Two a penny

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Fiji’s coup leader and self-appointed Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has complained to other nations that his country’s troops have been barred from joining any new United Nations peacekeeping force.

He darkly hinted that his critics are the dupes of twisted politicians who are in league with terrorists to push “racial supremacy” and a “corrupt agenda.N.”In his speech to the General Assembly, Bainimarama did not name Australia or New Zealand as Fiji’s nemeses in the region, but he made clear who he blamed for being blackballed from U.”In all of this, they have used their extensive diplomatic and financial resources to deny Fiji to participate in new peacekeeping operations,” he complained. peacekeeping:”Our people pose no threat to anyone, least of all to the big powers of the South Pacific who have arrogated to themselves the right to dictate to us our future and the way we govern ourselves,” Bainimarama said.”Fiji has participated in peacekeeping operations since 1978 and is proud of its association with the United Nations, in particular the Department of Peacekeeping Operations,” Bainimarama said. Fiji still participates in other long-standing peacekeeping patrols, such as in Iraq. To this day, we have not been able to receive a clear and satisfactory reply on this matter from the United Nations,” he said.”Fiji has been disappointed by what appears to be a unilateral decision on the part of the United Nations to debar our country from any new peacekeeping operations. .When Britain granted Fiji independence in 1970, the Fijian army had only about 200 active troops. peacekeeping operations, building a robust military culture in the nation of fewer than 950,000 people.N. His government had promised elections earlier this year, but Bainimarama said in Saturday’s speech that they will not be held until 2014.Fiji has been under military rule since Bainimarama, the country’s armed forces chief, seized power in a 2006 coup, its fourth since 1987. The first coup in 1987 followed the election of an Indian majority government.Fiji’s population is split between the indigenous Fijian majority and ethnic Indians, introduced by former colonial power Britain in the 19th century to work on sugar cane plantations.”I believe that these critics are largely unaware of the extent to which politicians, in league with those who employ terror as a tactic to push a racial supremacy and corrupt agenda, had become a threat to the safety and security of our people,” he warned.Bainimarama did not conceal his contempt for his critics, at home or elsewhere in the South Pacific:”There have been critics of the events in Fiji since December 2006, when the military, with great reluctance, was forced to remove the then government of Fiji,” he said.

.Nowhere in his speech did he specifically name India, Australia or New Zealand

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All Blacks coach Graham Henry has refused to condemn French rugby player Mathieu Bastareaud for his deceitful claim he had been attacked in the streets of Wellington by a group of New Zealanders.

Henry was today philosophical about the whole unfortunate affair involving the Frenchman and his tall tale of woe following last weekend’s second test in the capital.

“It’s just young guys making bad decisions isn’t it,” said Henry’s at today’s captain’s's press conference at AMI Stadium in Christchurch. . These things happen whether you’re a Frenchman, an Australian or a New Zealander from time to time with young people.

“In this case they made a very bad decision.”

Henry also felt it was not up to the All Blacks to point any fingers, despite the fact that they too had been duped by Bastareaud’s false accusations. They make bad decisions, and they’ve copped it. It’s a difficult situation, and I feel for French rugby people.

“We’ve been in similar situations in the past where our guys have made decisions. But let’s be honest about this, we’re not all squeaky clean all the time. There is some relief that it wasn’t New Zealanders involved. But sometimes they don’t.

“We hope our young guys do make good decisions most of the time.

He returned to France after the incident to recover from his injuries.”

Bastareaud told police he was attacked from behind, leaving him with a serious eye injury, but his recollection was patchy. However, it seems he has only owned up following police pressure.

He has now admitted he lied about the attack and instead says he injured himself by falling over a table in his hotel room.

“I owe the truth to everybody.

“I have to return to the events in New Zealand,” said Bastareaud in a statement.

“I fell in my bedroom and scarred my cheekbone on the table in the room.

“On Saturday evening, I returned to the hotel after having drunk too much.

“I recounted the original story because I thought it would be believed, but given the coverage it has subsequently received I thought it would be better to tell the truth,” added Bastareaud.

“I was ashamed and panicked and I thought I would be sent packing by the team management.

“I did not want my family to be ashamed,” he said.

