunami to 99, Radio New Zealand reported.”The surgical team would take with it medical equipment and supplies requested by Samoa.HMNZS Canterbury was expected to sail from New Zealand on Tuesday with more aid and equipment.Medical and food supplies were also aboard.Yesterday the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed two New Zealand children died in the tsunamis and a third was missing, presumed dead.Meanwhile, the Defence Force said a water purification system delivered on yesterday should be operational by today.”Grave concerns” were held for Matamata sisters Petria and Rebecca Martin, who were staying at Taufua Lodge resort in Lalomanu, the worst-hit area.Two adult New Zealanders had also died as walls of water swamped the island nation: Raglan woman Mary Ann White and an unidentified person, the ministry said.South Auckland woman Tauaavaga Tupuola - the 84-year-old grandmother of Kiwis rugby league star Matt Utai - was swept to her death with her granddaughter, Bula Okei, 28, and three-year-old great-granddaughter Sima, The reported.Also staying at the resort was two-year-old Auckland toddler Alfie Cunliffe, who is missing and believed to have died when he was swept out to sea as the tsunami hit.Hopes were also fading for Matamata sisters Petria and Rebecca Martin, who have been missing since Wednesday.The ministry was investigating earlier today whether Mrs Tupuola was a New Zealand passport holder, a spokesman told today. It was expected to rise further.The death toll stands at 189 - 149 in Samoa, 31 in American Samoa and nine in Tonga.He has since returned to New Zealand, but has promised the nation more aid to help in the disaster’s aftermath.Prime Minister John Key arrived in Samoa yesterday to see firsthand the devastation wreaked by the tsunamis. The title, given as he drank kava in the village’s meeting house, meant he would be known as “To’osavili Sione Key”. reported he had been made a chief, or “ali’i”, of the devastated village of Poutasi.”We are keeping a register of skilled health professionals and co-ordinating our resources with Australia to ensure that we provide the most effective help possible in conjunction with the Samoan health service,” he said.Meanwhile, more than 250 New Zealand health professionals had volunteered to help in Samoa, Mr Ryall said.Medical help would be needed for weeks to come and Mr Ryall asked that health professionals able to assist phone (09) 263 1381, fax (09) 261 3396 or email Incident.Medical help would be needed for weeks to come and Mr Ryall asked that health professionals able to assist phone (09) 263 1381, fax (09) 261 3396 or email Incident.Controllermiddlemore. .nz outlining their details.

.

A senior police officer has failed in a bid to be discharged without conviction after he drove home “grossly” drunk from a police bar.

Detective Sergeant John Gualter, an instructor at the Royal New Zealand Police College in Porirua, earlier pleaded guilty to drink-driving and dangerous driving.

This afternoon, through his lawyer, he sought a discharge without conviction in Porirua District Court.

She said she did not consider a conviction would necessarily see the end of Gualter’s career.

But Judge June Johnston rejected the discharge application.”

Gualter was disqualified from driving for nine months and fined $1800 plus court costs.

“In my view the police will be in a better position to assess your ongoing employment than this court.

He will now face an employment investigation. His breath-alcohol reading of 1039 micrograms was more than 2½ times the legal limit of 400mcg.

Gualter was stopped by police close to his home in Linden, north Wellington, after 10pm on November 14.

Members of the public saw Gualter join State Highway 1 north of Porirua and weave back and forth across all three lanes.

The previously published details from the police statement of facts describing the incident.

During the journey, his car was seen straddling lanes, swerving to miss a pedestrian-crossing pole and a power pole, mounting footpaths, driving “completely on the incorrect side of a road” and narrowly missing moving cars. They rang police and followed him as he drove into Porirua and on to Linden.

“When he got out of his vehicle he was so grossly intoxicated that he was unsteady on his feet, his eyes were glazed and bloodshot, and his speech was slurred, and he had to lean on the vehicle to support himself,” the police summary said.

“When he got out of his vehicle he was so grossly intoxicated that he was unsteady on his feet, his eyes were glazed and bloodshot, and his speech was slurred, and he had to lean on the vehicle to support himself,” the police summary said

.

Police handling of the search of the house in Christchurch where the bodies of two murdered women were found has been slammed by Maori Party MP Rahui Katene.

The MP for Tai Tonga is critical of the way police treated the family living next door to the “murder house” in the Christchurch suburb of Wainoni. .

