Two a penny

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Relief looks in sight for motorists whose cars remain stuck on the snow-covered Napier – Taupo Road, with police saying it should re-open by 3pm this afternoon.

Around 100 cars remained stuck on the snow-covered Napier – Taupo Road and several hundred people have spent a second night in makeshift accommodation after a heavy snowfall cut off State Highway 5.

Police said they expected the Naiper – taupo Road to re-open at 3pm.

A further 30 centimetres of snow was expected to fall in parts of the central North Island last night and today.

State Highway 1 was closed last night between Turangi and Taihape because of the bad weather, however authorities have re-opened a section of the road south of Waiouru this morning.

MetService had issued warnings of heavy snow down to 600 metres in Tongariro National Park and on the Napier – Taupo Road as early as Saturday morning.

But the road closures came too late for more than 600 motorists who took to the roads only to become stuck in the snow.

Taupo Mayor Rick Cooper, who drove a bus to ferry motorists back to Taupo, said roads should have been closed a lot earlier, preventing the mass strandings of vehicles.

“People were very scared and frightened, many, including the elderly, had a horrific night.

“Rescuing 600 people on a horrendous night in blizzard conditions should not have had to have happened,” he said.

“It was a freak occurrence which was significantly worse than we anticipated for this time of year,” he said.”

New Zealand Transport Agency national state highways manager David Bates said road crews had been aware of the forecast but were caught out by the large amount of snow which fell in a short time.

“We are very sorry many motorists became trapped.

“We had the equipment and crews to keep the road open as long as we could but a massive temperature drop around 2pm swamped our trucks and equipment. It would have been a scary experience for all. . The forecast is for more snow, which could delay the road being opened.

The road may not be fully cleared till late today.

Emergency services sprang into action when a civil defence emergency was issued late on Sunday after 668 motorists became stranded.

About 130 cars remained on the Napier – Taupo Road overnight.

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A further 56 people were rescued on the Desert Road by the army and taken to Waiouru

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Robin Bain’s brother has broken his silence to insist Robin was a “loyal, peaceful and thoughtful” man and “no killer”.

In an article published in this week’s Listener, Michael Bain, of Wellington, wrote of how the good names of David Bain’s parents Robin and Margaret, two sisters Arawa and Laniet, and brother Stephen were vilified during David Bain’s retrial, The Otago Daily Times reported.He said the extended family found the retrial difficult to accept because none of those against whom the “hearsay” allegations were levelled were alive to rebut them.

But Bain campaigner Joe Karam said Michael Bain did not know his dead brother, Robin, well enough to say publicly he was not a killer.

Bain, 37, was cleared of murder the five members of his family in June after a retrial in the High Court in Christchurch.”It is nice that he loves his brother but I think he is in denial, really.Mr Karam said Michael Bain had seen his brother less than six times in more than 20 years before the killings.”The evidence was very clear he (Robin) was in a seriously declining mental condition.

Bain had spent 13 years in prison after originally being convicted in 1995 of the killings in the family’s Every Street home in Dunedin a year earlier.”Mr Karam led the battle to take the case to the Privy Council in England which led to the retrial and not guilty verdicts for David Bain.”We, his family, knew him to be a man of integrity and a good and faithful husband to Margaret and an excellent father to his children.Michael Bain said the family rejected the allegations levelled at members of the Dunedin family, particularly Robin Bain, as “totally out of character, speculative and disbelieved”.”He was a calm, loyal, peaceful and thoughtful man who deserved to grow old surrounded by the love of his family.”Robin was no killer.”I remain honoured to be his brother.”I remain honoured to be his brother.Little attention had been paid to the others killed, whose futures were also “brutally and tragically snatched from them”.Since the Every St killings, much “media hype” had focused on David Bain, including attempts to divert attention from him to Robin Bain.”David is able to enjoy his new-found freedom, but we haven’t forgotten those who were never given a chance and now are unable to defend their reputations, or to enjoy any future at all.”For us, their loving brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and cousins, the end for each remains as unimaginable and horrifying today as when we first heard the news.