“I did not want my family to be ashamed,” he said.

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The Government is defending its job-saving programmes in the face of rising unemployment.

Oamaru-based Summit Wool Spinners yesterday joined the taxpayer-subsidised nine-day fortnight scheme, saving 57 jobs, Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said.

Bennett said that 117 jobs had now been retained under the nine-day fortnight, under which workers and employers agreed to a cut in hours in return for a $62 a fortnight payment from the Government.

Another small manufacturing firm not identified has also joined, retaining six jobs.

“Summit Wool is Oamaru’s second-biggest employer.

“The impact of retaining these jobs for at least the next six months should not be underestimated,” Bennett said.

However, the two were the first scheme entrants since Fisher & Paykel signed up the previous month.”

Bennett expected more companies to join the scheme, saying there had been about 60 approaches from mainly manufacturing and construction businesses.

The Government also faced a setback yesterday over another Job Summit initiative, with banks pulling out of a plan to provide some equity for firms hit by the recession.

Despite 57 positions being saved at Summit Wool Spinners, another 48 people would be made redundant at the mill.

He said it was too early to judge the success of the nine-day fortnight scheme, which was “one of those things that will build up over time”.

Prime Minister John Key said banks had decided it was not commercially viable.

He also planned to announce a widening of the nine-day fortnight scheme.

Key said there were other proposals from the Job Summit that Cabinet was considering, but these would not be announced until the Budget next month.

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Labour leader Phil Goff said the Government’s initiatives had flopped, and the public was being fed “gimmicks and slogans”.

Key agreed “unofficial” unemployment benefit numbers were rising and were now roughly 17,000 more than the same time last year.

“The economic crisis is moving faster than the Government’s responses, which have not been adequate.

“The limited success of the Job Summit initiatives to date will concern New Zealanders,” he said.

“Saving over 100 jobs in the present environment is a very worthwhile achievement and the Government should now look at expanding it to allow firms with fewer than 100 workers to apply,” president Robert Reid said.”

However, the Government’s scheme won praise from the National Distribution Union, which yesterday said the nine-day fortnight was a success, and should be expanded. .

The agreement at the woollen mill in Oamaru had resulted in fewer redundancies, Reid said.

Heatley said $23 million of extra work had been issued to the recession-hit building industry in the past three months.”

Meanwhile, Housing Minister Phil Heatley said 935 people were working on 613 state homes in March as a result of the $124 million in economic stimulus funding announced in February.

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No blood could be seen with the naked eye on rifle that killed the Bain family, the High Court in Christchurch has been told.

After days grilling police about their investigation of the Bain murders in June, 1994, the Bain trial turned a corner this afternoon to deal with scientific evidence.

The evidence started with former ESR scientist Peter Hentschel in the witness box.

Part of his job was to collect blood samples and with the help of fingerprint specialist Kim Jones he identified four fingerprints on the stock of the rifle.

He said he could not see blood on the wood of rifle with the naked eye but under a polilight, which changed the wavelengths of light, he could see blood on the stock.

The rifle was quite extensively smeared in blood but the area of the fingerprints were clear of smearing.

He took blood samples about 5 to 10mm away from the fingerprints to ensure they remained intact for other tests. The way they were deposited meant the hand that had touched the rifle had blood on it.

A sangur test was a pad containing chemicals which reacted with blood and luminol testing involved spraying a surface with the chemical luminol.

Hentschel, who retired in 2005 after a 40-year career working for Environmental and Scientific Research and its predecessors, outlined two tests for blood in the house.

He said luminol testing in Margaret Bain’s room found two partial footprints made by a stockinged right foot and two complete footprints leading into Laniet’s room and out of it. The luminol glowed blue or blue green in the dark when it reacted with blood.

Hentschel said he also examined a green jersey found in the Bain’s washing machine.

One of the complete footprints measured 280mm. The loose weave of the jersey could have made blood smears on two door frames in the house and on a post leading into the kitchen. The loose weave of the jersey could have made blood smears on two door frames in the house and on a post leading into the kitchen.

Weir was today accused of planting a spectacle lens in Stephen Bain’s bedroom.

