/news/crime/rss 九一星空无限 Keep up with the latest in local police, courts, and crime news across New Zealand with 九一星空无限talk ZB. Wed, 03 Dec 2025 02:44:39 Z en /news/crime/teenager-17-charged-with-murder-after-kyle-whorrall-killing/ /news/crime/teenager-17-charged-with-murder-after-kyle-whorrall-killing/ A 17-year-old man has been charged with murder over the death of Kyle Whorrall in Auckland. Whorrall, a 33-year-old American national, was killed in an attack in St Johns during Easter Weekend while he was waiting at a bus stop. Auckland City CIB Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin said the investigation team renewed its focus in September. “I can confirm a 17-year-old Glen Innes male has been charged with murder and aggravated robbery,” he said. The 17-year-old is the second teenager to be charged with murder in the case and will appear in the Auckland Youth Court tomorrow. “We have advised Kyle’s family in California of this significant development, and we continue to remain in contact with them as our investigation progresses,” Baldwin said. The homicide investigation continues. “Our focus will not waver in this case as we continue to ensure those who are responsible for Kyle’s death, face justice,” he said. “Whilst this is a significant development, it is not over.” Police encourage anyone with information to contact police online or call 105 using the reference number 250419/9858, or Operation Aberfeldy. Information can also be reported anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111. Two people were arrested by the Operation Aberfeldy investigation team in late April; however, police have maintained others were in the car on the night Whorrall was fatally attacked. Wed, 03 Dec 2025 02:11:01 Z /news/crime/former-covid-response-lead-alister-thorby-stole-18-million-from-dhbs/ /news/crime/former-covid-response-lead-alister-thorby-stole-18-million-from-dhbs/ The day after his contract with two district health boards ended, Alister Thorby tried to board a plane to Brisbane with several friends.  However, police stopped him as he was under suspicion for stealing more than a million dollars from his employers.  Thorby claimed the holiday he was trying to embark on was with DHB staff and was funded by backpay and a gambling windfall.  But that wasn’t true. Thorby had paid for the flights with a portion of $1.8 million he stole from his employers over five months while in charge of the DHBs’ response to the Covid pandemic in the Lower North Island.  As well as a holiday, he’d spent the money on a property in Foxton and multiple vehicles.  Now, three years later, Thorby has admitted he took the money from two DHBs.  Today, at the Palmerston North District Court, Thorby was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison and ordered to pay back the $1.8m he stole.  According to the summary of facts, Thorby was initially facing 12 charges of obtaining by deception for a total of $1.4m, which he pleaded not guilty to, but has since admitted obtaining more than $1.8m.  Thorby worked for the Capital and Coast DHB and the Hutt Valley DHB as the Covid managed isolation and community quarantine service lead for a fixed term period between October 11, 2021, and June 30, 2022.  As part of this role, he submitted invoices for staffing at MIQ facilities as well as security and cleaning services in central Wellington and in Paraparaumu on the Kāpiti Coast.  Thorby, who was 25 years old at the time of the offending, invoiced the two DHBs 17 times over a period of five months in 2022 from three different companies: Moutoa Māori Wardens, Te Awahou Cleaning & Co and Horowhenua Motorhome Rental.  The latter two businesses didn’t actually exist.  Alister Thorby appeared for sentencing at the Palmerston North District Court this afternoon. Photo / Jeremy Wilkinson  The work he claimed involved security services and logistical support at various isolation facilities, including the Paraparaumu Motel, the Quest Lambton Hotel and the Terrace Villas.  None of the companies actually did any of the work Thorby claimed they did in his invoices.  The largest of those invoices was for $305,000 for security work at an unspecified location, another for $301,000 – also at an unknown location – was for 24-hour security.  In total, Thorby obtained $1,882,400 for his own benefit from the two DHBs and used some of the funds to buy a house in Foxton, multiple vehicles and to book international travel, such as the holiday he was heading to in Brisbane when he was arrested in 2022.  A fall from grace  Judge Bruce Northwood said Thorby had, during the chaos of the pandemic, drawn upon his connections as a community leader and found himself between Government and the community.  “In your case, you offended intensely over a short period,” he said.  “This was a time of vulnerability; the Government was trusting people with Government funds.”  Judge Northwood said Thorby came up with a plan to exploit that trust and the urgency with which the Government was putting money into the community.  “What you did had elements of sophistication. It required a scheme to be pulled together at short notice.”  Thorby told his probation officer some of the funds he stole were used to buy resources for the Moutoa Māori Wardens, but Judge Northwood said there was no evidence that was true.  