Two a penny

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A woman has told of hearing Lesley Elliott’s “blood-curdling” scream when she saw her daughter being stabbed.

Shelley Ann Jones, who took Lesley Elliott’s 111 emergency phone call on January 9 last year, told the High Court in Christchurch that she was sent home to recover after taking the call.

Elliott dialled emergency services when she heard her daughter screaming as Clayton Weatherston attacked her in the bedroom at Elliott’s Dunedin home.

Clayton Robert Weatherston is on trial, accused of Sophie Elliott’s murder in Dunedin.

Jones said she heard a “very unpleasant” scream from Elliott when she saw her daughter on the ground.

Weatherston denies murdering Elliott, but accepts he is guilty of her manslaughter. It was a real scream when you know that it’s really happened.

“[It was] blood-curdling.. It was just . unsettling,” Jones said..”

It then said: “Inft can’t get in,” and noted the caller, Lesley Elliott, said she heard a “thumping” noise.

Jones’ computer entry about the telephone call stated: “Daughter attacked by partner. Female screaming .

Jones recorded: “Door opened. ..’

‘Killed her. ‘He’s killed her.’”

After the call was terminated, Jones said she took a break.’ ‘Blood everywhere.”

Sophie Elliott’s university supervisor Robert Alexander, is now giving evidence.

“I was quite pale and shaking so they told me to take the rest of the day.

“There was a lot of abuse.

“There was a lot of abuse. There were a lot of put-downs in the relationship,” Alexander said.

He described seeing Elliott the day before she was killed.

She had come to thank him and farewell him before she moved to Wellington to start a job at the Treasury later in the week. Elliott had ended up talking to him about Weatherston for almost two hours.

“She said to me, well, you don’t want to know about the other stuff, do you?” Alexander said.

Elliott talked about rumours being spread about her by Weatherston at the Treasury, in Wellington.

“She was aware that he was telling people that she was crazy,” Alexander said.

Cross-examination of Alexander by defence counsel Greg King is now under way.

MOTHER GIVES EVIDENCE

Earlier the court heard how Sophie Elliott “lost it” and “went at” her former boyfriend two days before he allegedly murdered her.

Sophie Elliott’s mother Lesley was giving evidence at the Christchurch High Court earlier today.

Lesley Elliott said her daughter was very upset about how she had become aggressive towards Weatherston in his Otago University office on January 7 last year.

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A Nomads gang member whose house was torched in a suspected arson attack has been forced out of Levin for his own protection.

Phillip “Filthy” John Stevens, 31, appeared in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday, after he pleaded guilty to drink-driving, driving while disqualified, and breaching the conditions of community detention.

Neither Stevens, his partner, nor three young children were home at the time of the fire.

The influential Nomads member’s Kinross St property was destroyed by fire on June 15, thought to be a result of conflict between junior and senior Nomads members following the death of the gang’s founder, Dennis “Mossie” Hines, on June 7.

He was to go straight from court to collect his belongings from Levin, before leaving the area on bail until his July sentencing.

In court discussions about his sentencing yesterday, Judge Gerard Lynch ordered the case be transferred from Palmerston North, but suppressed the exact location for Stevens’ protection.

“I would have thought Levin is the last place he should be,” he said.

But Judge Lynch considered even that a risk. Community detention was not an option as a result of his history of non-compliance.

A sentence of imprisonment was recommended, but under the “current circumstances” home detention could be considered, the court heard.

Hines’ stepson, Tony Cootes, 25, was shot the same day the Nomads founder was laid to rest in Foxton and police believed other incidents in the area about the same time were gang-related.

Outside court, Stevens’ lawyer Stephen De Vorms said certain actions had to be taken since his client’s life had come into real danger.

“There is some suggestion that Dennis, as the founder of the gang, felt it should die with him and the dispute appears to be conflict between those who feel that Dennis’ legacy should be honoured and those who feel someone else should .