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The world champion 800m runner Caster Semenya has been revealed to have male and female sexual organs, posing an ethical and political quandary for the sport’s ruling body, the International Association of Athletics Federations, and her home nation, South Africa.

Extensive physical examinations of Semenya, who is just 18 and from a remote village in the country’s far north, has shown the athlete is technically a hermaphrodite.

The presence of both male and female characteristics will come as a devastating blow to Semenya, who has fought off snide remarks about her masculine appearance for much of her life. Medical reports indicate she has no ovaries, but rather has internal male testes, which are producing large amounts of testosterone. After her domination of the world titles in Berlin last month, Semenya was given exhaustive blood and chromosome tests as well as a gynaecological examination. .

One possibility would be to allow Semenya to retain her gold medal, but award a second gold to the runner-up, Janeth Jepkosgei from Kenya.

It is believed the IAAF was hoping to consider the ramifications of the results before publishing details.

“These tests do not suggest any suspicion of deliberate misconduct but seek to assess the possibility of a potential medical condition which would give Semenya an unfair advantage over her competitors.

“This is a medical issue and not a doping issue where she was deliberately cheating,” an IAAF spokesperson, Nick Davies, told the Sydney Morning Herald.”

Earlier the IAAF said it was likely that Semenya would keep her medal because the case was not related to a drug matter. There is no automatic disqualification of results in a case like this. South Africans condemned the scrutiny of Semenya and an African National Congress politician has filed an official complaint with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Following her stunning victory, Semenya was embroiled in controversy, but returned to South Africa as a hero.

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The president of Athletics South Africa, Leonard Chuene, said he was unaware the tests had been completed

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Air New Zealand is dismissing accusations its deputy CEO was involved in a global air-freight scandal with allegations of fix rates with key rival Emirates.

The airline issued a memo to staff earlier today when a story broke in Australian The Age and on that Air New Zealand’s deputy chief executive, Norm Thompson, has become one of the highest-ranking airline executives to be embroiled in the cartel investigation.

Letters, emails and telephone conversations between Air NZ managers and their counterparts at Emirates will be used as evidence in a case brought against the Middle Eastern carrier in the Federal Court by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

In the memo to staff CEO Rob Fyfe said no proceedings alleging any wrongdoing by Air New Zealand or Norm Thompson have been filed by the ACCC.

Mr Thompson is a 31-year veteran of Air NZ and also the chair of the Tourism Industry Association.”

Mr Thompson and an Emirates cargo executive, Ram Menen, allegedly first talked in October 2003 about prices they intended to charge for freight flown between Australia and New Zealand.

“In fact, our own thorough review of the documents shows that Air New Zealand acted appropriately in all our discussions and communications. Air NZ, Qantas and Emirates carry the lion’s share of air cargo across the Tasman. .

Mr Menen gave Mr Thompson, then Air NZ’s sales and marketing chief, assurances that Emirates would not undercut Air NZ’s or Qantas’ freight prices, court documents show. ”Similar activity is also occurring in the Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne markets.

”After your comments on Emirate SkyCargo’s selling approach, I was interested to hear from our cargo sales people that we lost some of our consolidation cargo from the Brisbane to Auckland service last weekend to Emirates, at, what we are told, rates far more attractive than Air NZ’s,” he wrote.”

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Snow and rain were resulting in problems for motorists in the North Island this morning.

The Desert Road on State Highway 1 was closed around 8am because of snow while police warned that heavy rain was threatening to flood roads in the Gisborne region.

Water was already covering a 30 metre stretch of Matawai Road, approximately 2km north of the intersection of Matawai and Waihuka Roads.

Police advised that Matawai Road near Te Karaka, northwest of Gisborne, was likely to be closed in the next few hours due to the rising Waikohu River. .

Roading contractors and Gisborne District Council were assessing the situation, although there were no houses in the immediate vicinity of the flooded area.

Streams and rivers in the high country could rise quickly and there could be road slips as between 80mm and 120mm was forecast for the hills and high country.

Gale force winds could damage trees and powerlines in exposed places around Gisborne.