A number of references were provided in Thorby’s support, including a request for Judge Northwood from an archbishop to show leniency and simply “smack his hand” and not limit his potential.  Thorby’s lawyer, Ron Mansfield, KC, said it was a sad day for his client.  “He’s a young man who has great promise in contributing to the community.  “The opportunity was presented to him, and he sought to exploit that opportunity.  “It’s a significant fall from grace for a young man who was seen and treated as a leader in the community.”  Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū, covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for 九一星空无限 since 2022.   Tue, 02 Dec 2025 03:22:09 Z /news/crime/gurjit-singh-murder-trial-in-dunedin-crown-outlines-claims-of-targeted-killing/ /news/crime/gurjit-singh-murder-trial-in-dunedin-crown-outlines-claims-of-targeted-killing/ The killing of Gurjit Singh was a targeted, premeditated attack fuelled by rejection and personal resentment, the Crown has alleged.  At the close of 12 days of evidence, Crown prosecutor Richard Smith told the jury at the High Court in Dunedin that the 35-year-old accused Rajinder had orchestrated an unmistakable chain of events leading to Singh’s brutal death.  Defence counsel Anne Stevens KC, meanwhile, told the jury the Crown’s case was “circumstantial”, noting they had “no confession from a murderer, and no witness who saw Gurjit Singh murdered, and no reason why he would be murdered”.  Stevens suggested to the jury that alternative possibilities existed - namely, an alternative person murdered Singh.  On January 26 last year, Singh was found outside his Pine Hill home in Dunedin, surrounded by blood and broken glass, with 46 stab or slash wounds.  He had also been partially decapitated.  Smith told the jury the incident was not a “burglary or a theft gone wrong” but “a targeted attack”.  He said that the night of the killing, Singh’s house would have appeared vacant and that there was “no sign of forced entry into the house” and “valuable items [were] left untouched; drones, drone parts, the TV, laptop, even cash”.  He said the only reasonable conclusion was that “whoever did this deliberately attacked Gurjit”.  The Crown alleges Singh returned home from a pizza party with friends shortly before the confrontation began.  Smith said the attack started in the dining room, where droplets, smears and cast-off blood indicated early knife injuries.  “Whoever inflicted these injuries was determined and persistent,” he said.  “You can see from the scene itself that this wasn’t a momentary outburst.”  Blood patterns traced Singh’s movement from the dining room into the lounge, through the sunroom, and outside to a decking area.  “Gurjit Singh was putting up a fight,” Smith said.  He then made it down the stairs of the decking area, where “finally, the fatal injuries occur to him”.  Smith reminded the jury of “sawing marks on the cervical spine” consistent with an attempted decapitation.  The violence, he said, reflected “not panic, not confusion, but persistence”.  Smith told the jury that while the Crown was not required to prove motive, Smith offered a theory of resentment and personal grievance.  Rajinder, he said, had previously been presented as a possible match for the woman Singh eventually married.  However, he was rejected by the woman, and later learned of her marriage to Singh.  Later, a proposal by Rajinder to marry Singh’s sister was also rejected by Singh.  A police cordon in place outside the home of Gurjit Singh in the days following the killing. Photo / Ben Tomsett  At the time of the killing, Singh was living alone and preparing for his wife’s return to New Zealand.  Smith described this as a “window of opportunity”.  Smith told the jury that the day before the killing, Rajinder visited several retailers, including Bunnings and Torpedo7.  CCTV footage showed him buying gloves and a knife, though in his two-and-a-half-hour police interview, he never mentioned these visits.  “He’s asked a number of times what he was doing Sunday and Monday,” Smith said.  “He never once mentioned that he bought a knife. Or that he went to Torpedo7. Or that he bought a mountain bike. Why? Because it’s harder to replace small, incomplete truths.”  Smith dismissed the defence suggestion that Rajinder wasn’t hiding anything because he used his own bank card and even signed up for a store membership.  “Until the police had him in mind as a suspect, there was no need to hide the purchases,” he said.  According to Smith, Rajinder only became a person of interest when he turned up at the police station with an unexplained hand injury and “lied about when and how it had occurred.”  Rajinder initially told police he cut himself with a chainsaw, Smith said.  A section of Hillary St in Pine Hill was cordoned off as investigators inspected the scene of Gurjit Singh’s death. Photo / Peter Macintosh  Once confronted with timestamps showing he had no injury the day before, his explanation changed to a mountain-bike crash.  “Really?” Smith said.  He said that doctors described the wound as consistent with a sharp blade, not a fall.  “There’s no grazing. No marks you’d expect from hitting the ground.”  