A tense encounter in the morning session dealt with allegations of planting evidence against former Detective Sergeant Milton Weir, who was the officer-in-charge of the scene of the murders in Every Street Dunedin. The lens popped out of the frame in a fight with Stephen, the Crown alleges.The lens is crucial evidence as the Crown alleges it came from a pair of glasses worn by David Bain as he shot his family.

Reed showed Weir a series of photographs and referred to a gap by a wind jacket near where the lens was found.

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Weir spent yesterday in the witness box being grilled on the Bain investigation and denied deliberately misleading the jury in David Bain’s first trial in 1995 about where he found the lens.Weir categorically rejected the allegation, saying he did not know how the gap had emerged but it was not a result of him planting the lens. He maintained the gap had widened from previous photographs, and put it to Weir that he had put his hand through the gap to plant the lens.Weir agreed and said: “I was sick of the constant investigations.Reed told him his credibility was in issue in the trial and, quoting from an application Weir had prepared for a cash payment when he left the police under early retirement provisions, he said Weir had himself said he was distrusted by fellow officers and constantly under suspicion. . He agreed he had also begun to distrust his own superiors and when he had a performance appraisal with a senior officer before he left the police, he had secretly taped the discussion on a hidden dictaphone.He did not remember his application containing information about a Christchurch officer who had wanted him off an inquiry because of his reputation for dishonesty.Re-examined by Kieran Raftery, for the Crown, Weir said the space between the “real” lens and an optical illusion which he had identified in David Bain’s first trial as the location of the lens was only a “matter of centimetres”. He said other items had also moved slightly between different photographs.He told Raftery he had “perfed” from the police in 1999 and a psychological report was prepared for him based on information he told the psychologist.

In the confidential report he had talked about two police operations where he was the subject of what he regarded as adverse comment.

On the Scott Watson inquiry he was told to keep a low profile by the inquiry head Rob Pope and an officer had joked about him planting evidence. He did not take it as a joke.When doing a review of the Wicked Willies murder investigation originally conducted by the Christchurch police, he had been the subject of a complaint from one of the Christchurch officers who had initially investigated the alleged murder.

Weir said he and his Dunedin team had found shortcomings in the Christchurch police investigation and that had made relations with Christchurch police difficult.

As a result of his review charges were dropped against the murder accused in the Wicked Willies case. ‘HANG BAIN’ In earlier evidence Weir admitted painting “Hang Bain” on his house after he left the police.Weir said he had painted the slogan on plaster in 2002 at his house in Dunedin.”I accept it was inappropriate of me to do that,” he said.The slogan originated at a function he held after the Court of Appeal decision rejecting David Bain’s appeal, he said. He had been under a lot of stress, had given evidence in the Court of Appeal and thought the appeal court decision “could be the end”. Other police officers may have been at the function but he could not remember which ones.Weir was today also referred to an inquiry made by a detective in 1997 of two prostitutes in Dunedin in response to issues raised by Bain’s advocate Joe Karam.Reed told Weir one of the prostitutes called Petra had given the detective, according to the detective’s job sheet, a pair of socks and a private note for “Milton”.Weir told Reed he did not know a prostitute called Petra and was mystified by the socks. He had instructed the detective to make the socks an exhibit. He could not recall the private note.

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Itinerant’s secret nest-egg under scrutiny

The Thursday, 19 February 2009

An occasional itinerant thought to have nearly $1 million invested under an alias risks losing his grip on his tightly held nest-egg.
Robert Erwood, also known as McDonald and perhaps Wood, was declared bankrupt not because he could not pay his debts, but because he would not.
Now thought to be living in Auckland, but having stayed in Nelson and Wellington, Mr Erwood had sometimes claimed he was destitute with only a welfare benefit as income.
While Mr Erwood dug in his heels over paying about $220,000 to a family member and his former lawyer, two more creditors have stepped up saying he also owes them $100,000.
Mr Erwood was one of the investors who lost money in the collapse due to fraud of Upper Hutt law firm Renshaw Edwards in 1992.
"The extent of the assets that he apparently owns might come as something of a surprise to those who have been dealing with him," a Court of Appeal judgment said this week.
He still disputes he owes his former lawyer and that case is back before the High Court next month. It led to lengthy court action with the Law Society and eventually his own lawyer. .
The Official Assignee, which administered bankruptcies, had collected or identified more than $900,000 apparently belonging to Mr Erwood, though it was held under the name Robert Wood, the court said.
His failure to pay and the emergence of the two new creditors meant the public interest now required that the bankruptcy follow the usual course so any other creditors could be identified, the Court of Appeal said. It was previously thought he had only two creditors and if he had paid his debt to them about $220,000 the bankruptcy would have been annulled.