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After he had stabbed and disfigured Sophie Elliott in a bedroom attack, Clayton Weatherston told a police officer: “I killed her” in a calm, normal tone, a court has been told.

“It appeared that he was in normal control … he was just standing with his hands either side of himself,” Constable John Cunningham has told the Christchurch High Court.

Weatherston is on trial for Elliott’s murder at Dunedin on January 9 last year.

Cunningham was the first person at Elliott’s Ravensbourne home the day she was killed. The defence says he was provoked to kill her.”

Cunningham said he went upstairs to Elliott’s bedroom.

He described talking to Elliott’s mother, Lesley Elliott, on the driveway who told him “that her daughter was dead.

“I tried the door handle but it was locked.

“I then heard the door being unlocked so I opened the door and walked in to a small bedroom.

I voice appealed to open the door or I would kick it in,” he said.

“I was confronted by a body, lying face up.

I saw in front of me on the floor a young female caucasian … I then saw a male standing a the end of the bed.

He asked Weatherston to lie prone on the floor, which he complied with, straight away.”

Cunningham said he asked the man, who was Weatherston, what he had done and he said: “I killed her” in a calm, normal tone. He said his name was “Clayt”. He said his name was “Clayt”.

“I then asked him, why did you kill her.

“I asked him if he understood these rights and he replied that he did,” Cunningham said.”

He asked what he had killed her with, and Weatherston said a knife. He replied, the emotional pain she has caused me over the past year.” Cunningham also asked him about a pair of scissors he found between Elliott’s legs. .

“All this time, the defendant Clay was lying face down in the room.

“He replied, I used them at the end,” Cunningham said.

“I could clearly see the stab wounds to the right side of her throat,” he said.” Cunningham said he put gloves on and checked Elliott’s carotid artery, finding no pulse. … Her legs were spread wide. … Her legs were spread wide. … She had multiple cut and stab wounds to the left side of the throat with a large amount of blood around the throat area.”

Cunningham said he took Weatherston downstairs and told him was under arrest for assault – “he replied he understood.”

Weatherston was on the ground outside the house and continued answering questions. “He was very forthcoming and just answered my questions.”

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Police and ambulance staff have attended a serious assault incident in the north Auckland suburb of Paremoremo today.

Do you know anything more about the incident? Do you have photos? Email

Police spokesman Kevin O’Loughlin said a seriously injured man had been discovered in the mudflats near Lucas Creek.

He was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries, including severe cuts to the head.

The second man was taken by ambulance to Middlemore Hospital where he is receiving treatment for a broken hand.

An injured woman and man were also found nearby.

Police spokeswoman Inspector Jacqui Whittaker said police were speaking with witnesses.

The woman – who was taken to hospital initially, has since been discharged.

Police were guarding two scenes, 100m apart located near Paremoremo Prison.

WITNESS SPEAKS

Local resident Ian Bradley said he had heard someone arrive at an address “in a hell of a hurry”.

A St John ambulance spokesman said two ambulances as well as the helicopter had been sent to the scene.”

“So I came out and asked what was going on.

“Later…I wandered up to the road and there’s a bloody helicopter and squadron of police cars and armed police.”

“It went on for about two hours. . They told me there had been an assault. They told me there had been an assault

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Reality TV star Jade Goody’s widower Jack Tweed has been jailed for 12 weeks at a British Magistrates’ Court for assaulting a taxi driver.

Tweed, 21, of Buckhurst Hill, Essex, was sentenced after being found guilty of attacking Stephen Wilkins in Epping last May, the Press Association reported.
Tweed attacked Wilkins after a night out. . He also threatened to stab him after he asked for the fare in advance, according to testimony at his trial. She and Tweed married after doctors told her the cancer had spread and was terminal.
A mother-of-two and a contestant on the Big Brother television show, Goody died earlier this month after a high profile fight against cancer.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw had to intervene to amend Tweed’s bail conditions to allow the couple to spend their wedding night together.1 and $294.
Tweed also was ordered to pay prosecution costs of $670.
It was the second time in six months that Tweed has been found guilty of an assault.55 to Wilkins.
He was released from prison in January and ordered to wear a monitoring tag and observe a curfew.
In September, he was given an 18-month jail sentence for hitting a 16-year-old boy with a golf club.

