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ASHBURTON GUARDIAN, Wednesday, February 20, 2013
ANNOUNCEMENTS DEATHS
AMAI, Barbara – Dearly loved wife of the late Nick, mother and mother-inlaw of Terry and Sue and loved nana of Cameron, Nathan and Brylee. RIP Now you are no longer in pain. Passed away in Christchurch Hospital on February 12, 2013. BENNETT, Trevor John – On February 18, 2013. Passed away peacefully at Ashburton Hospital. Aged 82. Dearly loved husband of the late Heather. Much loved father and father in law of Vicky and Dale Blizzard (Tasmania), Robert and Marie, Colin, and Steve, and loved grandfather of Allana, Glenn, Finley, Ricky, Sara-Lee, and Holly. Messages to the Bennett Family, C/- P O Box 109, Ashburton 7740. A service for Trevor will be held at Our Chapel, Cnr East and Cox Streets, Ashburton on FRIDAY, February 22, commencing at 1.30pm. Followed by private cremation. Paterson’s Funeral Services FDANZ Ashburton McCORMICK, Jessica – 25 years young on February 18 at Wanganui Hospital. Precious granddaughter of the late Roy and Ethel McCormick and special niece of Ray and Pam, Allan and Dianne, Murray and Lynette Perkins, Robin and Gail Simms, Mark and Pam May, and all her cousins. 'Now at peace.' Dempsey & Forrest 208 Guyton Street, Wanganui www.dempseyandforrest.co.nz
McCORMICK, Jessica – Most precious, divine, perfect niece and cousin of June and Mike Steenson; Sharon, Brian, Sean and Liam McCormack; Mel, Flash, Molly and Lachie McKenna. Winging her way to the pearly gates of heaven to be held in the arms of her late grandparents, Jack and Joan Robinson. The “Big Guy” upstairs will be delighted to have a new STAR striker and goal scorer extraordinaire on his football team!!!Play hard Jess, leave nothing in the tank and best of all, enjoy the after match!!! Forever loved. xoxoxo Please note all late death notices or notices sent outside ordinary office hours must be emailed to: deathnotices@theguardian.co.nz
to ensure publication. During office hours notices may also be sent to: classifieds@theguardian.co.nz
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Drink-drive charge dismissed The luck of the Irish was smiling on a Methven mechanic, when his drink driving charge was dismissed in the Ashburton District Court yesterday. Thomas Concannon contested driving with an excess breath alcohol level of 677 milligrams of alcohol per litre of breath at a fixtures hearing, in front of Judge Joanne Maze. Concannon, an Irish national, claimed he had briefly returned to his vehicle to collect his wallet; Methven police constable Aaron Tapp’s evidence pointed at Concannon driving the vehicle moments before he apprehended him. Giving evidence, Mr Tapp said he
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had observed a vehicle leaving the Brown Pub car park and turning onto Mckerrow Street about 2.20am on September 9. He said the same Ford Falcon stopped at the intersection of Mckerrow and Main Street, and he observed a single occupant in the driver’s seat. That driver pulled out behind Mr Tapp and followed him along Main Street for about a kilometre, before pulling into a lay-by. Mr Tapp performed a U-turn and saw the driver get out the driver’s door and walk across the lay-by. He said the weather was fine, the area was well lit and there were no other vehicles in the vicinity.
When spoken to Concannon identified himself and agreed to a passive breath test, which was positive. He then agreed to accompany Mr Tapp to the Methven Police Station, where an evidential test confirmed the EBA level. In the witness box, Concannon said he had worked the previous morning, and had spent the afternoon at the Brown Pub, leaving his car parked in the nearby lay-by. Later he walked home, but returned to meet friends at the pub about 9pm. By his own confession, he drank too much. Sometime after 2am, he ran out of money, so went back to
his car to get his wallet – and that’s when he met Mr Tapp. Concannon said he was “frozen” and complied with Mr Tapp’s requests out of respect and a fearfulness of police. Concannon’s lawyer, Michelle Barrell, put it to Mr Tapp that he didn’t see the vehicle leaving the carpark; that Concannon’s vehicle had been parked in the lay-by for hours and that it was a different vehicle which followed him up Main Street. Judge Maze pointed to the differing accounts between the evidence of Mr Tapp and the defendant, however she said it was reasonably possible that there were two dark coloured
Ford vehicles in the vicinity and that one had been parked in the lay-by, and the other had been driven out of the pub carpark onto Mckerrow Street, then down Main Street. “The police have to prove that he (Concannon) is a liar, and has given evidence under oath which he knows to be untrue,” Judge Maze said. “It is reasonably possible that he is being truthful, and reasonably possible the police officer observed the vehicle behind him intermittedly. “It is not necessarily what happened, but it is reasonably possible the officer made a mistake, therefore the case is not proved beyond reasonable doubt, and is dismissed.”
