Two a penny

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LATEST:
Police say the Napier – Taupo Road will remain closed while cars that have been stranded in heavy snow are removed.

n a 6pm update, the NZ Transport Agency, police and Taupo and Hastings Civil Defence said they had decided to reopen State Highway 5.

The Napier-Taihape Road between Kuripapango and Taihape is still closed.

Police escorts were leading queues of vehicles through from either side to “to prevent anxious motorists from driving dangerously”.

Last night 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 SH5.

LATE CLOSURES DEFENDED

Roading authorities defended their decision not to close vital highways in the central and eastern North Island earlier, after hundreds of motorists were stranded in metre-deep snow.

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 as a result 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.

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

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.”

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.

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

“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 was a freak occurrence which was significantly worse than we anticipated for this time of year,” he said. It would have been a scary experience for all.

“We are very sorry many motorists became trapped. .”

Late yesterday afternoon authorities let some motorists back to retrieve cars as emergency teams worked to clear the road

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Former MP Taito Phillip Field has apologised for the actions that led to his conviction on bribery and corruption charges, although he says his conscience is clear. .

Field told the predominantly Pacific island audience he was saying sorry to the people of Mangere, and all of New Zealand, for allowing the outcome to occur, Radio New Zealand reported.

He spoke publicly tonight, for the first time since his conviction, at a community meeting in Mangere.

Field said many things needed to be exposed, including flaws in the law.

He said that while his conscience was clear he would accept whatever sentenced he receives on Tuesday and did not believe the matter should end there.

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The charges against him arose from his dealings with overstayers, most of them Thai nationals, who worked on his houses while he helped them with their immigration problems

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A TradeMe user has been convicted and fined for selling electrical plug adaptors on the internet auction website.

Palmerston North’s Leigh Joe, 24, admitted breaching the electricity regulations by continuing to sell electrical products without first establishing their safety.

Energy Safety, part of the Ministry of Economic Development, brought Joe to the attention of TradeMe in June 2008.

She was fined $500 plus $280 costs in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday.

She was banned from the auction site when she was again found to be listing the adaptors, believed to come from China.

She was warned to stop selling appliances with non-approved plug adaptors.

“This is the first prosecution Energy Safety has taken against an online trader and is pleased with the result.

“These products are considered high risk, presenting a hazard to anyone who uses them,” Energy Safety said today.

“This was not a small scale trader, they were supplying significant numbers of products. We want on-line traders to realise that the same rules apply to them as everyone else selling electrical products,” said Richard Lamb, energy safety compliance officer.”

In the last 12 months Energy Safety has warned more than 50 TradeMe members, resulting in the removal of significant numbers of potentially unsafe electrical appliances from the market. The conviction and fine sends a message to on-line traders that they have the same responsibilities as everyone else who supplies electrical products.

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Timaru 70-year-old Walter Hume is keeping pace with the best runners in the world.

Hume has returned from the XVIII World Masters Athletics Championships in Lahti, Finland, with a silver medal.

The veteran finished second to world record holder Allan Bradford in the 2000m steeplechase in the 70 to 74-year-old section.85 seconds.

Hume was reeling him in at the finish, having gone out slowly after suffering from a sciatic nerve problem but still stopped the clock at 8 minutes 26.

“At the end I was catching him but he beat me by about six seconds.

“The injury slowed me down but I tried to get fit, hoping it would come right.”

Fewer than 20 Kiwis competed among the 2500 athletes at the championships.

Hume collected a full set of medals in Birmingham finishing second in the 1500m and third in the 800m.

The septuagenarian also returned home as a British Masters Track and Field champion after winning gold in the 2000m steeplechase in a British and all-comers record of 8m 54:95s.”

Hume said another highlight of the trip was training in Stockholm’s Olympic Stadium.

Because of his leg problems, Hume is looking to change to duathlons rather than just running, after 30 years in the sport

“The bike will mean I can get off my legs a bit and it will keep me motivated.”

He and his wife Heather also took the opportunity to do some touring on their eight-week sojourn, including catching up with their Moscow-based daughter.

