Two a penny

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Stay out of the water

Harbour sewage alert after deluge

and PAUL EASTON Saturday, 21 February 2009

A massivedownpour that brought a month's worth of rain in just a few hours has sparked health warnings after raw sewage poured into Wellington Harbour and Lyall Bay.
The downpour overwhelmed the city's drainage system yesterday morning sending untreated sewage into a street near Courtenay Place, a day before the entertainment zone holds the Cuba St Carnival parade.
The city copped 69 millimetres of rain yesterday, well over the expected entire February average of 62mm.
The overflow also sparked warnings about swimming at several beaches.
Wellington City Council spokesperson Richard MacLean confirmed last night that warning signs had been erected at Lyall Bay beach.
The lashing caused surface flooding and slowed traffic to a crawl, sparking a slew of accidents, and slips that blocked Rimutaka Hill Rd.
There were further discharges near the international passenger terminal and Kaiwharawhara stream which also discharges into the harbour.
Similar advisories were in place for Wellington Harbour after sewage diluted by stormwater was discharged at the long outfall at Moa Point.
"But it is very diluted sewage.
"People should probably stay out of the water," Mr MacLean said. The council would review results before lifting the warnings." Water quality testing would be carried out by council officials and Regional Public Health during the weekend. An "absolutely nauseating" smell had enveloped her property towards the bay's western end.
A Lyall Bay resident said the sewage had been leaking into the area for the past week."
The council spent $4 million on a stormwater upgrade in 2004 after a similar incident with sewage in Bond St in 2004. .
"Large amounts of fat are not supposed to get into the sewerage system so we'll be doing a check of grease traps in the area to make sure they're operating and being maintained properly.
Mr MacLean said the sewer blockage that resulted in untreated sewage spew near the intersection of Courtenay Place and Tory St was caused by a combination of the heavy rain and a buildup of congealed fat in the sewer.30am to complain."
StarMart manager Priyank Jain said he was first alerted to the spillage after customers came in to the store about 8.
The low was anchored off Westland yesterday.
Yesterday's onslaught came as a deep low brought warm moist air from the subtropics, MetService duty forecaster Oliver Druce said.
Mr Druce said the rain was forecast to ease in the North Island. An associated front sent heavy rain up the North Island.

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Mum jailed for abuse in murder case

The Friday, 06 February 2009

The Dominon Post
‘DISGRACEFUL EXHIBITION’: Victoria Stevens, mother of murder-accused Hulio Ataria, is taken from Hastings District Court after her arrest for contempt of court. Inset: supporters of Mark McCutcheon, who died after being stabbed when he went to the aid of a woman allegedly being asaulted.

The mother of the man accused of murdering Mark McCutcheon has been jailed for contempt of court after barking like a dog, wrestling with police and swearing in front of his widow.
Mr McCutcheon's widow, Paula, and about 40 supporters some wearing T-shirts with his image and the message "enough is enough" crowded into the packed courthouse, some having to kneel, others standing.
Victoria Stevens, an invalid beneficiary, was among a small group in Hastings District Court to support her son Hulio Ataria, 22, who is accused of murdering Mr McCutcheon on January 23.
As Ataria was led away, Stevens yelled, "Love you" and barked like a dog, a sign of Mongrel Mob support.
Stevens, 43, and four supporters sat on the other side of the courtroom. When Judge Richard Watson ordered her arrest she yelled obscenities at him.
Mrs McCutcheon stared calmly at Ataria throughout his brief appearance, while he avoided examining her way.
Four police officers held Stevens, who resisted arrest and kicked open the doors as she was taken from the court. Her lawyer, Rebecca Guthrie, said she was sorry for her behaviour and wanted to apologise to the court and all present.
Stevens pleaded guilty to a charge of contempt of court later in the day. "It was a disgraceful exhibition .
Judge Watson said it was the worst behaviour he had experienced in court…
"It was unseemly, it was unwarranted and it was particularly unfair on the McCutcheon supporters who didn't expect to be confronted with that type of behaviour," he said. The language was appalling, your actions were worse."
Judge Watson said Ataria should have people supporting him at future appearances but warned he would not stand for any similar behaviour. "I simply am not prepared to tolerate that sort of behaviour in my court, ever.
Ataria, a gang associate, is accused of stabbing Mr McCutcheon outside Sandford Arms Hotel at Ongaonga, in Hawke's Bay. He sentenced Stevens to seven days' jail. Mr McCutcheon, 34, is understood to have gone to help the woman.
It followed an incident in which a patched gang member allegedly assaulted a woman outside the hotel.
A 26-year-old man, whose name is suppressed, pleaded guilty to a charge of male assaults female yesterday but did not enter a plea on a charge of being party to an assault with intent to injure Mr McCutcheon. He was found dead in his car in a paddock on State Highway 50 the next morning.
Nick Hume, a McCutcheon family friend, said Mrs McCutcheon would take her three young children away "for a break" this weekend.
Nick Hume, a McCutcheon family friend, said Mrs McCutcheon would take her three young children away "for a break" this weekend. .

