Two a penny

.

A Wanganui toddler who died in unexplained circumstances over the weekend is the son of a gang member jailed for the 2007 shooting of another Wanganui toddler, Jhia Te Tua.

Two-year-old Karl Richard Arc Perigo-Check received severe internal injuries over the weekend.

Inspector Duncan MacLeod of Wanganui police confirmed the dead boy was the son of Karl Check, who is serving a 15-year prison sentence for the 2007 murder, which happened after an altercation between the Mongrel Mob and Black Power gangs.

He was taken to Wanganui Hospital on Saturday afternoon, where he died.

While there were gang members associated with the case, police were keeping an open mind as to why and how the child died.

“We’re looking at the moment on behalf of the coroner to see how the death occurred,” he said. We’ve only been investigating since yesterday afternoon,” Mr MacLeod said.

“It’s early days yet.

Check, a father of seven, the drive-by instigator of the 2007 death, was found guilty of Jhia’s murder, along with the shooter Hayden Wallace and Ranji Forbes.

The investigation began after the post mortem “provided information which requires some explanation”, police said earlier today. .

Check had his case against his sentence heard in the Court of Appeal today. Not by disease nor by accident but by the malicious actions of those charged to protect and love him,” he said.

“The real scandal is that another child has likely been killed in this country.

“When are we going to protect these children? When are we going to get tough on derelict whanau, on deadbeat parents? Why do we tolerate this evil in our midst?”

.

Michael Jackson’s family has arrived more than hour late for the pop singer’s funeral, keeping 77-year-old Elizabeth Taylor and other celebrities waiting on a hot summer evening.

A police escort ushered the motorcade of 31 cars, including Rolls-Royces and Cadillacs, to Forest Lawn Glendale on Thursday.

The motorcade from their Encino compound departed more than a half-hour after the funeral was to begin.

The planned start of the service came and went as the crowd of about 200 awaited the arrival of Jackson’s parents Joe and Katherine and the singer’s children.

Other mourners included Barry Bonds, Macaulay Culkin and the Rev.

Temperatures hovered at 90 just before sunset, with some mourners fanning themselves with programmes for the service.

The air was scented with smoke from a devastating wildfire that was about 10 miles distant from the cemetery. Al Sharpton

The delay meant that the 77-year-old Taylor and others were kept waiting on a muggy night at which temperatures hovered at 90 just before sunset, with some mourners fanning themselves with programs for the service at Forest Lawn Glendale. The equipment raised the possibility that the footage would be used for the Jackson concert documentary “This Is It.

A large, blimp-like inflated light, the type used in film and television production, and a boom camera hovered over the seating area placed in front of the elaborate marble mausoleum. Nearly double the number of media credentials, 435, were issued to reporters and film crews who remained at a distance from the service and behind barricades.”

About 250 seats were arranged for mourners over a green surface.

“Can you please put these flowers on his grave?” she told him.

Maria Martinez, 25, a fan from Riverside, California, who was joined by a dozen other Jackson admirers at a gas station near the security perimeter, gave a handful of pink flowers to a man with an invitation driving into the funeral. . Martinez said she picked them from a nearby park.”

The man consented, adding, “God bless. I’m not going to be able to get close, so this is as close as I could get to him.

Michael Jackson will share eternity at Forest Lawn with the likes of Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and W.”

Glendale police said all was going smoothly early in the evening and there were no arrests. Fields, entombed alongside them in the mausoleum that will be all but off-limits to adoring fans who might otherwise turn the pop star’s grave into a shrine.C.

.

Animal rights activists are calling for Manawatu SPCA’s chairwoman to quit or be removed from her position because of her connection with live animal testing.

Debbie Chesterfield manages Massey University’s small animals research breeding facility in Palmerston North.

Protesters outside The Plaza shopping mall in the city on Saturday claimed her Massey role was in conflict with promoting animal welfare. More than 150 people signed it, spokeswoman Kali Sandbrook said.

Save The Beagles and the National Anti Vivisection Campaign promoted a petition calling for Ms Chesterfield’s resignation from the SPCA.

Testing on animals was a difficult area for the RSPCA, she said.

Ms Chesterfield couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday, but RSPCA national chief executive Robyn Kippenberger said the organisation was aware of Ms Chesterfield’s day job.

Ethics approval was required for any university experiments and there were SPCA animal welfare representatives on animal ethics boards, she said. The RSPCA national council did not see fit to oust her when she first became involved, Ms Kippenberger said.

Ms Kippenberger said Ms Chesterfield’s perceived conflict of interest had been raised before. They voted her chair.

“Her committee seem to be happy to have her.

That case was cut and dried, she said.”

The RSPCA national council’s decision was before Ms Kippenberger’s tenure, but she was aware of a case since then, when a poultry farmer who used caged birds had her SPCA appointment blocked. Ms Kippenberger said she did not personally approve of animal experimentation, but she was prepared to concede some good did come out of it in terms of medical and scientific knowledge. Ms Kippenberger said she did not personally approve of animal experimentation, but she was prepared to concede some good did come out of it in terms of medical and scientific knowledge. .

“It’s a hard one.”

Animal testing had reduced in the past 20 years, she said. She’s been on that committee for quite some time.

Massey’s research capability was also important for Palmerston North, Ms Kippenberger said. Protocols had also been tightened.

“If you’re concerned about animal welfare, then you’re not involved in live animal testing,” she said.

However, Ms Sandbrook said the issue was straightforward Ms Chesterfield should go.” The public expected SPCA to care for animals, she said.

“She shouldn’t hold any position with SPCA.

“That was the whole point [to highlight her day job].

“That was the whole point [to highlight her day job].”

THE THREE Rs

.

The sentencing today of Christchurch dad
James Mason provides some clarity over the boundaries of the so-called
anti-smacking legislation, say police.

The musician escaped jail for punching his four-year-old son in a case widely seen as a test of the new law, with Mason publicly claiming he had done no more than administer a flick on the ear.

He was acquitted of two other charges of assault in respect of the four-year-old and another son.

The 49-year-old was sentenced in Christchurch District Court to nine months’ supervision and ordered to undergo anger management courses after earlier being found guilty of assaulting his son.

“Mr Mason was seen by two very credible witnesses to punch his child and he was subsequently charged with this offence.

Christchurch central area commander Inspector Derek Erasmus said that some media had incorrectly portrayed what was a “straightforward case of an assault”, reported by concerned witnesses, as a challenge to a parliamentary law.

The jury deliberated for 9½ hours on May 19, before returning the guilty verdict. .”

Outside the court today, Mason, a father-of-six, continued to deny he punched his four year old son.

In sentencing, Judge Michael Crosbie said: “This is not a case that would have been dealt with any differently prior to the legislation being changed. Kind of like ‘did David Bain kill his family’?”

Mason said the verdict would ”not really” change his behaviour as a father.

”Just because I’ve been convicted of something doesn’t mean I did something.

Judge Crosbie said the case was described by the Crown as an inappropriate response in a stressful parenting situation.

Defence counsel Elizabeth Bulger had sought a discharge without conviction.

They were then scolded and one of them was assaulted by Mason, the jury found.

The children had gone down a ramp on a bridge on their bikes and one had fallen and hurt his head.

Latest figures show from between April 5, 2008 and October 3, 2008 police attended a total of 258 child-assault events, including nine smacking cases and 49 of minor acts of physical discipline.

The so-called anti-smacking legislation came into effect in June 2007 and remains under review by police.

– and

.

There were four prosecutions of “minor acts of physical discipline”, three of which resulted in convictions