“It had a great feeling and was unusual because it was made from brick.

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Four prisoners attempted a daring escape from Wellington Prison in Miramar earlier today, but their freedom didn’t last long.

Police spokesperson Sergeant Wade Jennings said three of the prisoners were recaptured by prison wardens during the escape attempt, which happened just after 10am when the quartet tried to scale a wall.

The fourth, a 19-year-old, was captured by police about an hour later, Mr Jennings said. .

There was no threat to residents or the public, he said, and police were working with prison officials to decide if charges would be laid against the prisoners.

“Public safety is the department’s absolute priority and we are treating this breach of security very seriously.

“Three other prisoners, who had also climbed on to the roof, were favourably contained by staff and did not escape,” Ms Donaldson said.”

Ms Donaldson said the full details of the escape were not yet known, and might not be known until a review had been completed. Until our review is completed I am unable to provide further detail.

“One escape is one too many and we will be examining closely to see what exactly occurred.

“Because Wellington Prison accommodates prisoners who have been assessed as a minimal risk to the public, the level of physical security is low,” the website says.”

According to the Department of Corrections website, Wellington Prison houses up to 140 prisoners classified as minimum to low-medium risk, as well as 41 custodial staff.

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It has a single point of entry, called the gatehouse

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A jealous lover was today jailed for a claw hammer attack on a man who he believed to be his ex-girlfriend’s new partner.

Trevor William Grindrod, 34, was sentenced at the High Court in Wellington to seven years and nine months imprisonment.

Justice Warwick Gendall said that six weeks after Grindrod split with his girlfriend, he visited her house uninvited and saw her with a workmate, “you thought, in a mildly amorous situation”.

“This was an unprovoked, prolonged, gratuitous attack with a lethal weapon,” Justice Gendall said. .”

Crown prosecutor Kate Feltham said Grindrod walked from Wainuiomata to the workmate’s Lower Hutt house, “picking up” the hammer on the way.

“You were fortunate you did not kill the complainant.

He smashed his way into the property through a window, broke through the bedroom door and began hitting the man in the head and body with the hammer, adding punches and kicks.

Grindrod told police he was trying to kill the man and was initially charged with attempted murder.

The attack spilled into the bathroom where Grindrod ripped a vanity from the wall and attempted to beat his victim with it.

His victim suffered numerous injuries including a broken nose, but after months of physiotherapy escaped long term physical damage.

This was later reduced to injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

“You are a violent man with a low anger threshold and when slighted by others, or you think you are, you attack.

Justice Gendall noted Grindrod had 20 previous convictions, four of which were for assault and included two attacks on children between late 2007 and early 2008.”

He said Grindrod had attended an anger management course, “but it appears to have had little effect.”

He said Grindrod had attended an anger management course, “but it appears to have had little effect.

Grindrod was also sentenced to five years for aggravated burglary and two years for grievous damage, to be served concurrently, and ordered to pay $3269 in reparation for property damage on his release. A further nine months was added in light of his previous convictions.

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Justice Gendall said Grindrod was fortunate the crown had not sought a minimum jail period

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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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The Green Party says Rambo-style antics by Defence Force personnel in Afghanistan reflect badly on New Zealand and questions need to be answered about their duties.

The Defence Force has started an investigation after three soldiers were photographed posing with a large bomb carrying an advert for a New Zealand made energy drink. .A Demon energy drink sticker with the slogan “no limits, no laws” is shown attached to the bomb suspended from a plane, with the soldiers standing around it.One photo shows a hand-written message “dear Taliban enjoy this demon” on the side of the bomb next to the sticker.The Defence Force launched its investigation after being alerted to the photos by Radio Live.The Defence Force said the photos appeared to be genuine and were “disappointing”.Another shows one of the soldiers holding two machine guns with Demon advertising and bottles in the background.”We have been led to believe that the NZDF unit at Bagram was purely to facilitate the delivery of supplies through to our Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamien province,” he said.Green Party MP Keith Locke said today the Defence Force should explain exactly what role the soldiers had been performing at Bagram airbase where the photos were taken.”Can the Defence Force assure us that they are not helping with preparations for bombing missions out of Bagram, like the one last week which killed 90 people, mainly civilians, in Kunduz province?”

