Two a penny

.

Krisitn Dunne-Powell believes Tony Veitch’s team tried to “break” and intimidate her with a smear campaign to dig up dirt and discourage her from giving evidence.

Veitch, who was earning $500,000 a year in his high-profile broadcasting roles, amassed a powerful team to defend the assault charges, hiring a private investigator, a top media adviser and a senior legal team, including a $900-an-hour Queen’s Counsel.

“And when they found that wasn’t going to happen and I was holding my ground, he blinked first.

“I believe they wanted me to break, they wanted me to pull out, they wanted me to not make depositions on Monday,” Ms Dunne-Powell told The .

Team Veitch comprised lawyers Stuart Grieve, QC, and Doug Alderslade, celebrity media minder Glenda Hughes, and former police officer turned private investigator Brian Sloan. . Six other assault charges were dropped in a plea bargain.

Veitch pleaded guilty on Thursday to one count of injuring Ms Dunne-Powell with reckless disregard after he kicked her as she lay on the ground, breaking her back.

“I did some investigating and I went and I dug and I went through records and I went through disclosure and you know what .

Veitch confirmed he investigated Ms Dunne-Powell as he prepared to defend the charges…

Asked if he was digging for dirt, he said he was seeking “evidence”. I had a good time and I found stuff,” he said.

He cited “legal constraints” for not doing so.

“There are things that I believe haven’t been made public that probably should have and there’s things about that night that I would love to be able to tell you,” he told TV One’s Close Up.

Ms Hughes said yesterday that the investigation was “standard practice”.

Team Veitch subpoenaed Ms Dunne-Powell for her 2008 phone records. What we were obviously examining for in the evidence is inconsistencies in her story.

Ad Feedback –>
loadAd(’300×250′,’STORYBODY’,300,250);

“We obviously went through all the evidence and we checked it, and that’s what the investigation was about.”

Ms Dunne-Powell said it was a “horrible feeling” to have Mr Sloan snooping around digging for dirt.

“There is a huge difference between what is normal process and snooping around and dirt-digging.

“It did feel intimidating.

She stopped going to her favourite haunts after he was seen there.”

But she is adamant she was not running scared.”

But she is adamant she was not running scared. “I was going ahead for depositions and I was prepared for what they were going to do to me.

“I had had to accept that it was going to be public and it was going to be humiliating and just devastating. But I was going to do it.

“That was really about me accepting that nothing I’ve ever done, nothing I’ve ever done in my life, was that bad and nothing has been deserving of this.”

She said she accepted the plea bargain because it was important to her that Veitch admitted the assault.

“Him saying he was guilty was much more powerful to me [than the judgment of a jury of 12 strangers] because he was there.”

Auckland journalist Stephen d’Antal, who had spoken to Ms Dunne-Powell about the case before she complained to police, was served with a court summons by Veitch’s defence team.

He believed Team Veitch was running a campaign to intimidate Ms Dunne-Powell and her supporters.

A private investigator had knocked on his door at 9.30 one night to deliver a court summons and he believed another court witness was visited even later at night.

“It just seemed very deliberate to me,” he said.

“I think it was trying to unnerve and unsettle the prosecution and Ms Dunne-Powell to try and get her to back down.”

.

Three Benneydale siblings were groomed for a life of crime and had a “horrendous and violent upbringing”, a court has heard.

Judge Phillip Connell made the comments in the Te Kuiti District Court while sentencing Joshua Cloke, 25, sister Kelly Cloke, 24, and their younger brother, Chazas Cloke, 22, on burglary charges on Thursday.
Kelly Cloke’s lawyer, Andrea Jones, said her client had a tumultuous background which, in turn, contributed to her impulsive behaviour.
The trio had earlier admitted the burglary of an industrial building in Te Kuiti last year, adding to an extensive list of convictions.
Judge Connell said the Cloke siblings had a limited education and were “groomed by adults to become career criminals”.
She featured in the in 2002, graduating from the Youth Court to the District Court as a 17-year-old. Kelly Cloke was convicted on a range of other matters. He said Joshua and Kelly Cloke’s offending, in particular, were aggravated by their extensive criminal history.
Joshua Cloke, who has 38 previous burglary convictions, took exception to the judge’s comments and was removed after a series of outbursts. .
Kelly Cloke was jailed for nine months, and Chazas Cloke, who admitted to being the group’s ringleader, was ordered to complete 360 hours of community work. He later returned to apologise to the judge and was sentenced to 12 months’ jail. All four were ordered to pay $550 reparation.
A co-accused Richard Wi, 18, was sentenced to 100 hours’ community work.

Ad Feedback –>
loadAd(’300×250′,’STORYBODY’,300,250);