“I just don’t think it’s good enough that the family living in the other half of the semi-detached house in Christchurch had to learn through the media that there was a murder investigation going on next door. Their children – and the parents too – don’t want to go back there again.

“This family has been severely traumatised by what has happened right next door to them.”

Ms Katene said she would take the matter up with senior police in Wellington. And I’m appalled that the police have suggested that they can move back in again.

“As a local ratepayer I support the move and encourage the council to pull it down and turn the site into something useful for the community.

But she applauded efforts by Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker to get council to consider buying the house.”

The bodies of 28-year-old Tisha Lowry and the 35-year-old wife of the man charged with her murder were recovered from beneath the house this week. I hope he doesn’t take notice of the people complaining about that move.

Neither can be named due to suppression orders.

The 33-year-old man who lived at the house has been charged with his wife’s murder and is expected to face a second murder charge when he appears in Christchurch District Court on Friday.

.

Seven times Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher will replace injured driver Felipe Massa at Ferrari if he passes a fitness test, the team said early today (NZ time).

The German, now 40 years old, retired from Formula One at the end of 2006. All being well, he will make his comeback in Valencia, Spain, next month.

“Michael Schumacher has shown his willingness and in the next few days he will undergo a specific programme of preparation at the end of which it will be possible to confirm his participation in the championship starting with the European Grand Prix on Aug.

“Ferrari intends to entrust Michael Schumacher with Felipe Massa’s car for as long as the Brazilian driver is not able to race,” the Italian team said in a statement.”

That race is one of the few Schumacher is unfamiliar with since the Spanish street circuit was added to the calendar only last season. 23.

Schumacher’s comeback for the reigning champions will be a huge boost for Formula One organisers as well as local fans, who could be without home hero Fernando Alonso after his Renault team were suspended for one race.

Both Hamilton, 24, and 22-year-old German race winner Vettel – nicknamed ‘Baby Schumi’ by his compatriots – entered the sport after Schumacher had left the scene.

His comeback will be the first time McLaren’s current world champion Lewis Hamilton, as well as Red Bull’s title contender Sebastian Vettel, have raced against the man who dominated a decade.

“I talked on the telephone with (team principal) Stefano Domenicali and (Ferrari president) Luca de Montezemolo this afternoon and we decided jointly that I’ll start preparing to jump in for Felipe,” he said on his website, www.

Ferrari contacted the German, who has taken part in occasional motorcycle races since he retired, after Brazilian Massa fractured his skull in an accident at last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.de. .

“Even though I completely wrapped up the subject of Formula One quite a while ago, due to my attachment to the team I cannot ignore this unfortunate situation.

“Even though I completely wrapped up the subject of Formula One quite a while ago, due to my attachment to the team I cannot ignore this unfortunate situation.

He won his first world title aged 25 with Benetton in 1994, by a single point from Britain’s Damon Hill, and retained the title the following season before moving to Ferrari in 1996.”

Schumacher is Formula One’s most successful driver, with 91 wins and more titles and records than anyone else has ever achieved.

.

He won five straight titles from 2000, and his final tally of race wins far eclipsed the previous mark of 51 set by Frenchman Alain Prost

.

A judge has thrown out charges against a man accused of helping inmates run a large drug ring from the maximum-security wing of Auckland’s Paremoremo prison.

During a depositions hearing in the North Shore District Court last week, Judge David McNaughton dismissed methamphetamine and LSD charges against Bruce Leigh Andrews, the New Zealand Herald reported.

The operation involved smuggling cold tables containing pseudoephedrine from China inside toothpaste, chocolates and cakes to be turned into P at the homes of associates.

Andrews was accused of organising cellphones, collecting payments and passing on orders from senior members of the syndicate.

All but three of those facing methamphetamine charges have been committed for trial.

The 16 defendants have denied the charges over the alleged multi-million-dollar drug ring.

Judge McNaughton will decide next week whether the three will stand trial.

Inmates Arthur William Taylor and Ernest Tofaeono, and Tai Bong Rhee who is accused of organising the pseudoephedrine supply from China, have not conceded a prima facie case, the newspaper reported.

.

A sharp-eyed prison officer foiled an attempt to have cannabis delivered to an inmate at Tongariro/Rangipo prison on the weekend.

“One of our guys was on his way into work when he spotted what looked like a Tupperware container tucked into the grass by the prison entrance,” acting assistant regional manager Diane Brophy said.

“Inside he found approximately an ounce of cannabis leaf – enough for several tinnies and considered a valuable commodity by some prisoners.

