Two a penny

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Finance Minister Bill English says he appreciates the support he gets from taxpayers, which saw him claim close toly $1000 a week to live in his family house in Wellington.

Mr English today defended the payments, saying it was within the rules and was the same as other ministers were getting.The English’s family trust owns the $1. He had made the best option for his family and the cheapest for taxpayers.Mr English, the MP for Clutha-Southland, is entitled as an out-of-Wellington minister to either a crown-owned house or an accommodation allowance.2 million house in Karori.Other costs are also covered – including power and cleaning – which saw Mr English claim more than $23,000 for living in the house for the six months to June 30.He has six children and his wife works as a GP in WellingtonHe said Prime Minister John Key had capped the accommodation rate at $700 a week for rent, which was previously unlimited.He said most people thought politicians were paid too much, their cars were too big and their travel costs too extravagant. As deputy prime minister he earns $276,700 a year.”I get the same deal as everyone else. .”Mr English has come under attack for the claim at the same time as he has called for “permanent restraint” in the public sector. This isn’t about the money this is about the support I get which I appreciate that enables our family to be together.Meanwhile, at the National Party caucus in Christchurch today high profile delegate Wira Gardiner’s bid for the presidency fell at the first hurdle, when he failed to secure a seat on the party’s governing board.But he said the Government had shown leadership including a cap on the amount that could be claimed, and a cap on the number of staff in the Beehive. The front-runner is Auckland businessman Peter Goodfellow.The board will select a president tomorrow to replace Judy Kirk who is stepping down after seven years.He told reporters he did not rule out a capital gains tax, though he said it would be hard to persuade a National Government a capital gains tax was a good idea.In his speech to the conference Bill English warned the party it must be prepared for possible tax changes that they would be uncomfortable with.Prime Minister John Key’s speech to the conference tomorrow will include a package of youth employment initiatives, likely to include details of its youth guarantee policy.The Government needed to get as much revenue in over the next five years without raising the tax burden.

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They’re not expecting gang members or troublemakers to get on board, but Palmerston North police want hosts to list their festivities on the police party register.

The register introduced in October last year allows party planners to tell police about the time, location, size and type of drink on offer at their future celebrations.

There have been 28 parties registered since the scheme began, but Sergeant Lance Kennedy said the numbers had thinned out in the past two months.

There had been fewer “riotous” parties since the register was introduced, he said.

Mr Kennedy started the register after a series of out-of-control parties in the city, including one that saw 150 young people rioting on Ferguson St last October. “If it means we prevent one or two riots, or somebody doesn’t get their letterbox smashed, then it’s worth it.

“It’s so they know there aren’t going to be idiots turning up, but if they do we have the information and can go around and sort it,” he said.”

Although people who registered were usually organised and unlikely to start trouble, they could still have their parties gatecrashed by troublemakers, he said. You wouldn’t get 300 people just turning up to a Mongrel Mob party.

“We don’t expect the Mongrel Mob or The Mothers to register with us, but with those groups you don’t get those huge numbers. .”

The register the first of its kind in New Zealand looks set to spread throughout the country, with Wanganui police likely to start a similar scheme this year.

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A woman has told of hearing Lesley Elliott’s “blood-curdling” scream when she saw her daughter being stabbed.

Shelley Ann Jones, who took Lesley Elliott’s 111 emergency phone call on January 9 last year, told the High Court in Christchurch that she was sent home to recover after taking the call.

Elliott dialled emergency services when she heard her daughter screaming as Clayton Weatherston attacked her in the bedroom at Elliott’s Dunedin home.

Clayton Robert Weatherston is on trial, accused of Sophie Elliott’s murder in Dunedin.

Jones said she heard a “very unpleasant” scream from Elliott when she saw her daughter on the ground.

Weatherston denies murdering Elliott, but accepts he is guilty of her manslaughter. It was a real scream when you know that it’s really happened.

“[It was] blood-curdling.. It was just . unsettling,” Jones said..”

It then said: “Inft can’t get in,” and noted the caller, Lesley Elliott, said she heard a “thumping” noise.

Jones’ computer entry about the telephone call stated: “Daughter attacked by partner. Female screaming .

Jones recorded: “Door opened. ..’

‘Killed her. ‘He’s killed her.’”

After the call was terminated, Jones said she took a break.’ ‘Blood everywhere.”

Sophie Elliott’s university supervisor Robert Alexander, is now giving evidence.

“I was quite pale and shaking so they told me to take the rest of the day.

“There was a lot of abuse.

“There was a lot of abuse. There were a lot of put-downs in the relationship,” Alexander said.

He described seeing Elliott the day before she was killed.

She had come to thank him and farewell him before she moved to Wellington to start a job at the Treasury later in the week. Elliott had ended up talking to him about Weatherston for almost two hours.