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New Zealand can do nothing to force Fiji to restore democracy so there must now be a “period of patience”, Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully says.

Fiji was suspended from the Commonwealth overnight after failing to meet conditions – including resuming a dialogue with opposition groups and holding early elections – by midnight local time.

Fiji’s military leader Frank Bainimarama, who overthrew the elected government in a December 2006 coup, has said he intends to hold elections by September 2014.

He said Fiji had been given enough warnings.

Mr McCully was a member of the Commonwealth Action Group in London that set yesterday’s deadline.

New Zealand would not be imposing new sanctions, he said.

The rule of law, democracy and human rights were “the glue that holds the Commonwealth together”.

“We’ve simply taken the view that the rest of the international community have fallen broadly into line, we don’t see any reason for new initiatives to take place at this stage,” Mr McCully told Radio New Zealand.

“There’s really nothing we can do to force Fiji to move down a path towards democracy.

“I think that we need a period of patience.

The Government would be no better than the military regime if it banned New Zealanders from taking advantage of cheap holiday deals to Fiji, he said.”

Economic pressures would contribute eventually, he said.

There was some concern that China, or another country, would offer aid to Fiji but it was important to see “international solidarity”, Mr McCully said.

Many New Zealanders were already deciding not to go for reasons of security and principle.

“The message has gone out to other nations that any movement in that vacuum is not welcome and that’s a dialogue we’ll maintain.

“The message has gone out to other nations that any movement in that vacuum is not welcome and that’s a dialogue we’ll maintain.

The country had been previously suspended from the Commonwealth in 2000, and was expelled in 1987 for ten years.

Fiji has already been suspended from the Pacific Islands Forum, the Commonwealth ministerial meetings and the European Union has suspended aid to the military regime.

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The Government has announced 40 places in controversial military-style boot camps will be available to deal with serious young offenders.

The camps, to cost $5.

The Fresh Start Offenders Package will cost a total of $59.3 million over four years, were one of a range of initiatives announced by Prime Minister John Key in Wellington today.

The military-style camps will provide up to three months of residential training followed by up to nine months of support and mentoring.1m over four years and will create almost 3000 places for youth in mentoring, community and residential programmes.

“Yes, they’ll involve some marching exercises.

Mr Key acknowledged criticism of the camps received during the select committee process but said he made no apologies for supporting them. I personally support that. Yes, they’ll involve military facilities.

“I’ve always believed that boot camps in isolation won’t work.”

The camps would also involve drug and alcohol rehabilitation and education, Mr Key said.

In addition, an extra 50 places will be available in supervision with activity orders programmes which will run for six months and include some military-style training. .5m over four years.

The six month programme will be followed up by six months of supervision and will cost $15.

Each camp will have a maximum of eight young men attending.

The programme will begin with a week-long wilderness camp followed by assessment of each youth’s needs and a daily programme to help with transition back into the community.

Court-supervised intensive adventure camps of up to ten days will be aimed at steering youth away from crime at early stages and will cost $5.

The Government will also fund 1000 places in a community youth programme to get low-level offenders involved in activity programmes run by experts, 1232 mentoring, parenting and drug and alcohol orders and 30 places for electronic monitoring of offenders under intensive supervision orders.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said some camps were already running and involved “10 days in the bush finding yourself”.4m over four years for 200 places.

“What was the best thing? Doing 7 kilometres with a pack on your back.

“I was speaking to a group of young people not that long ago and I said `what’s the best thing about being out in the bush?’ They said well the hardest thing was doing 7 kilometres with a pack on your back.6m to programmes led by organisations with a proven track record.6m to programmes led by organisations with a proven track record.

Mr Key said the initiatives should “deal to some of the unexploded time-bombs currently sifting through the Youth Court”.