“The way the container was placed aroused suspicion so the Corrections officer stopped to investigate further.

“Unfortunately, there are people in the community that are willing to help prisoners access drugs by trying various devious methods to get them into Corrections Facilities. .

-

.”

Anyone caught trying to smuggle drugs or other banned products into the prison would be prosecuted, Ms Brophy said

.
AFP - The French National Assembly decided Tuesday to set up an inquiry into the rising number of Muslim women who wear the burka after President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke out against the full Islamic veil.

In a historic address to parliament Monday, Sarkozy said the burka was not a symbol of religious faith but a sign of women’s subservience and served notice that the head-to-toe veil was not welcome in staunchly secular France.

Views from around the world By
Suzanna Koster special correspondent in Islamabad, Lucy Fielder special correspondent in Beirut and Jasper Mortimer special correspondent in Ankara
The lower house of parliament was responding to a call from a group of lawmakers, many of whom are from Sarkozy’s right-wing UMP party, for a panel to look at ways of restricting the wearing of the burka.

Speaker Bernard Accoyer said 32 lawmakers from right-wing and leftist parties will be examining the thorny issue for six months beginning in July and report on its findings.

Some ministers have suggested that a law should be enacted banning the burka in public places, but critics argue that a better approach would be to resort to education and outreach. .

During his address to both houses of parliament, Sarkozy waded into the raging debate and made clear he supported measures to discourage Muslim women from fully covering themselves in France.

French party leaders decided to set up the fact-finding mission during a meeting, but they did not opt for a full commission of inquiry which has a broader mandate, as called for by the MPs.

That is not the idea that the French republic has of women’s dignity.

We cannot accept to have in our country women who are prisoners behind netting, cut off from all social life, deprived of identity, Sarkozy said in the speech delivered at the Chateau de Versailles.

In a landmark address to the Muslim world in Cairo this month, US President Barack Obama urged Western countries to avoid dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear.

France, home to an estimated five million Muslims, passed a law in 2004 banning headscarves or any other conspicuous religious symbol in state schools to defend secularism.

The French leader on Tuesday made clear he drew a distinction between women who feel faith-bound to respect the code of Islamic dress and the hardline conservatives who enforce the head-to-toe veil.

Sarkozy picked up on his comments when they met in Normandy a few days later and argued that France, as a secular state, had set acceptable limits on headscarves at schools and in government offices. In the republic, the Muslim faith must be respected as much as other religions.

We must not wage the wrong battle, he said.

Last year a Moroccan woman was refused French citizenship after social services said she wore a burka and was living in submission to her husband.

Home to some five million Muslims, France has been caught up in a debate over how far it is willing to go to accommodate Islam without undermining the tradition of separating church and state, enshrined in a flagship 1905 law.

The MP is also mayor of the southern city of Venissieux, home to a large north African immigrant population, where he says the sight of covered women is not a rare occurrence.

Communist MP Andre Gerin spearheaded the drive for a parliamentary panel that would look at ways to restrict the burka, which he describes as a prison and degrading for women.

Mohammed Moussaoui, head of the French Council for the Muslim Religion (CFCM), said last week that such an approach risked stigmatising Islam and the Muslims of France.

France’s official Muslim council however has accused lawmakers of wasting time on a fringe phenomenon.

Burqa - France - parliament
.

It is not known how many women wear the burka in France, but estimates have varied between a few thousand and several hundred

.

Two people have died on New Zealand roads this weekend.

This morning a 78-year-old Hauraki man died at the scene of a crash close to Paeroa.

The driver of the ute was the only other person involved and was unhurt.

Police said the man attempted to do a U-turn in the path of a northbound ute close to the intersection of Rangiora Road, Komata, on State Highway 26.

The dead man was driving west and hit an oncoming car, Sergeant Steve Salton said.

About 1am yesterday (Saturday) a 22-year-old man died at the scene of a two-car collision on Auckland’s Upper Harbour motorway, close to the Greenhithe Bridge.

On Friday morning two teenage girls were killed in a car crash in Whangarei.

He suspected speed to be a factor in the crash.10am.

The pair, who were aged 17 and 18, were killed when the car they were in rolled down a bank on Anzac Rd and into the front yard of a property in suburban Morningside just after 1.

The two were in the back seat of the car and not wearing seatbelts, Northland police spokeswoman Sarah Kennett said.

Police said they were locals.

They received minor injuries and did not need hospital treatment.