Rajinder also failed to mention significant bruising on his abdomen during his police interview, despite being asked twice about other injuries, Smith said.  The mountain bike itself, Smith said, did not support Rajinder’s explanation.  The Crown says Rajinder’s own movements after the attack further implicate him, as blood from both Rajinder and Singh was found in and on his vehicle, including on a seatbelt, a sun visor and a doorframe.  Smith said this aligned with the Crown’s theory that he returned to his van after the attack, placed items inside, and unintentionally smeared blood on the car.  “It’s a story that only makes sense when you see it all together,” Smith told the jury.  Stevens KC challenged the Crown’s evidence, saying each piece of circumstantial evidence was “a thread - combine them all, and according to the Crown, you have a rope. It’s a nice analogy, but what if each piece is flawed? The rope cannot bear the weight the Crown asks you to put on it.”  Stevens specifically questioned the knife alleged to have been purchased by Rajinder from Hunting and Fishing on the day of the killing.  “There is no evidence that this knife was used in the killing,” she said, noting that Rajinder already had knives at home “that would do the job if he was set on murder”.  She argued the purchase of a knife and gloves that day had a simple, innocent explanation: “They are work tools”.  Stevens reminded the jury that alternate explanations exist, including the possibility the murderer was someone else with a grievance, or even a stranger.  The trial continues.  Ben Tomsett is a multimedia journalist based in Dunedin. He joined the Herald in 2023.  Tue, 02 Dec 2025 03:07:54 Z /news/crime/paeroa-employer-fined-for-exploiting-migrant-workers-and-faking-records/ /news/crime/paeroa-employer-fined-for-exploiting-migrant-workers-and-faking-records/ A Paeroa business fabricated rosters and payslips to deceive authorities while it exploited its workers, Immigration NZ says. Dev Trading Limited (DTL), trading as Super Clearance, pleaded guilty to five charges of exploitation of temporary workers and two charges of providing false or misleading information, Immigration NZ said in a statement today. The company’s directors, Chetna Dave and her husband Hitesh Dave, recruited two Indian nationals under the Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme. An investigation revealed they were required to work extremely long hours, in some cases up to 14 hours a day, seven days a week, including on public holidays – all without being paid their lawful entitlements or complying with holiday and leave provisions. One worker was unlawfully subjected to deductions disguised as loan repayments totalling more than $6000. The company was fined $159,250 and also faced court-ordered reparation of $18,684.72 and emotional harm payments of $5000 to each victim, Immigration NZ said. Labour Inspector calculations revealed more than $158,000 of unpaid wages and entitlements, with $140,000 paid to the victims before sentencing. Immigration NZ said DTL went to “considerable lengths to deceive authorities, submitting false records and documentation to INZ, including fabricated rosters and payslips and even completing employment modules on behalf of the workers”. “By doing so, the victims were denied the opportunity to learn about New Zealand law and their employment rights.” National manager investigations, Jason Perry, said this was a good outcome for Immigration NZ and, “most importantly, for the victims”. “They have received significant reparation and emotional harm payments, and this case reinforces that exploitation will not be tolerated in NZ.” “The callous exploitation of vulnerable migrants and the deliberate provision of false information to INZ is not just unethical, it’s criminal. “We will continue to work with our partner agencies to hold those responsible to account,” Perry said. “Maintaining the integrity of our immigration system is critical to protecting both migrants and the wider public.” Anyone with information about immigration fraud or migrant exploitation is encouraged to report it. Contact MBIE on 0800 200 088 or report anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Tue, 02 Dec 2025 02:22:37 Z /news/crime/north-shore-police-chase-man-tries-to-hide-under-child-s-bed-after-stolen-car-stopped/ /news/crime/north-shore-police-chase-man-tries-to-hide-under-child-s-bed-after-stolen-car-stopped/ A man trying to escape from police ditched his firearm on the roof of a shed before attempting to hide under a child’s bed.  The incident began around 1.30am today when officers spotted a vehicle allegedly speeding on the Northern Motorway near Puhoi.  Although no pursuit began, the vehicle was identified as stolen.  The driver continued to speed down the motorway, eventually exiting at Ōrewa and then passing through Silverdale and Albany.  By then, the Police Eagle helicopter had begun tracking the vehicle.  Inspector Nina Pedersen, Waitematā North area prevention manager, said the chase came to an end when the vehicle was spiked on Oteha Valley Rd.  The occupants proceeded to abandon the vehicle on Kallista Place in Browns Bay, with two men fleeing to a property close by.  One of the men surrendered to the police immediately, but the other was seen carrying what appeared to be a firearm.  