Motorcyclist had to lie on power wires for an hour
Teachers support Christchurch colleagues
A motorcyclist lay on downed power lines for about an hour after crashing on the Haast Pass yesterday. The 56-year-old Christchurch man was travelling on State Highway 6 from Haast to Wanaka with his brother, who was on another motorbike, when he lost control and skidded off the road about 5km south of Makarora, shortly after 10am. The man came off his motorbike after it crashed into a deer fence pole. The motorbike then hit a power pole, knocking it over and breaking it into several pieces, while its rider landed in a ditch beside the road lying across the downed power lines. Emergency workers at the scene could not move him until a crew from electricity company Delta arrived about an hour later and tested the cables to ensure they were not live. “We just didn’t want to put that person or anyone else at risk [of electrocution],” Senior Constable Mike Johnston, of Wanaka police said. The man was airlifted to Dunedin Hospital. However, other than suspected broken wrists and ribs, the man was “remarkably unscathed”, Mr Johnston said. “He should go and buy a year’s worth of Lotto tickets because he’s a very very lucky boy.” It appeared the man had lost concentration Mr Johnston said. “We don’t think it was a speed issue.” Fire crews from Makarora and Lake Hawea attended the accident, along with Haast and Wanaka police and Wanaka St John paramedics. The accident cut off power to the Makarora area for several hours while the damaged power pole was replaced. -APNZ
By Myles Hume The devastating news delivered to 19 Christchurch schools was the main talking point around Tinwald School’s staff room yesterday. In support of their colleagues, the school’s teachers and support staff dressed in red and black, as the news of seven closures and 12 mergers cut close to the bone. “I just finished training and a lot of the schools I did placement at are affected,” the school’s newest teacher Louise Schollum said. She said many of her close friends she trained with had made the move to affected schools and felt for those who would now have to look for new jobs. Fellow teacher Monica Genet sympathised with families and communities. “Schools are at the centre of communities and we know children who have to change schools are disadvantaged,” she said. The school’s red-and-black day was meant to coincide with a planned strike in Christchurch, however the teacher’s union abandoned it and held a more low-profile march yesterday afternoon. Teacher aide Christine Osborne was dressed from head to toe in red-and-black. She was gutted to see the seven schools listed for closures on the staff room whiteboard, but she believed the children would adapt. The affected schools have until March 28 to put forward any further information to try change their fate. Final decisions will be made in May.
Photo Tetsuro Mitomo 190213-TM-008
LEFT: Tinwald School staff (from left) Pip Gordon, Carolyn Hollings, Claire Tomkinson, Catherine Lambie, principal Peter Livingstone, Christine Osborne and Gillian Greenslade, dressed in red and black to show their support for Christchurch schools yesterday.
Teen on run 3 months Second reading for Mondayise bill By Edward Gay
PREBBLE - SWIFT – Daryl and Debbie are thrilled to announce to their family and friends that they are now engaged.
NEWS
A communication breakdown between police and Child Youth and Family meant a teen was on the run for three months before crashing and dying in a stolen car. Isaiah Elu Paora Nathan, 13, had been removed from his family and placed in foster care near Kaitaia in Northland but ran away in September 2010. Sergeant Alison Holdaway from Kaitaia police told the Coroner’s inquest at Auckland that she issued a missing persons report and followed it up with a message on a Child Youth and Family (CYF) social worker’s phone. Asked if she did anything else, Ms Holdaway said: “Unfortunately, I didn’t do anything”. Police suspected Isaiah was returning to his family in Auckland where there had been complaints of domestic violence and neglect but Ms Holdaway said she did not believe the case was “serious”. Auckland-based Sergeant Marko Radojkovich said he had no record of communications from CYF on file. Neither was there a record of Manukau police being notified by Northland police that the teenager could be in their area. “We deal with hundreds of young people. If we thought he was in our area, we would have made enquiries.” Sergeant Radojkovich said Isaiah’s case is one of many. Last year 54 children had run away while in CYF care. Police had 384 missing persons files for those 54 children, meaning some were likely to have run away up to 30 times. Isaiah’s social worker - who was given interim name suppression told the court that he phoned family members to try to find the missing teenager and suspected family members were hiding him. He was asked what formal contact he had with police.
“I didn’t have contact with police.” He said there are no records of informal chats with police officers but “it is possible we talked about it”. He was asked by counsel assisting the coroner, Lily Nunweek, who was responsible for finding Isaiah. “I would like to say we work together but it is very much the police responsibility. I guess we would have to work together.” A second social worker, also given interim name suppression, said he also could not recall “specific interactions” with police but said there were informal talks that were not recorded on the organisation’s records. At one point he was called to a family meeting and tried to get Isaiah to turn himself in but instead the teenager ran off. The social worker said that information was not passed to police. “We did not have a discussion with formal plans.” He said if he had specific information about where Isaiah was it would have been passed to police. The social worker was asked what could be done to improve communication with police. “I think we just need to ensure we are ticking some of the formal boxes rather than making assumptions about what the other one knows.” Isaiah was found dead about a month after the family meeting. Police found his body in the driver’s seat of a stolen Subaru Legacy. He had been doing up to 107km/h in a 50km/h zone and failed to take a corner. The car went through a fence and two of the posts shattered the windscreen. Four other teenagers aged between 12 and 15 were in the car. They ran from the scene and were later tracked down by police. Sergeant Sascha Huff said toxicology reports showed traces of THC in Isaiah’s bloodstream. There was also a trace of alcohol in his bloodstream. -APNZ
A bill to ‘Mondayise’ public holidays is set to pass its crucial second reading in Parliament today. Labour MP David Clark’s private member’s bill would mean New Zealanders get a Monday off when Waitangi Day and Anzac Day fall on a weekend.