“She said to me, well, you don’t want to know about the other stuff, do you?” Alexander said.

Elliott talked about rumours being spread about her by Weatherston at the Treasury, in Wellington.

“She was aware that he was telling people that she was crazy,” Alexander said.

Cross-examination of Alexander by defence counsel Greg King is now under way.

MOTHER GIVES EVIDENCE

Earlier the court heard how Sophie Elliott “lost it” and “went at” her former boyfriend two days before he allegedly murdered her.

Sophie Elliott’s mother Lesley was giving evidence at the Christchurch High Court earlier today.

Lesley Elliott said her daughter was very upset about how she had become aggressive towards Weatherston in his Otago University office on January 7 last year.

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Teens accused of resulting in $30,000 damage

– Monday, 23 February 2009

Five teenagers have been arrested in connection with an early morning rampage in which at least over $30,000 worth of damage was done to parked vehicles in Auckland. . It is also alleged they set fire to council wheelie-bins.Police allege the youths were travelling in a white station wagon and randomly throwing rocks and bottles through car windows.Police said they thought more damage might have been done but had gone unreported.On the same night a rock was also thrown through a bedroom window in which a mother and her child were sleeping.Police said Newmarket, Remuera, Orakei, Mission Bay, Kohimarama, St Heliers, Glendowie, Glen Innes, Pakuranga and Half Moon Bay were the areas affected. They urged anyone who believed their property might have been damaged on that night to contact them.

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‘Traumatic’ death sparks hunt for missing partner

and JO MCKENZIE MCLEAN – Tuesday, 17 February 2009

Homicide inquiry: Police investigate the scene in Waiau where Jo-Anne Thompson was found dead yesterday.

A North Canterbury man is being hunted by police after the "traumatic" death of his partner, discovered after her young sons were seen wandering outside the family's run-down Waiau house.
A neighbour found the couple's sons, aged four and six, outside the house about 8am yesterday.
Police earlier today will remove the body of Jo-Anne Thompson from her Parnassus Street home.
Police were unable to say how the woman died but an officer described Thompson's death as "traumatic".
Other neighbours were unable to find the boys' mother and called police, who found Thompson's body in the bathroom of the weatherboard house, which remained cordoned yesterday.
Fraser had been kicked out of the home a week ago, a neighbour said.
A homicide inquiry was launched as police searched for the woman's partner, Ross Simon Fraser, 43.
"She looked after her kids they were her number one priority.
Thompson's neighbour, Nigal Stratford, described the 46-year-old mother as a "real nice lady" whose life revolved around her children. She was such a nice person she had no enemies. Everyone is just gutted. I don't know anyone who actually liked him. But he was the opposite."
The pair had been in an "on-again, off-again" relationship, he said. He was a scum-bag, basically."
Last week, Stratford had asked Thompson about the relationship and questioned what she was doing with Fraser.
"The last I had seen she had kicked him out about a week ago and he had gone."
The news of the death had shocked the small community of 254, he said.
"She didn't really say anything.
Fraser, a shearer, has two older children with a former partner.
The children spent the day with a neighbour and were taken in by extended family last night.
She was also looking forward to the younger boy starting school this year.
Waiau School principal Mary Kimber said the six-year-old boy was "delightful and lovely".
"The teachers are very upset.
"The teachers are very upset. They know how much Jo was looking forward to being a parent-teacher helper when (the younger child) started school."
Waiau residents said Fraser's behaviour had become increasingly erratic over the years.
Ram's Head Cafe and Bar owner Lindsay Clemens said Fraser bought one bottle of beer from his bar on Sunday.
"He's an unusual fella to say the least," he said. "I thought he was a bit of a clown. I allowed him four bottles on a visit.
"I'd say, `one and you're tolerable, two and you're annoying people, three and you're really p…… people off, four and someone's going to punch you and it might be me'.
"He just had a different disposition than everybody else. He got a high off upsetting people."
Fellow shearer Alistair Parkes said Fraser had some "pretty way-out ideas" and would often go for a week without washing.
Fraser, described by police as an itinerant shearer, had been working on and off for one Waiau family for about seven years.
His employers, who did not want to be named, said they were "blown away" by the news.
"We knew Jo as well and as far as we were concerned they were both good people.
"We just can't understand what's happened here.
"He'd help anybody and take the shirt off his back if he had one to give and she'd stay home and look after the kids. They meant the world to her."
The employers agreed Fraser had lost his "zip" recently.
They said Fraser had not worked over the weekend and they were unable to contact him on Sunday night to inform him he was expected yesterday morning. . They left his house without checking inside, saying it was not unusual for some farm workers to skip Monday after a "big weekend".
Police described Fraser as 170cm tall, of thin build, with shoulder-length scruffy hair.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts should contact Detective Sergeant Rex Barnett or Detective Tanya Drake, of the Rangiora police on (03) 313 6167.

