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Restorative justice benefits trust The Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust is to be paid $80,000 by Interflow (NZ) Limited as the result of a district court sentencing decision involving a restorative justice process – an outcome that Environment Canterbury director of resource management Kim Drummond says is a significant gain for restorative justice. In her sentencing notes, Judge J. E. Borthwick said Interflow had shown remorse firstly in pleading guilty and in requesting and participating in a Restorative Justice Conference. At the Conference, Interflow offered to pay $80,000 to the trust to enhance and restore the stream. The restoration work will follow a habitat restoration plan recommended by an ecologist. The $80,000 will be used to provide a spawning habit for whitebait/inanga and better cover for fish in the Walnut Stream and two branches of the Grehan Stream. “Importantly, the restoration of the stream is not the
The culverts over Walnut Stream in Akaroa township. PHOTO SUPPLIED
remediation of the harm done, rather it is for the betterment and improvement of the instream habitat that has become degraded following European settlement at Akaroa,” Judge Borthwick said. “The defendant (Interflow) has undertaken significant work in preparing a habitat restoration management plan,” she said, adding that the trust had undertaken to administer the donation in accordance with the management plan.
“I am satisfied that the outcomes of the restorative justice conference are likely to occur,” she said. “On that basis I convict and otherwise discharge the defendant.” Mr Drummond said that the judge’s decision was significant. “The positive outcome of the restorative justice process can be attributed to the positive attitude that Interflow took, once they had realised they had made a mistake,
and the company is to be commended,” he said. “Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust should be congratulated for stepping up and agreeing to oversee this work. We now have a highly engaged community and the chance to offset the damage done through long-term ecological improvements.”
Summary of case:
Interflow (NZ) Limited was convicted and discharged of
discharging chemical-laden water into Walnut Stream, underneath Rue Noyer, Akaroa. After carrying out repair work on the culvert, grout had escaped into the stream and water was allowed to flow over a still-wet coating of waterproof paint, contaminating the stream and killing 142 fish directly downstream (mostly eels, bullies and inanga/whitebait). The remaining live fish were observed to be in a distressed state. Additionally, algal and invertebrate food communities were smothered. The stream is valued by local families who feed and pet the eels. The stream is also valued by Onuku Rununga who, at the restorative justice conference, expressed their sadness at the harm done and the impact on the mauri and the people of the land. Interflow subsequently met with members of the rununga and apologised for the discharge. The judge’s sentencing notes said there had been no long-term effect on water quality.
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