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Injured Kiwis ready for more Aussie fires

and Tuesday, 10 February 2009

BACK INTO THE BREACH: Nelson fireman Nick McCabe suffered in 2006 after his group had to hide in a ditch as a wall of flames swept over them. He remembers the pain but will volunteer to go again. .
Both men said yesterday they would gladly return if their services were needed.
Memories of being in hospital with bad burns to their hands, arms and faces have not stopped Nelson fireman Nick McCabe and his Wairoa colleague Tim Allan from volunteering to return to the tinder-dry Australian bush. Yesterday Mr Rudd accepted the offer, but Mr Key did not think they would leave for a week or two.
Prime Minister John Key offered his Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd the use of 100 firefighters.
"We have the manpower and the military capability to get them there immediately," he said. They have still got quite a lot of backup in Australia at this point but they anticipate that, down the track, they will require it. "It's at the request of the Australians that they don't go immediately. "We're standing ready, willing and able."
He said timing was in the hands of the Australian authorities. Until that happened, Mr Dudfield could not confirm who could be called upon."
National Rural Fire Officer Murray Dudfield said Australian firefighters had not formally requested Kiwi support at this stage.
However, Mr McCabe said: "If they call for volunteers I'll be putting my hand up.
However, Mr McCabe said: "If they call for volunteers I'll be putting my hand up.
"We all just went into survival mode really.
They hid in a ditch as a wall of flames went over the top of them. It all happened so fast," Mr Allan said. We didn't have time to be scared. Six members of the group, who were all wearing protective gear, were taken to hospital, including Mr McCabe and Mr Allan.
The group suffered further burns when they ran toward a clearing.
Mr Key said he had expressed his sympathies to Mr Rudd, who was "pretty cut up" by the fatal bushfires. Both have recovered from burns, mostly to their hands and faces.
New Zealand also faces an extreme fire risk problem in areas such as Central Otago, Canterbury, Hawke's Bay and the East Coast of the North Island. He was "touched" by New Zealand's offer of assistance.
MetService spokesperson Bob McDavitt said there had been reports of a pinkish smoke haze over New Zealand on Sunday and Monday caused by bushfire smoke pushed across the Tasman by westerly winds.
MetService spokesperson Bob McDavitt said there had been reports of a pinkish smoke haze over New Zealand on Sunday and Monday caused by bushfire smoke pushed across the Tasman by westerly winds. The haze had dissipated as a result of winds turning southeasterly over Victoria and South Australia yesterday.

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Killer beat 17-year-old before Aim murder

The Friday, 06 February 2009

TRACEY ROBINSON
GUILTY PLEA: Jahche Broughton initially denied any involvement in the death of Karen Aim, but yesterday he admitted murdering the Scottish tourist.

FAMILIES’ NIGHTMARE: The mother of the killer of Karen Aim, pictured, said it was a nightmare for her family and the Aim family and she was finding it hard to understand what had happened. It’s not something a family should go through . ‘It’s like D-Day for us, and it would be like that for the Aim family as well…
Two weeks before he bashed 26-year-old Miss Aim to death, the 14-year-old attacked and seriously injured another young woman by hitting her on the head with a rock.’