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Boy in blue bears weight of funeral

in Auckland – Saturday, 31 January 2009

/The
BURDEN: A young constable bore the weight of both the police force and the Tongan community yesterday as he carried his cousin’s coffin.

A young constable bore the weight of both the police force and the Tongan community yesterday as he carried his cousin's coffin from a makeshift chapel in the backyard of his extended family's South Auckland home.
Naitoko was farewelled at a moving ceremony attended by more than 1000 mourners.
Police accidentally killed his cousin, 17-year-old Halatau Naitoko, during a shootout on Auckland's Northwestern Motorway on January 23. She later sobbed uncontrollably.
His heavily pregnant mother, Ivoni Fuimaono, wailed with grief as she lent over her dead son's coffin, kissed his forehead and stroked his hair. "His [Naitoko's] mother requested it," he said.
Asked to act as a pallbearer, Naitoko's cousin, Constable Joseph Ahotalafolau, 19, donned his dress blues for the occasion.
Standing beside the unfilled grave, relatives spotted a forbidden plastic flower on top of the coffin and called on the long arm of the law to retrieve it.
Although Ahotalafolau had permission from his bosses to wear his uniform, they were unaware of the special role he would play at the service or at the burial.
Ahotalafolau said few of his police colleagues had talked to him about his cousin's shooting.
Holding on to his feet, they lowered the young constable into the grave so he could reach the offending bloom."
But his uniformed presence at the service symbolised just how far Naitoko's family had come in forgiving the police for his death.
"It's been a bit hard.
Pastor Vosailangi Sikalu speaking through an interpreter told the gathering the blood of an innocent boy had been spilled.
Forgiveness was also the theme of the service attended by Police Minister Judith Collins, Commissioner Howard Broad and other central and local government figures. "Let that be the message to the Government officials and dignitaries, the minister of police, the police commissioner, even to the beloved policeman who fired the fatal shot.
"That blood is crying out for forgiveness," he said. "All he wanted to do was fulfil his obligation to his family," she said."
His aunt, Paea Sime, said Naitoko was a good and loyal son who worked hard to help his mother, and feed his younger siblings, even to buy nappies for his sister's baby."

. "He was killed in the line of his duty

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Proof needed to secure certificates

Thursday, 15 January 2009

Law changes designed to curb identity theft will come into effect this month.
From January 25, anyone ordering a birth, death, marriage, civil union or name-change certificate must offer proof of identity to obtain the document, unless the paper is a historical one.
The bill had a troubled passage through Parliament, and the previous Labour-led government took more than a year to secure enough support to pass the legislation. .
What had initially seemed a non-contentious proposal aimed at preventing criminals from obtaining the personal documents of someone else and using them for nefarious purposes was challenged by genealogists, historians and media concerned about the denial of access to previously public documents.
Older documents freely available without proof of identity include birth certificates from a 100 years or more ago, death certificates of stillbirths 50 years ago or more, marriage certificates dating from before 1929, and death certificates from before 1959.
When applying for a recent document, people need to sign a statement that proves their identity, and have the statement signed by a person such as a justice of the peace, doctor or teacher.
"While maintaining public access to the registers, these new requirements also provide better safeguards for people's personal information," Registrar-General Brian Clarke said.

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Violence of slaying shocks detective

– Wednesday, 24 December 2008

The beating that killed Christchurch prostitute Mellory Manning has shocked the detective in charge of the murder inquiry.
Ngatai Lynette Manning, 27, also known as Mellory, was found dead in the Avon River last Friday morning.
"Even with 29 years in the police, I was shocked at the level of violence that Mellory has been subjected to," he said.
Detective Inspector Greg Williams said she was strangled, stabbed in the chest several times and beaten about the head and legs with what appeared to be a piece of reinforcing steel.
"It is likely that Mellory was strangled, and this would have most likely rendered her unconscious," he said.
There were signs Manning had fought back, Williams said. It would be expected that there would have been significant blood loss at the time of this injury.
"Close to this occuring, she has sustained a number of significant blows to her head, resulting in severe head injuries."
Police had not ruled out the possibility of more than one attacker, Williams said.
"From these wounds and marks on her legs, it is believed that the weapon used is similar to a piece of reinforcing steel. A knife had been found in the river 150m upstream, but it was not known if it was involved in the attack.
Pathologists had indicated the weapon used to stab Manning was at least 16cm long and 2cm wide.
Police wanted to speak to their occupants, he said.
Williams said two vehicles seen in the Dallington Terrace area a four-wheel-drive and a white saloon were not the cars Manning was picked up in.
Neighbours said the house was often visited by police.
Manning lived in Upper Riccarton with her 41-year-old partner and his sister. In 2005, he lost an eye after being stabbed.
Manning's partner was jailed in 2006 for resulting in a trial to be aborted after he approached a juror.
Williams said people were ruled out only if they had alibis, and police were focusing on Manning's "last punter". The sister had more than 100 convictions for document fraud.
"We are concentrating on the vehicle that Mellory got into around 10.
The last vehicle she entered on Thursday night was still the focus of the investigation, he said. .30pm," he said. It had stopped at 10. It had stopped at 10.59.
"While we cannot be sure that this was the exact time Mellory went in the water at this stage, it gives us a time to work around," Williams said.
"I stress to the public that if they have any information about activities they may have seen between 10.30pm on Thursday and 6.55am on Friday, when Mellory's body was found, then they should contact us immediately."
Police set up a caravan close to the corner of Manchester and Gloucester streets last night and handed out flyers to passers-by.
Senior Constable Mike Withers said police had photographs of Manning, her jacket, boots and handbag set up on the footpath, which might help trigger people's memories.