The bill looks to have enough support to get past tomorrow’s vote and, if so, would likely become law after political rubberstamping. It is expected that only the 59 National MPs and Act representative John Banks will oppose it. Anzac Day next falls on a Saturday in 2015, and Waitangi Day in 2016.
It is not until 2021 that both fall on a weekend in the same year. The Government previously rejected the bill, with Justice Minister Judith Collins saying Anzac Day is for remembering the dead: “To reduce it into a three-day weekend is, I think, very disrespectful.” -APNZ
Dally parole ‘a long way off’ The killer of Lower Hutt schoolgirl Karla Cardno is still “a long way off being eligible for release”, the Parole Board says. Paul Joseph Dally, 52, who has spent almost 24 years in jail for the 1989 murder of the 13-year-old, was denied parole last week. The board released its full decision yesterday. It said Dally was still a long way off being eligible for parole and it was “out of the question” at present. “Mr Dally remains a high risk offender and poses an undue risk to the safety of the community. Parole is declined and he will be seen again with-
CRUMB
in the statutory cycle.” The board referred to a previous decision which described Dally as having a “potentially sinister combination of psychopathy and possible sadistic sexual practices”. “Mr Dally must receive assessment and treatment in the form of the TePiriti Child Sex Offenders Program.” Dally claimed to be “motivated” to attend and complete the programme. “Time will tell whether such motivation is genuine,” the decision said. Karla’s stepfather, Mark Middleton, said last week it was a “farce” that Dally was entitled to parole applications
year after year. “All of the hundreds of thousands of decent Kiwi people out there ... I haven’t come across anybody who wants [Dally] in their neighbourhood. The man’s too dangerous,” he told RadioLive. Dally was sentenced to life in prison in 1990 after snatching Karla from her bike as she rode home from the local shops, dragged her to his house and repeatedly raped and tortured her for 22 hours. He later put her naked, bound and gagged in the boot of his car and buried her alive in a shallow grave at Pencarrow Head. - APNZ by David Fletcher
111 diary Incidents attended to by the Ashburton Police and Mid Canterbury volunteer fire brigades recently. Check out guardianonline.co.nz, for up-to-the-minute updates on every fire callout in the district during the week.
• The Ashburton Volunteer Fire Brigade was called to a tractor fire on Beach Road, in Ashburton, yesterday. The fire crews arrived at the scene and promptly put the flames out, before returning to the station where they were called out just 30 minutes later. • The crew headed to Shepherds Bush Road, in Mayfield, to assist the Mayfield Volunteer Fire Brigade with burning trees in a private paddock. The fire was quickly contained. • Ashburton mother Megan Christie phoned the Guardian to inform us her seven-yearold daughter’s highland dancing sword had been returned. “We don’t know how or why, but it’s back and my little girl is delighted,” Mrs Christie said. The sword was returned early yesterday.
• Crash victim dies A teenager involved in a three-car crash in Waikato last week died in hospital overnight Monday. Four people were injured when the cars collided on State Highway 23 near Whatawhata just before 10pm last Thursday. Police said a 17-year-old woman who was in one of the cars died in an Auckland hospital overnight. - APNZ
• Gisborne quake A strong earthquake struck east of Gisborne early yesterday morning. The magnitude 4.9 quake occurred 60km from the city at 1.23am, GeoNet said. It was about 9km deep. - APNZ
• Hitch-hiker attacked Police are looking for an elderly man after a hitchhiker was sexually assaulted near Nelson. The 21-year-old woman was hitch-hiking from Richmond to Nelson about 10am on Friday when she was picked up by a man in his 70s. Instead of dropping the woman near the hospital she alleges he sexually assaulted her. The woman escaped when the man got out of the car. - APNZ
• Man found A man who has been missing for almost a month has been found on the West Coast. Reginald Anthony Pitout, 26, had been missing from his home in Richmond, Christchurch, since January 24. -APNZ
• Home invasion Shots were fired during a home invasion at a North Shore house on Monday night. The occupants were left “extremely shaken” but unhurt in the incident at a property in Glenfield about 11pm, police said. At least two people arrived at the address, sparking an altercation with the occupants. Shots were then fired inside the house. The offenders then left in at least two vehicles. -APNZ
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