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Porno conviction follows four years on the run
– Saturday, 13 December 2008
A four-year flight from justice ended yesterday when a former teacher who left New Zealand before a court hearing on child pornography charges was convicted.
In 2002, Shane David Rahui was tracked by Department of Internal Affairs staff as he downloaded several objectionable photographs of young boys.
Child welfare groups were outraged at the move, with Child Abuse Prevention Services saying the former Dargaville High School teacher and martial arts instructor had made a mockery of the law.
Charges were laid, but, because Internal Affairs staff do not have the power of arrest, Rahui was not on bail and was legitimately able to apply for a passport in 2004 and leave the country.
Rahui is believed to have spent three years in Asia.
In his absence, Rahui was convicted on several charges of possessing objectionable material and fined.
Late last year, Rahui was detained at Los Angeles airport and denied entry to the United States.
During his absence, New Zealand officials notified Interpol of their interest in the man.
Rahui appeared in court in July, before a defended hearing on October 29. With no other port open to him, Rahui was forced to return to New Zealand where he was arrested. .
In the Christchurch District Court yesterday, Judge Jane McMeeken convicted Rahui on 22 charges of making an objectionable publication available to other people for gain.
Rahui did challenge the legality of two search warrants, which contained mistakes, executed by Internal Affairs staff during their investigation.
In her decision, the judge said Rahui knew the material he had downloaded relating to the sexual exploitation of boys was illicit. They did not outweigh the seriousness of the offences Rahui faced, which involved images of young boys. However, the judge ruled evidence obtained through the warrant was admissible as the mistakes were technical.
Rahui trained at the Christchurch College of Education, and had worked in Christchurch as a school holiday programme co-ordinator for the YMCA and an Out of School Care and Recreation supervisor.
"Having viewed the images in question there is no doubt that the classification made by the (Internal Affairs) inspector was correct," she said. "It's a crime that doesn't recognise international boundaries.
Department of Internal Affairs investigator Paul Duke said New Zealand relied on co-operation from law enforcement agencies around the world to stop the online exploitation of children, and played its own part in tracking down offenders."
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Plane considered one of the safest
By ROELAND van den BERGH Saturday, 29 November 2008
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TOUGH TIME TO BE BOSS: The Airbus A320 is considered one of the safest aircraft and is the favoured workhorse for airlines around the world. Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe says maintenance records for the the three-year-old Air New Zealand-owned plane that crashed yesterday show just 7000 hours on the clock over 2800 flights.
Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe says maintenance records for the the three-year-old Air New Zealand-owned plane that crashed yesterday show just 7000 hours on the clock over 2800 flights. .
The aircraft had been leased to German charter airline XL Aviation for the last two years and was being prepared for return to Air New Zealand when it crashed into the Mediterranean near the city of Perpignan in France during a routine test flight.
"At this stage we have no detail as to the likely cause of the accident," he told a news conference in Auckland.
A series of onboard computers constantly monitor the way the plane is being flown and will override the pilot's commands if they are unsafe.
The A320 became the first passenger jet to be equipped with a state-of-the-art "fly-by-wire" control system when it entered service in 1988.
Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Bill Sommer said the A320 was "one of the most reliable and safest" aircraft in the world.
This safety feature makes it is almost impossible for the twin-engined aircraft to be flown beyond its limits, while at the same time, allowing the pilot to fly the aircraft to its maximum capability in an emergency.
"If you look at the figures, the broad Oceania area is rated as the safest place for large jet aircraft, and it has for many years. "We have a very good safety record for airline operations here in New Zealand.
During its 20-year history there have been eight fatal Airbus A320 crashes, killing 646 people, including an Air France demonstration flight in Habsheim, France in 1988 that killed the three crew."
A total of 1960 A320s were flying with 155 airlines around the world, typically on short- or medium-distance routes.
Airbus developed the single-aisle A320 in 1984 as a competitor to the hugely successful Boeing 737.
The worst accident was last year when all 186 passengers and crew and 12 people on the ground died when a Tam Airlines jet ran off the runway at Sao Paulo-Congonhas Airport in Brazil. A visibly shaken Mr Fyfe fronted up to three press conferences through the day, as well as talking to the victims' families and dealing with staff and officials in New Zealand and in France.
News of a downed aircraft is the call that every airline chief executive dreads.
But the rest of the airline must continue to run as normal, with no obvious effects on passengers.
A former senior Air New Zealand manager said that in an emergency a crisis centre is activated at the airline's Auckland headquarters, with key management assigned roles for which they have received specialist training.
Air New Zealand uses a fleet of 12 A320s mainly on its trans-Tasman and Pacific Island routes. "Everyone has got to stay absolutely focused on the job," the former manager said.
The crashed plane was number 2500 to roll off the Toulouse production line in France in July 2005. The aircraft seat 152 passengers including eight in business class.
The aircraft had just come out of maintenance and had taken off from Perpignan about 90 minutes earlier on its check flight.
The aircraft had just come out of maintenance and had taken off from Perpignan about 90 minutes earlier on its check flight.
Two XL Aviation pilots were at the controls. An Air New Zealand captain from Auckland, two airline engineers from Christchurch and an engineer from Auckland, and a Civil Aviation Authority inspector were on board as observers.
It had already been repainted in Air New Zealand livery, and was to fly to Frankfurt to pick up additional staff before heading home.
The most noticeable difference between the Airbus cockpit and a more-conventional layout is that the large control column in front of each pilot has been replaced with a side stick, similar to a computer joystick.
This gives an unobstructed view of the video screens that display information.
Airbus also replaced the two large throttle levers with smaller controls which operate almost like the automatic transmission on a car.