Detective Senior Sergeant Marc Hercock told the there appeared to be a difference of opinion within the gang about its future and direction… . be leader

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A newborn girl died after a lab test result revealing a deadly but treatable infection went missing at Wellington Hospital.

The mother complained about the midwife and being pressured to leave hospital early, but the health and disability commissioner ruled that it was the missing lab test that led to the baby’s death. Her first-time mother was discharged about five hours after the birth.

The girl died at home in November 2007, less than 20 hours after her birth at Wellington Hospital.

That policy did not apply to first-time mothers, and was not in effect at the time of the birth, but was a symptom of the pressure the maternity ward was under at the time.

The birth happened as Capital and Coast District Health Board was issuing a memo encouraging midwives to discharge mothers within six hours of giving birth.

The mother said this week: “I can’t say my baby would definitely be OK [if she had stayed] but under professional care I believe she would have had a better chance.

The couple later complained to the commissioner about the standard of care provided by the independent midwife, saying they had felt pushed to leave hospital early. How could I know what is the normal temperature?”

In a decision the previous month, commissioner Ron Paterson said it seemed a “striking coincidence” that the case happened as Capital and Coast issued its early discharge memo. At home I always felt she was cold, but it was my first baby.”

The report is not public but The obtained a copy. “I have no doubt that you felt pressured to leave the hospital. “I find it very difficult to put this statement into the baby’s box,” the mother said.

The parents are angry with the commissioner’s decision, which they do not think is impartial.”

The commissioner found the midwife provided “appropriate care”, although he identified communication and information problems. “I feel it’s an insult to her, it’s not based on much truth, it’s not really listening to me.

“This systems error, rather than the actions of [the midwife], is the true cause of [the baby's] death.

He said the death was caused by the failure to provide antibiotics to treat the infection evident in a swab result that had gone missing. Penicillin was recommended during childbirth.”

The missing test, which the midwife had ordered two days earlier, showed the mother had group B streptococcus bacteria. She did a second swab but those results were not available until after the baby’s death. But when the midwife asked for the test result on the day of birth, it could not be found. “What’s the point of having a second swab on the day of the baby’s birth?”

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An autopsy found the cause of death was pneumonia and persistent pulmonary hypertension (when a baby’s body does not adapt to breathing outside the womb). .

In a letter to Capital and Coast, Mr Paterson said he was satisfied the DHB had made “necessary improvements”.

In a letter to Capital and Coast, Mr Paterson said he was satisfied the DHB had made “necessary improvements”. But he has made extra recommendations and asked it to report by the end of this month.

Capital and Coast women’s health clinical director John Tait said the DHB had taken “significant steps” to address the issues raised by the “tragic event”. It invited the family to meet “to express our sincere apologies and discuss the improvements made in our systems”.

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Thousands of Kiwi kids continue to be taken from their families each year and put into Child, Youth and Family (CYF) care.

Figures released to under the Official Information Act show as of December 2008, 4643 children and teens were in the care of the government agency.

Of the youngsters taken by CYF, 66 were at-risk babies less then one month old, and 15 were removed from their parents on the day they were born.

Of those, 584 were aged under two, 713 from two to four, 1276 five to nine, 1134 aged 10-13, 903 were from 14-16 and 33 aged 17-19.

Ministry of Social Development which includes CYF chief executive Peter Hughes said the organisation didn’t make the decision to take children from their parents lightly.

The number of custody orders involving newborns has more than doubled in the past five years.

CYF took into account the “strengths of the parents and family” and what support was available to them in the community, he said.

“Safety is the paramount consideration, and the decision to remove a child is not made in isolation,” Hughes said.

Hughes said “some” Kiwi kids were in the agency’s care by agreement with their parents or guardians, while others were compelled to be there by court orders.

But often “there are circumstances when placing supports around the family is not sufficient to ensure the child’s safety and alternative action is required”.

Hughes said about 40 percent of those in the agency’s care had been placed with extended family or whanau members.

A number of those aged 14-17 were held in CYF custody while they were being dealt with by the Youth Court.

He said CYF did what it could to maintain family relationships but conceded “despite our best efforts not everyone will be happy with the decisions we make”.