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Hung jury in knifepoint rape trial

By GLENN McLEAN – Thursday, 05 February 2009

A jury last night failed to reach a verdict in a New Plymouth rape trial. .
The jury, which had heard six days of evidence in the New Plymouth District Court, was unable to make a decision after 10 hours of deliberation.
The jury last week was told Walden had repeatedly raped a young woman in her home after he armed himself with two knives in February last year.
Walden, 28, faced four charges of rape, two of unlawful sexual connection, two of threatening to kill, kidnapping and possession of an offensive weapon. The defence said the sex was consensual.
The complainant also told the jury Walden threatened to kill both her and her infant son during the attack.

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Dad jailed for ‘old fashioned discipline’ on child

The Timaru Herald Tuesday, 03 February 2009

A Timaru man who used "old-fashioned discipline" on his children has been sent to prison for nine months for his fourth assault on them.
John Harry Lagataua, 45, received a second cumulative sentence of five months for assaulting his former partner in a separate incident.
Timaru District Court heard that the storeman had assaulted one child three times, and been convicted of assault on another sibling. .
In the latest incident, the child was having a tantrum so Lagataua put him into "time out".
Defence counsel Teresa Lawrence said Lagataua loved the child, and those feelings were reciprocated as the child, who was now in care, had been asking to see him. The child screamed and was left with a small abrasion and minor bruising to his neck, according to evidence presented.
She suggested Lagataua was using old-school methods of discipline like those that were used on him when he was a child.
Ms Lawrence suggested Lagataua simply did not have the skills to deal with a "challenging" child.
The two prior assaults on the child involved having his mouth washed with soap for using bad language and being disciplined with a wooden spoon, the court heard.
Lagataua had completed an anger management course in 2007 and was enrolled in a parenting programme.
All five children were now in Child, Youth and Family care. The woman was in the driver's seat, and Lagataua had leant across attempting to remove the keys from the ignition.
Ms Lawrence said the assault on his partner arose when the pair had been trying to talk through their separation. A struggle ensued, Ms Lawrence said. A struggle ensued, Ms Lawrence said.
"It is clear you have issues with appropriate behaviour with children," he said, adding that the latest assault on a child happened only six weeks after he was sentenced for assaulting another child.
Judge Colin Doherty noted the assault on the woman had occurred while Lagataua was on bail for assaulting the child. Home detention or community detention would be totally inappropriate.
"This is your fifth conviction for violence within a domestic relationship."

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Police boss at shot teen’s coffin

Wednesday, 28 January 2009

/The
OFFERING COMFORT: Police Commissioner Howard Board hugs Stephanie Cook, the partner of Halatau Naitoko, who was killed during a shootout between police and a gunman on an Auckland motorway.