Security guard helped protect Aim’s killer

Teen pleads guilty to Karen Aim murder

Scottish tourist Karen Aim was not Jahche Broughton's only victim.
He faces life imprisonment when he appears for sentencing in Rotorua on March 6.
This was revealed publicly for the first time at a pre-trial hearing in the High Court at Auckland yesterday where Broughton entered an unexpected guilty plea to both offences murdering Mis Aim, and injuring the 17-year-old with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
He was "very well loved" as a child, she said.
His mother, Eugenie Broughton, who arrived at court too late for the brief hearing, is struggling to understand what happened.
It was a nightmare for her family and the Aim family and she was finding it hard to understand what had happened. He had a good upbringing and was not spoilt. It's not something a family should go through .
"It's like D-Day for us, and it would be like that for the Aim family as well…"
As for her son, she said: "He will be trying to comprehend what has happened. yes, it's a bit of a nightmare."
Lawyer Bill Lawson said Broughton pleaded guilty because "it was the right thing to do". He is so young, he is only a child and children often don't fully understand.
"Part of the process of being able to carry on is to find out exactly what happened that night.
Miss Aim's father, Brian, was relieved he did not have to sit through a long trial but he still had questions he wanted answered."
Mr Aim praised the work of detectives involved in the case."
Mr Aim praised the work of detectives involved in the case.
The murder of Miss Aim on January 17 last year shocked two communities half a world apart Taupo and her home town of Holm, in the Orkney Islands. Police said she had farewelled friends at a Taupo bar to walk home and was just 50 metres from her flat when she was bashed twice on the head by Broughton.
The last sighting of her was a closed-circuit television image showing her walking out of a service station eating a pie.
Miss Aim was found critically injured by a security guard and police investigating vandalism of smashed windows at Taupo-nui-a-Tia College.
She died before reaching Taupo Hospital.
Police say she had walked close to or through the school, about the time the school windows were being smashed.
Within an hour of her death police had identified Broughton as a prime suspect, based on the attack of the 17-year-old girl a fortnight earlier.
Details of this assault have been legally suppressed until now.
The victim had been walking home from a party when she was attacked from behind.
Broughton hit her 10 times on the back of the head before she staggered to a house to call for help.
Broughton had been evicted from the party earlier in the night because he was drunk.
After the attack he went to the house of a friend, Leigh Herewini, to wash off the blood.
Broughton told Mr Herewini he had been in a fight and was taken back home.
By coincidence, Mr Herewini was working as a security guard at Taupo nui-a-Tia College the night Miss Aim was killed. .
Broughton's arrest came after police watched closed-circuit television footage from the college leading up to the murder.
It showed a young male riding a chopper-style bike, and wearing a diamond earring similar to one described by his first victim. He was arrested a fortnight later.
Police later searched the house where he lived with his grandparents and found a bloodied baseball bat and Miss Aim's black handbag and camera.

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Tot found wandering alone in Kaikoura

Mum left 16-month-old home alone to go ‘socialising’

Sunday, 01 February 2009

A 16-month old toddler has been found on the frontyard of a Kaikoura property after being left home alone overnight.
The boy was found outside a Beach Rd business property by members of the public about 2.45am.
He was placed into Child Youth and Family care until a family member could be found. Inspector Michael Coulter said the boy was taken to the Kaikoura medical centre for a check-up and was found to be in good health.
"The mother admitted leaving the child unattended for approximately four hours while she went out socialising.
"At approximately 4:12am, police were contacted by the distressed mother, who was visiting Kaikoura from the North Island," Mr Coulter said."
Mr Coulter said the boy had woken overnight and left the house he was staying in, possibly through the front door being left open.

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The child will remain in care until the matter has been fully investigated

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Suspicious blazes strike Invercargill

Police investigations begin as rash of call-outs stretches fire crews

By JARED MORGAN – Wednesday, 28 January 2009

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FIGHTING TO GET IN: Firefighters struggled to get into a shed on Bluff Rd during a large fire at 3.30am yesterday.