“The vast majority of children and young people in Child, Youth and Family care are living in home environments and are free to come and go like other children cared for by family members,” Hughes said. Up to June 30, 2008, 4831 children were in CYF care 472 less than the previous year and 558 less than in the 2005/2006 financial year.

The total number of children in CYF care has decreased over the past few years.

Nor could they say how many times they’d apologised to parents for the behaviour of their staff or how many complaints they had received.

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CYF said they couldn’t tell how many children and youths it had returned to parents because their removal had been unjustified.

But he said CYF was aware there is “public interest” in that information and had made “improvements” that will allow the department to “supply this information in the future”.

Hughes said that information was “held on individual files” and would take a considerable amount of time to collate.

Recent complaints against CYF include one highlighted by in February involving 12-year-old Krystal Repia who was found dead in the service’s care in 2008.

CYF had launched a new complaints process which “establishes a consistent and robust nationwide process for managing complaints”, he said.

During the 2008 financial year and for the first two quarters of the 2009 financial year, one person had escaped from a CYF centre and six while in transit to one.

CYF was also unable to say how many children or youths escaped from its care, although they could say how many escaped from the seven CYF centres.

Meanwhile, figures released by the Department of Corrections show that during the last five years 49 babies have been cared for by their locked-up mothers.

Meanwhile, figures released by the Department of Corrections show that during the last five years 49 babies have been cared for by their locked-up mothers.

At present, only two babies are being cared for behind bars one at Christchurch Women’s Prison aged six months and another at Auckland Region Women’s Correctional Facility aged eight months.

In September last year The Corrections (Mothers with Babies) Amendment Act was passed to allow children of jailed mothers to be cared for until they are two years old. .

Before that only minimum security mothers could raise their children while imprisoned and only until they were six months old.

The new Act has not yet come into force because Corrections are awaiting funding for “additional facilities to be developed in order to accommodate toddlers”.

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The Crown has ruled out taking any action over changes made to character references for disgraced broadcaster Tony Veitch before they were submitted to the judge in his recent assault case.

Olympic chef de mission Dave Currie and squash champion Dame Susan Devoy provided testimonials to Veitch, believing they would be used in an application to get his passport back.
Veitch was fined $10,000, ordered to do 300 hours community work, and placed on supervision for nine months.
They expressed surprise that they were altered and used as character reference when Veitch pleaded guilty in Auckland District Court to assaulting Kristin Dunne-Powell with reckless disregard for her safety.
A spokeswoman for Solicitor-General David Collins QC confirmed yesterday that no contempt of court complaint had been laid and the matter would not be investigated. .
Police earlier ruled out any investigation without a formal complaint.
“Nothing has been referred to us, we won’t be doing anything,” she told The New Zealand Herald.
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The Crown has ruled out taking any action over changes made to character references for disgraced broadcaster Tony Veitch before they were submitted to the judge in his recent assault case.

Olympic chef de mission Dave Currie and squash champion Dame Susan Devoy provided testimonials to Veitch, believing they would be used in an application to get his passport back.
Veitch was fined $10,000, ordered to do 300 hours community work, and placed on supervision for nine months.
They expressed surprise that they were altered and used as character reference when Veitch pleaded guilty in Auckland District Court to assaulting Kristin Dunne-Powell with reckless disregard for her safety.
A spokeswoman for Solicitor-General David Collins QC confirmed yesterday that no contempt of court complaint had been laid and the matter would not be investigated. .
Police earlier ruled out any investigation without a formal complaint.
“Nothing has been referred to us, we won’t be doing anything,” she told The New Zealand Herald.
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A gunman opened fire inside a nursing home in a small North Carolina town, killing eight people, including elderly patients in wheelchairs.