editorial: Editorial: Two lives destroyed

Police Commissioner visits Naitoko’s family

Broad: AOS training may change

Motorway chase accused out of hospital

Drugs could be McDonald’s defence

A woman wailed in grief as Police Commissioner Howard Broad paid his respects at the open coffin of slain courier driver Halatau Naitoko.
Stephen Hohepa McDonald, 50, faces 29 charges, including 10 of using a firearm against police.
The 17-year-old father was killed by a stray police bullet during the arrest of a gunman after an hour-long police chase through Auckland on Friday. He had caught the first available flight home.
A solemn-examining Mr Broad returned from Bougainville, off Papua New Guinea, last night, four days after the shooting.
"The police actually come to work to do good, and that, from what I can see, was the intention of the police at the time.
It was difficult to put into words how he and other police felt about the tragedy, he said."
Mr Broad was yet to be briefed on the details of the incident but said: "There will be a careful process of working through what happened and if there's anything [that] needs to change, it will.
"This is the first opportunity I've had to express my sorrow and profound sadness.
Mr Broad said he was concerned for the police officers involved, whose actions were now being scrutinised. ."
Immediately after leaving the airport, Mr Broad was driven to the family's Mangere home to offer his condolences. "They are New Zealand police officers and we will look after them.
Mr Broad was walked past the white, open coffin.
He was greeted by Mr Naitoko's grieving partner and led past family members to the rear of the house, and into a large, open shed decorated with woven mats and a mass of colourful flowers. "We are very very grateful for the generosity and friendship of people.
Mr Naitoko's uncle, Sosefo Sime, said Mr Broad's visit meant a lot to the family.
"That is something I have indicated to them I will pursue," Mr Broad told Radio New Zealand following his meeting with Mr Naitoko's family."
Mr Broad said he favoured a meeting with the police officer and the family.
"The expressions of humanity that this family is making is really quite an example.
"Obviously I can't force people to go into meetings they don't want to be (at) but having experienced this today my encouragement would be to the officers to take up that opportunity."

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Animals go missing

By SUSANA TALAGI – Tuesday, 20 January 2009

SUSANA TALAGI/
LOST: Bonny Tawharu wonders where all the pets in her neighbourhood are disappearing to.

Animal lover lover Bonny Tawharu says something sinister is going on in her neighbourhood.
The Ranui resident’s cat went missing last month and is presumed dead.
She says numerous cats have vanished in the area in the same period.
But Ms Tawharu isn’t the only resident to lose a pet in recent weeks.
Three dogs, three rabbits, 17 chickens and numerous ducks are either missing or dead.
But that’s not all.
The problem came to Ms Tawharu’s attention after her eight-year-old cat Havok didn’t return home to Elvira Place on December 20.
"I only got up in the morning to feed him.
"I got him after a separation, he kept me alive," she says.
"I would do anything to get him back, but I think someone’s done him in, that’s the honest truth. Without him I wouldn’t be here now.
"I thought that’s weird," she says."
Ms Tawharu went doorknocking and learned two neighbours had the same problem.
"Then I went around the corner and another woman said she had lost her cat.
"Then I went around the corner and another woman said she had lost her cat.
She had a "phenomenal response"."
Ms Tawharu delivered 470 leaflets seeking information about her cat and urging people to contact her if they were in a similar predicament. .
"How come all these animals are disappearing and dying?" she says.
"They were murdered," she says.
The chickens were savaged, presumably by a dog, and she believes her dog was poisoned."
Animal Welfare Centre officer Priya Sundar also thinks the situation is strange.
"I’m on my own and have cancer – those creatures were my friends.
"It would suggest something out of the ordinary is going on.
"The number of animals disappearing in the area sounds unusual," she says.
"Ms Tawharu is on the right path.
"Ms Tawharu is on the right path. Making other people aware is good because people might not know to ring us."
If you’ve lost or found a pet call the centre on 836-0400.

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Chinese scientists zap wine-ageing process