There were three other women, aged 16 to 19, in the car.

Ms Kennett said the car lost control on a bend and no other vehicles were involved.

The driver was breath-tested at the scene and was found not to have been under the influence of alcohol.

Also on Friday, a woman died after her car and a truck collided close to Dargaville, 58km south west of Whangarei.

She said the road would have been wet as it rained in Whangarei yesterday and overnight.

The woman driver of the car died at the scene. . The three deaths on the road on Friday fell outside of the weekend reporting period.

* The weekend road death toll was earlier incorrectly reported as five.

-

- Next National story: -
Immigration ‘has to be fixed’

- National Homepage -

.

Hundreds of women are paying for new “egg-timer” fertility tests, with experts forecasting increasing numbers will freeze their eggs. .

Since their introduction, hundreds of women each month have paid about $400 for the test and follow-up consultation.

Previously, women had to pay for a less accurate and more costly ultrasound scan to determine fertility.

The Health Minister is considering a recommendation by the Advisory Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology, which guides the Government on fertility issues, that the use of frozen eggs be allowed for some individuals.

Experts say the tests will see a consequent rise in the freezing of eggs, despite it still being illegal to thaw them.

Collyer said one in four New Zealanders now had infertility issues.

The new egg tests had attracted “a lot of interest from single women”, said Michelle Collyer, chief executive of support group Fertility New Zealand. The egg-timer tests allowed single women and couples to make informed decisions about when and how to have children, she said. This had climbed from about one in five several years ago.

A lot of single women had not met “Mr Right” yet and wanted to know how long they had before they were unable to conceive or could do so only with great difficulty.

Many women in their 30s who called Fertility New Zealand about the tests said they were likely to consider freezing their eggs if they found they had a limited time to conceive. “That means people are often putting their career before embarking on a family.

“We are dealing with a lot of social infertility now rather than biological infertility,” Collyer said.”

Obstetrician and gynaecologist Andrew Murray, the medical director of Fertility Associates in Wellington, said its “egg-check” tests provided important information for single women and couples in deciding when to start a family.

“The egg test gives people more information about what their options are and, as far as I’m concerned, the more information the better.

Few people had eggs frozen at Fertility Associates, and they were predominantly cancer patients.

Having the test, and freezing eggs, were a kind of “fertility insurance”, he said.

Currently, a frozen embryo was far more likely to be successfully thawed than a frozen egg, he said.

Ad Feedback –>
loadAd(’300×250′,’STORYBODY’,300,250);

However, it was likely that if the thawing of eggs was allowed and the related technology became more sophisticated, more women might do it, Murray said.

The cost of being inseminated with donor sperm was about $1000.

It cost about $10,000 to freeze either an egg or an embryo, Murray said.

Women produced a finite number of eggs at birth.

Repromed deputy medical director Dr Greg Phillipson said its egg-timer tests assessed levels of the hormone AMH, which related to a woman’s egg supply.

If, for example, a woman scored 10 per cent, it was likely she had a limited window of opportunity to conceive, he said.

If, for example, a woman scored 10 per cent, it was likely she had a limited window of opportunity to conceive, he said.

It was likely that if the moratorium on thawing eggs was lifted, more single women with limited fertility would freeze eggs for when they met their life partner, Phillipson said.

BACK ON FERTILTY TRACK

At 31, Caron Gutovitz believed she had years left to conceive a child.

However, after a new blood test that determines how many eggs a woman has left, Gutovitz has found she is nearing the end of her fertility.

The egg-timer or egg-check blood test was recently introduced to New Zealand.

Since then, hundreds of women have had it.

Gutovitz had her son, Owen, about two years ago, and had been trying to conceive for the past year.

Eventually, she turned to fertility experts, who discovered scarring on her uterus.

This had been removed, but she was still unable to get pregnant.

“I had the egg-check tests and it showed that my fertility was very low,” she said. “It showed my ovaries thought I was far older than I am.

“My body thought I was 40-something instead of 31. The result was pretty unexpected because I wouldn’t have thought I had that problem.”

The egg-check test is done via a blood test.

Results take about 10 days and are plotted on a graph against a person’s age.

Gutovitz said the test results had “radically” changed her outlook on getting pregnant.

She is now starting in vitro fertilisation treatment.

“If I hadn’t done the test, I would have continued to try and get pregnant through less invasive techniques. This way I know what my options are and I’m not going to find myself running out of time.”

- KIM THOMAS,