A 45-year-old local man was arrested and faced eight counts of first-degree murder after the shooting at the retirement care home in Carthage, about 60 miles southwest of Raleigh.
“There are eight dead,” Moore County District Attorney Maureen Krueger told a news conference.
Those killed at the Pinelake Health and Rehab Center in Carthage, which offered care for the elderly and Alzheimer’s sufferers, included seven patients in their 70s, 80s and 90s, and one 39-year-old staff member, officials said. Neither she nor other officials were able to immediately offer a motive for the killings in what was the third major shooting incident in the southeastern United States this month.
Carthage Police Chief Chris McKenzie told the news conference that the gunman shot 11 people in all.
“The shooter entered the facility heavily armed and began shooting at people in wheelchairs,” WRAL News quoted North Carolina state Senator Harris Blake as saying. The wounded included a police officer and the arrested suspect, whom McKenzie and Krueger named as Robert Stewart.
It was the third major shooting to occur in the southeastern United States in less than a month.
Six of the victims died at the scene and two died of their injuries in the hospital.
A few days later in Miami, a man shot and killed four people, including his estranged wife, before taking his own life. .
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Alleged drug ring run by jailed killer

By MARTIN VAN BEYNEN Friday, 27 February 2009

Police have broken up an alleged drug ring operated from Christchurch Prison by a convicted murderer.
The inmate, a motorcycle gang member who cannot be named for legal reasons, was targeted in an operation by the Christchurch Drug Squad late last year. He was allegedly using a sophisticated cellphone that circumvented the jail's recently installed cellphone-blocking and jamming equipment. Rounding up suspected members began at Christchurch Airport on February 3 with the arrest of a woman as she arrived from Auckland.
The ring was mainly a distribution network that brought methamphetamine, commonly known as P, from Auckland to Christchurch.
The ring is believed to have turned over tens of thousands of dollars a month. Searches revealed she was allegedly carrying 39 grams of P with a street value of about $40,000. Further arrests have netted two men and four more women in Christchurch and two men in Auckland.
Those arrested face a variety of charges, including the supply of, and conspiracy to supply, methamphetamine after October last year.
Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Long, of the Christchurch Drug Squad, said police were not expecting any other arrests relating to the ring.
The police swoop also found cannabis, stolen property, firearms, including a loaded pistol in the possession of one offender, and $58,000 cash.
The inmate has been charged with conspiring to supply P and hashish and of supplying P.
"We're working hard to stop methamphetamine flowing into the local market and fuelling more crime.
"We're pleased we've managed to stop this alleged drug's network carrying on," Long said."
Corrections Minister Judith Collins, who has been highly critical of her department, did not want to comment."
Corrections Minister Judith Collins, who has been highly critical of her department, did not want to comment.
Phones are used to intimidate witnesses and organise crime.
A high-profile incident happened in 2005 when Sounds murderer Scott Watson sent pictures of his genitals to a woman outside the prison. "The prison site is being tested to ensure that the technology is effective and that there is no chance that the technology will leak outside the prison boundaries and affect legitimate cellphone users in the community," he said in a statement.
Southern assistant regional manager Ian Bourke said Christchurch Men's Prison was still in the process of receiving full cellphone-blocking coverage.
However, the phone allegedly used by the inmate was a third-generation phone that was able to beat the blockers.
Corrections has been rolling out jamming equipment at its prisons since last year.
Another Christchurch woman, aged 48, has appeared on the conspiracy charge but has received name suppression. . They were remanded in custody after appearing in the Auckland District Court.
Shane William Thorne, 46, and Say Tusong Lu were arrested in Auckland on similar charges.

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It’s fiesta time rain or shine

Saturday, 21 February 2009

STREET LIFE: Dancers, from left, Anita Hunziker, Sarah Knox and Francis Christeller prepare for the Cuba Street Carnival.