He hid the weapon on the roof of a shed before scaling fences as he fled through neighbouring properties.  Police set up cordons and called in a dog handler to assist in arresting the man.  He was subsequently found while trying to hide under a child’s bed.  “[The man] has resisted arrest and received a small dog bite, which was treated at the scene,” Pedersen said.  “Police have also located and seized the firearm, which is a great result for the team – taking another firearm out of the community and its potential use for future offending.”  The two men, aged 29 and 37, will appear in the North Shore District Court today to face various charges.  The 29-year-old is charged with unlawfully getting into a vehicle, possession of an offensive weapon, resisting police and unlawfully being in a building, while the 37-year-old faces charges of dangerous driving, unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, possession of methamphetamine, and contravening a protection order.  Tue, 02 Dec 2025 01:51:45 Z /news/crime/man-charged-after-allegedly-swallowing-a-pendant-work-33k-at-an-auckland-jewellers/ /news/crime/man-charged-after-allegedly-swallowing-a-pendant-work-33k-at-an-auckland-jewellers/ By Finn Blackwell of RNZ A man has been charged for allegedly swallowing a Faberge locket worth more than $33,500 during a theft at a store in Auckland. Police were called at 3.30pm last Friday to the store in the central city. The 32-year-old man was accused of picking up a Faberge James Bond Octopussy Egg pendant and swallowing it. Court documents reveal the pendant was worth $33,585. An online listing for the locket said it had been crafted from 18ct yellow gold and set with 60 white diamonds and 15 blue sapphires. A golden octopus inside the locket was set with two black diamonds for eyes. Officers from the Auckland City Beat team were on the scene minutes later, and arrested the man, police confirmed. He had been charged with theft, and was remanded in custody when he appeared in Auckland District Court last week, he was expected to reappear next Monday. Police told RNZ the pendant had not yet been recovered. – RNZ Tue, 02 Dec 2025 01:21:15 Z /news/crime/tom-phillips-case-suppression-continues-as-media-fights-to-lift-court-restrictions/ /news/crime/tom-phillips-case-suppression-continues-as-media-fights-to-lift-court-restrictions/ Media organisations are challenging strict restrictions that were made in the Family Court relating to aspects of the Tom Phillips case.  Phillips’ mother Julia sought an injunction in the High Court relating to details of the case after her son was shot dead by police and his children were found in deep Waitomo bush on September 8.  That injunction prevented several details of the case from being reported.  Then, on September 15, a Family Court judge made orders that further restricted publication.  Now, 九一星空无限 and Stuff have started fighting those orders by seeking an application in the High Court at Hamilton for a judicial review.  The two-day hearing is before Justice Layne Harvey but the majority of the details can’t be reported on, only the fact that a hearing is taking place.  Family Court Judge Garry Collin previously made the following suppression orders:  Any person involved in the Family Court proceeding, including anyone from NZ Police and Oranga Tamariki, cannot publish or communicate any information in any form that discloses “information” about the children.  Any media organisation or publisher, including major New Zealand companies, cannot publish or communicate any information, nor can they capture or publish photos or film of the children beyond those that existed before December 9, 2021. This means images and videos of the children since their abduction are now off-limits.  The order restrains anyone from publishing “any documentary, film, or book that refers to the children”.  No one may film or photograph any home the children live in, any of their caregivers, or any educational or community facility that they attend.  The order is to remain in force until further order of the Family Court or High Court, meaning it will stay in place indefinitely unless one of the judges decides to lift it.  Meanwhile, the Government recently announced it will hold an inquiry into the case to investigate whether government agencies took all practicable steps to protect the safety and welfare of the Phillips children.  Attorney-General Judith Collins said it would reflect the “significant public interest” in the case and “concern for the children’s welfare over the almost four years they were missing”.  Collins said the inquiry, to be held in private, would “establish the facts and determine whether agencies could take steps to prevent or resolve similar situations more quickly and effectively in the future”.  The terms of reference would focus on “the privacy and welfare of these especially vulnerable children in mind”.  “The inquiry will therefore be conducted in private and without public hearings. It must also respect the independence of the courts and will not include findings on judicial decisions.”  Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at 九一星空无限 for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.    