Invercargill police are investigating four suspicious blazes, including a home targeted as a family slept inside, after a rash of call-outs stretched city fire crews yesterday.
The question of whether a firebug was responsible for the suspicious blazes was something police and Fire Safety investigators would not be drawn on last night.
Between midnight and 7pm firefighters received 11 call-outs to six structure fires, including the four being investigated, one callback to the scene of an earlier fire, one car crash and three false alarms.
Firefighters were called to the first fire in a hayshed on Severn St about midnight.
Detective Fred Shandley, of Invercargill CIB, said joint investigations were continuing on whether the fires were connected. .30am destroyed a storage shed on Bluff Rd.
The second fire about 3.
In the fourth blaze, which broke out between 6am and 9am, an uninsured business premises in the South City Mall on Elles Rd was damaged after a refrigeration unit on the roof of the building was set alight, he said.
A home in Bain St was the third property hit after wood against an exterior wall was set alight.
"If you look at the time and location there is more similarity between the (first three) fires.
It was unclear whether the fourth fire was linked to the first three, Mr Shandley said."
Gary Rodgers, the owner of the Bluff Rd shed, was yesterday counting the cost of the blaze."
Gary Rodgers, the owner of the Bluff Rd shed, was yesterday counting the cost of the blaze."
His tenant, who rented half the shed from him and lost a $90,000 street sweeper and personal effects, alerted him to the fire about 5.
"It's more than $100,000 worth of gear without the cost of the shed.
"My son passed me the phone and he said `I've got some bad news for you.30am, Mr Rogers said.
"He said `it's worse than that it's gone'.' I said `the bastards have broken into Bluff Rd haven't they?'," Mr Rogers said. "It's not a life it hasn't got a pulse."
While insurance had yet to assess the extent of losses, he was remaining positive, he said.49am."
In Bain St, Glenys Williamson, her 26-year-old son Manawa and three grandchildren Joshua Kerr, 16, Marcus Kerr, 14, and Tyler Kerr, 9, were all woken by a neighbour thumping on the door at 6. I said `what?"'
Her son and eldest grandson rushed outside with buckets of water to douse the flames while she called 111, she said. I said `what?"'
Her son and eldest grandson rushed outside with buckets of water to douse the flames while she called 111, she said.
The fire, which scorched the eave of the house but caused little damage, had rattled her and her family, Ms Williamson said.
"It's scary I've got to get young Tyler to bed tonight and say it's going to be all right."
At Impuls-d, a South City Mall bag retailer, owner Warren Skill said he was aware youths sometimes hung out on the roof. and believed they were responsible for the blaze.
He was uninsured.
Invercargill Fire Service chief fire officer Brendan Nally said the volume of call-outs had taxed firefighting resources.
Rostered fire crews, one at the Kingswell station in south Invercargill and two at the fire service's central city headquarters, had to be supplemented by volunteers and off-duty firefighters to deal with the blazes particularly those that happened yesterday morning, which tied up firefighters for hours, he said.
"We activated Invercargill volunteers we've got 17 (people) available and had to call in staff who were off duty."
Many of the additional staff mobilised to fight the fires were rostered to begin work at 8am and were beginning to feel jaded by yesterday afternoon, Mr Nally said.
"We are having to manage a fair bit of fatigue."
SUSPICIOUS FIRES Midnight: Firefighters are called to a hayshed in Severn St, an excavator is used to bury burning hay and fire crews maintain vigil at the scene until 6am. 3.25am: Fire crews called to a large shed on Bluff Rd opposite the intersection with Hyde St to find it well ablaze. Tight security on fences and the structure itself hamper efforts to douse the blaze. An explosion and the sound of gas cylinders venting in the heat mean firefighters build an improvised dam around intact cylinders to hold water and keep them cool. They remain on the scene until 8am. 6.53am: Firefighters douse the remnants of a deliberately lit fire against the exterior wall of a house. 10am: A fire in the housing for a refrigeration unit on the roof of a Elles Rd business goes up in smoke. Firefighters are forced to dismantle the housing and break into the roof cavity to reach the seat of the blaze.

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Serial disqualified-driver back in court

Friday, 16 January 2009

A motorist who was banned indefinitely from getting behind the wheel 14 years ago appeared in Tauranga District Court today on his 11th charge of driving while disqualified.
"What is the problem with you getting a driver's licence?" Judge Christopher Harding asked Eugene Thomas, 46, of Papamoa.
"Nothing really, your honour," Thomas replied. Police seized his vehicle.
He had been stopped at Mt Maunganui last October 25 for speeding.
Judge Harding said: "You know what happens: You come back (to court) and you get disqualified for another year.
Thomas told the judge he had "done the drug tests" needed before he could apply to re-sit his licence, but added that the process for gaining a current licence costs money.
"All I am able to do is disqualify you again for 12 months – and that is all I will do. ."
He urged Thomas to do something about it."

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Thomas said: "Aw, that's not nice