Cuba Street Carnival turns ten

New Zealand'sbiggest street party kicks off today, with 150,000 revellers expected to flood Wellington city for the Cuba Street Carnival.
Even yesterday's deluge couldn't dampen spirits ahead of the festivities.
Carnival spokeswoman Bridget Van Der Zijpp said that, despite a rain-soaked event in 2004, the crowds had still flocked to Cuba St. A cleanup after the downpour meant plans for the giant fiesta were still on track, starting about 11am. It's New Zealand's biggest street party. "We go ahead rain or shine."
The main stage in Cuba St and other stages in the city will feature 80 bands and DJs throughout the day.
Batucada drummers and samba dancers will bring a taste of Brazil to the capital later tonight.
Then the party will heat up with a massive street parade, winding its way from the Cambridge Tce end of Courtenay Place into Taranaki St and finishing in Ghuznee St. "Come early.
Ms Van Der Zijpp said "parade fluffers" would entertain festival-goers along the parade route from 8pm."

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‘Traumatic’ death sparks hunt for missing partner

and JO MCKENZIE MCLEAN – Tuesday, 17 February 2009

Homicide inquiry: Police investigate the scene in Waiau where Jo-Anne Thompson was found dead yesterday.

A North Canterbury man is being hunted by police after the "traumatic" death of his partner, discovered after her young sons were seen wandering outside the family's run-down Waiau house.
A neighbour found the couple's sons, aged four and six, outside the house about 8am yesterday.
Police earlier today will remove the body of Jo-Anne Thompson from her Parnassus Street home.
Police were unable to say how the woman died but an officer described Thompson's death as "traumatic".
Other neighbours were unable to find the boys' mother and called police, who found Thompson's body in the bathroom of the weatherboard house, which remained cordoned yesterday.
Fraser had been kicked out of the home a week ago, a neighbour said.
A homicide inquiry was launched as police searched for the woman's partner, Ross Simon Fraser, 43.
"She looked after her kids they were her number one priority.
Thompson's neighbour, Nigal Stratford, described the 46-year-old mother as a "real nice lady" whose life revolved around her children. She was such a nice person she had no enemies. Everyone is just gutted. I don't know anyone who actually liked him. But he was the opposite."
The pair had been in an "on-again, off-again" relationship, he said. He was a scum-bag, basically."
Last week, Stratford had asked Thompson about the relationship and questioned what she was doing with Fraser.
"The last I had seen she had kicked him out about a week ago and he had gone."
The news of the death had shocked the small community of 254, he said.
"She didn't really say anything.
Fraser, a shearer, has two older children with a former partner.
The children spent the day with a neighbour and were taken in by extended family last night.
She was also looking forward to the younger boy starting school this year.
Waiau School principal Mary Kimber said the six-year-old boy was "delightful and lovely".
"The teachers are very upset.
"The teachers are very upset. They know how much Jo was looking forward to being a parent-teacher helper when (the younger child) started school."
Waiau residents said Fraser's behaviour had become increasingly erratic over the years.
Ram's Head Cafe and Bar owner Lindsay Clemens said Fraser bought one bottle of beer from his bar on Sunday.
"He's an unusual fella to say the least," he said. "I thought he was a bit of a clown. I allowed him four bottles on a visit.
"I'd say, `one and you're tolerable, two and you're annoying people, three and you're really p…… people off, four and someone's going to punch you and it might be me'.
"He just had a different disposition than everybody else. He got a high off upsetting people."
Fellow shearer Alistair Parkes said Fraser had some "pretty way-out ideas" and would often go for a week without washing.
Fraser, described by police as an itinerant shearer, had been working on and off for one Waiau family for about seven years.
His employers, who did not want to be named, said they were "blown away" by the news.
"We knew Jo as well and as far as we were concerned they were both good people.
"We just can't understand what's happened here.
"He'd help anybody and take the shirt off his back if he had one to give and she'd stay home and look after the kids. They meant the world to her."
The employers agreed Fraser had lost his "zip" recently.
They said Fraser had not worked over the weekend and they were unable to contact him on Sunday night to inform him he was expected yesterday morning. . They left his house without checking inside, saying it was not unusual for some farm workers to skip Monday after a "big weekend".
Police described Fraser as 170cm tall, of thin build, with shoulder-length scruffy hair.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts should contact Detective Sergeant Rex Barnett or Detective Tanya Drake, of the Rangiora police on (03) 313 6167.