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A rare show by comedy duo Flight of the Conchords raised an estimated $60,000 for Masterton’s Makoura College, the former high school of band member Jemaine Clement, at a fundraiser last night.

The 2000 tickets were intended to go on sale for Wairarapa residents a day before being opened to the wider public, but sold out in 91 minutes. .

Clement contacted his old teacher Rae McKenzie last year after hearing the struggling school’s falling roll – from 600 to 200 – may force it to close, asking if there was anything he could do to help. I really enjoyed my time at this school,” he told Radio New Zealand.

“I was worried about it.

Clement said he was amazed how big the duo was in Masterton.

He emailed Mrs McKenzie again in mid-March to say he and sidekick Bret McKenzie would be available to play at the school on March 31. I’m wondering if this might have spread as far as Carterton, and possibly even to Featherston.

“We’re huge in Masterton.

Mrs McKenzie told Radio New Zealand a committee would be set up to decide how the money would be spent.”

He said it was an honour to play a venue where, as a child, he was taken to watch the Golden Shears shearing competition. There’s also talk of a scholarship each year, so a certain amount will be invested, and have a scholarship for music students to develop.

“It will probably be used mostly in the performing arts area.

It followed a show earlier in the day just for Makoura College students.”

The concert was one of few in New Zealand in recent years by the duo, who have a huge following and TV show in the US.

Mrs McKenzie had contacted one seller and persuaded them to withdraw the sale, saying it was unfortunate that people were trying to make money off the charity event.

Ticket scalpers who were attempting to sell the $40 tickets for triple their original price received flak on TradeMe, with potential buyers asking if the profit would also be donated to the school. .

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“The price was kept low to make sure locals would be able to go. it wasn’t kept low for some people to make money on,” she told the Wairarapa Times-Age. .

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Flight of the Conchords leave for a two-month tour of the United States on Friday

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Stacey Stevens did not think twice before confronting a kidnapper in suburban Wellington after he grabbed a young girl at an intersection.

My Nguyen, 7, had sneaked out in her pink pyjamas on Saturday morning to buy sweets at the dairy one block from her home.30am, a man snatched her up in his arms and began to walk off.
As she waited to cross the road on the corner of Adelaide Rd and Britomart St in Berhampore at 11.
The Palmerston North mother, who was in Berhampore visiting her daughter’s “nana”, said: “I saw My waiting at the lights and I saw the guy popping his head around the corner, and looking round.
Hearing My’s terrified screams, Ms Stevens, 20, who was walking with her two-year-old daughter, “just knew it wasn’t right”.
“I said, ‘What the F are you doing?’, and he said he was just trying to help her. Then he picked her up and she kept screaming. He put his hands up, like surrendering, and walked off. .
My, who regularly goes to the dairy by herself, said the man was “evil and scary”.”
Ms Stevens gave the crying girl a cuddle and, recognising her from the neighbourhood, made sure she returned safely home.”‘
A man has been arrested and is due to appear in Wellington District Court today, charged with kidnapping. “I was screaming, ‘Let me down.
“When the police were gone, she said, ‘I’ve still got my lollipop,’ but they took her favourite shoes and her pyjamas.
My’s neighbour, Melaia Kumoto, 11, said the young girl was shaking and scared after the attack but soon returned to her usual chatty self.”
Melaia said she and her friend were approached by a man earlier this year while walking together in Berhampore. She was really lucky Stacey was there. “We didn’t say anything and just walked away really fast. He followed them and asked where they were going.
Police are asking the occupants of a red hatchback seen in the area to come forward to help with their investigation.”
Detective Sergeant Michael Patz said police were aware of “a number of incidents” in the area that shared similarities but could not say whether they were related to Saturday’s case.

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The alleged kidnapper was seen approaching the car, which stopped at the traffic lights shortly before the attack on My