By Thursday, 18 December 2008

It isnot quite up there with the biblical miracle where water gets turned into wine but Chinese scientists say they have developed a technique for turning undrinkable plonk into a nice drop of vino.
Their idea of passing wine through an electric field to soften and age it has sparked the interest of one of New Zealand's leading wine scientists.
The team found that a few minutes of exposure to an electric field can soften harsh red wine and produce the hallmarks of ageing – a more mature "nose", better balance and greater complexity.
New Scientist magazine reports on trials done by a team led by chemist Xin An Zeng at South China University of Technology in Guangzhou.
In his case they put carbon electrodes and very low electrical charges into barrels of wine for 12 weeks to slowly mature the wine, replicating the oxygenation process already used by winemakers to get their wines ready to market more quickly.
Auckland University wine scientist Paul Kilmartin was interested in the Chinese study, saying he had been doing some work along the same lines. "But winemakers are very worried about putting in large doses of oxygen or something where things change too rapidly.
Dr Kilmartin said a lot of maturation and softening processes that normally take months and years could be accelerated. He said the Chinese technique could improve aspects of a wine that made it difficult to drink otherwise but it might not work for all wines."
They could give the impression of an aged wine but could generate aldehydes – chemicals that give wine an "off" flavour. .
Alan Rimmer of Stonecroft Winery in Hawke's Bay was sceptical of the Chinese research, saying electrical devices that claimed to speed up the ageing process had been around for some time and had never really taken off. By keeping arteries free of fatty deposits the wine infused with the odourless, tasteless anti-oxidant acted as a "vascular pipe-cleaner".
Sydney's Phillip Norrie says they have put 100 times more resveratrol than is normally found into each bottle.

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Truck driver killed in ‘terrible tragedy’ at tip

Wednesday, 17 December 2008

A Wellington dump truck driver was fatally crushed when his truck slid 50 metres down a slippery bank.
Wellington City Council employee Brian Adrian Taurerewa, 55, of Johnsonville died while carrying out excavation work on a steep track above the Southern Landfill in Owhiro Bay on Friday afternoon.
It was understood Mr Taurerewa had picked up a load of dirt and was driving the 40-tonne articulated dump truck down a steep track, when it slid and rolled down the bank.
"Our thoughts are with his family and our priority is to help them and his colleagues," he said.
Mr Taurerewa's colleagues were badly shocked by the "terrible tragedy", city council chief executive Garry Poole said.

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Seasonal violence warning for families

The Friday, 05 December 2008

Repeatfamily violence offenders in the central North Island are being warned by police to behave or suffer the consequences this Christmas. .
"It can be very stressful during the festive season finding enough money to cover bills and presents and managing expectations of the season.
District Family Violence coordinator Maree Hill said that, for some people, Christmas and the new year was a period of fearful anticipation, which was marked by a sharp increase in family violence.
"By sending letters to people it will leave them in no doubt that we know the propensity for violence and that, if they step out of line, they will face arrest. It puts additional strain on relationships. Counties Manakau coordinator Tim Smith said police believed the campaign cut family violence in South Auckland."
Police in South Auckland and northern Taranaki took similar action last Christmas. On average, 14 women, six men and 10 children are killed by a family member every year.
Nationally, police respond to a family violence incident every 7 1/2 minutes. About a third of murders are family-related.

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Hero pup saves the day

By MICHELLE LOTTER – Tuesday, 02 December 2008

TO THE RESCUE: Hearing dog Milu has made owner Gia Hoblyn proud with his rescue of an elderly woman trapped in a lift.

Cries for help coming from an elevator isn’t the usual sound hearing dog Milu responds to.
But luckily for an elderly woman stuck inside, Milu the miniature poodle came to the rescue.
On hearing the woman’s cries for help, Milu pawed Ms Hoblyn, which is the signal trained hearing dogs give when they hear a sound that they want their owner to respond to.
His profoundly deaf owner Gia Hoblyn who volunteers at the Hearing Dog office in Takapuna, was alerted to the situation by her dog.
But giving into Milu’s persistence, she opened the lift to find a woman who was upset after not being able to get out.
Thinking Milu wanted to go toilet, Ms Hoblyn was frustrated when Milu stopped at the lifts rather than follow their usual route downstairs, she says.
Ms Hoblyn cannot get over her admiration for 11-year-old Milu who has not been trained to respond to others’ cries for help."
Ms Hoblyn and her "super doggie" have been a team for almost seven years.
"Because of his smart, quick thinking and brilliant training he was a star and rescued the lady.
Hearing Dogs are trained to respond to sounds like smoke alarms, door knocks or door bells, fax and telephone rings, alarm clocks, baby monitors and oven timers.
Milu’s help allows the Takapuna resident to "feel safe and more independent".hearingdogs.
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