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Mourners’ car antics disgusting say police

Saturday, 20 December 2008

The funeral for young man killed in a high-speed car crash erupted into mayhem as a convoy of boy racers tore up the roads, say police, who donned riot gear to disperse mourners.
Close to 100 cars turned out in convoy as friends and family took Brendon-Lee Roy Mehlhopt, 20, on his final road journey through Carterton on Thursday.
Mr Mehlhopt and Kyle Gregor died in a high-speed crash on December 11 near the Stokes Valley roundabout on Eastern Hutt Rd. But Mr Mehlhopt's family say no one was at risk and police were heavy-handed.
What unfolded after the funeral was an afternoon and night of bedlam on the streets, which police say was unnecessary.
"What they did was disgusting.
Acting Sergeant Ray Matthews said cars in the funeral convoy converged in Somerset Rd, Carterton, about 3pm, with many doing burnouts. They showed no respect for the residents who live down that road or their property by doing a bunch of burnouts and tearing up the road," he said."
The group quickly dispersed once police arrived, but trouble began again just after 10pm when police had more calls from George St residents concerned about the party.
"Their friend had just died in a crash and here they were putting themselves and others at risk with this idiotic tribute. Reinforcements were called and police returned in riot gear, Mr Matthews said.
Police arrived to be met by a fighting throng of more than 50, and had to retreat when they were pelted by beer bottles. We were trying hard to show restraint, given the circumstances.
"We were clearly outnumbered but fortunately there were a few in the mob who calmed things down before it erupted further."
Infringement notices were issued for traffic offences, but there were no arrests."
Infringement notices were issued for traffic offences, but there were no arrests.
"They weren't on the main road or endangering anyone. "These kids are all good kids and all they were doing were a few burnouts."
The post-funeral party did not turn into a street fight, she said. They did it for Brendon and I thought it was bloody neat. A few problems maybe, but it is the police who over-reacted. "There was no riot or drama. We did no harm to anyone.
"The day was about Brendon, giving him one last lap around town and partying in the way he would have wanted."

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Collosal squid attracts monster fan club

– Sunday, 14 December 2008

A giant squid yesterday pulled in more than twice the usual number of Saturday visitors to Te Papa. Up to 6500 people queued for the first opportunity to see the world's only displayed colossal squid.
The squid, the largest of the museum's three specimens of the world's largest invertebrate, proved a gigantic hit.
About 100 people sprinted to the 495kg creature's 6m tank inside Wellington's museum when the doors opened at 10am.
"It makes me hate the sea," said Lena Riki, 20, of Upper Hutt, who took her children, three-year-old Iranui and 12-month-old Arapeta to the exhibition.
"It's huge," said a wide-eyed Inzimam Ali, seven, of Johnsonville, who pestered his parents for a week to visit the exhibition after seeing a billboard about it. It was clinging to a toothfish longline in Antarctica's Ross Sea .
Although the colossal squid is the showpiece, the exhibition also includes a short 3-D animation film, computer interactives, specimen and model displays and an audiovisual telling the squid's remarkable journey since being captured by the fishing boat the San Aspiring on February 23, 2007.
Te Papa staff said they knew the squid exhibit which runs until 2011 would be popular, but they were stunned by the huge turnout.
Lectures on the squid are also running over the weekend. . "Seeing queues like this is rare and it's a gorgeous day outside it just shows you how keen people are," project manager Lucy Ryan said.
A blogsite on Te Papa's dedicated website, www. When scientists thawed it in April, the BBC reported it was the most globally viewed internet story for the week.tepapa.squid.nz, had attracted interest around the world.govt.

. An 85-year-old couple from America wrote they were keeping a close eye on the project