Mon, 01 Dec 2025 07:32:57 Z /news/crime/not-safe-around-children-former-candidate-convicted-of-paedophilia-fights-for-suppression/ /news/crime/not-safe-around-children-former-candidate-convicted-of-paedophilia-fights-for-suppression/ A man who once courted publicity as a candidate for public office is now fighting to keep his name secret, even after he was ordered this week to serve a rare sentence without an end date for repeated paedophilia-related offending. “The day my daughters told me what had happened changed everything,” the mother of his latest victims said in an anguished statement last week as she confronted the defendant in the High Court at Auckland. The girls he abused were 3 and 5 years old when they met the defendant, young enough that they trusted every adult around them, their mother said. “One daughter spoke as if it was normal, not even understanding that what happened to her was wrong,” she recalled. “My other daughter cried and struggled to get the words out. “Hearing them say those things shattered me. I found myself asking questions that no parent should ever have to ask. I tried to hold back my tears, but it felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest. I felt helpless. “He caused harm that will follow them for the rest of their lives. He changed their childhood forever.” High Court Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith rejected the defendant’s permanent suppression bid. Photo / Bevan Conley She has told the court that she wants society to be protected from him. “He is not safe to be around children,” she said. “Protecting others from what my daughters went through is the only peace we can hope for.” Prison attack fears In a hearing last month, High Court Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith rejected the defendant’s permanent suppression bid given the “considerable and legitimate public interest in the matter”. But the decision was quickly followed by an indication by defence lawyer Philip Hamlin that it would be challenged through the Court of Appeal. A hearing has been set for early February. In his High Court bid, the defendant expressed fears for his physical safety - both self-harm and that he might be attacked in prison if his charges became widely known. “[The defendant] says frankly in his affidavit that he has been advised there is little merit in advancing an application for permanent name suppression but that he wishes to proceed with the application and to appeal [anyway],” Justice Wilkinson-Smith noted. The judge noted a specialist report submitted to the court in which it was confirmed that prisoners in the general population “are known for holding violent attitudes towards child sex offenders”. But the psychologist who authored the report also noted that “in his experience, the risk is well known and managed by the prison authorities”. Justice Wilkinson-Smith agreed. She declined name suppression on paper but noted her hands were tied if he carried out his intention to appeal. Decades-long history The Herald is limited in what it can report about the defendant’s criminal history to protect the identities of his victims and, for now, to prevent him from being identified as well. He was charged in 2023 with sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, punishable by up to 20 years’ imprisonment, and sexual conduct with a child under 12, which carries a 10-year maximum sentence. Crown prosecutor Matthew Nathan advocated for a sentence of preventative detention. Photo / Jason Oxenham According to the explicit summary of facts he agreed to upon pleading guilty earlier this year, the defendant, on more than one occasion, locked the youngest child in a room and sexually abused her. The older child was targeted one time, having told the defendant to stop when he groped her from behind. His past offences date back decades and include possession of child sexual exploitation materials and unlawful sexual connection with a 6-year-old girl. During last week’s hearing, the defence asked Justice Pheroze Jagose to impose a finite sentence, with reductions factored for his guilty plea, his deprived background, remorse and efforts at rehabilitation. “He wants to make himself better,” Hamlin said. “He didn’t want to be here again. He’s embarrassed.” Crown prosecutor Matthew Nathan advocated for a sentence of preventative detention. The rare outcome, at the top of New Zealand’s sentencing hierarchy, is aimed at people who pose a significant and ongoing risk to public safety. Inmates serving such a sentence are released only after the Parole Board determines the risk has been reduced. Even if they do manage to convince the Parole Board of their reform, they are managed by Corrections for the rest of their life and can be recalled to prison at any time. ‘Likely to reoffend’ Considering a finite sentence first, Justice Jagose settled on a 10-year starting point and allowed a single 10% credit for his guilty plea. It would have resulted in a nine-year sentence, with a minimum term of imprisonment of five years. “Given your previous imprisonment sentence, your experience in custody alone seems unlikely to deter you from further offending,” the judge said of the minimum term. “And the prospect you may be released into the community perhaps as soon as late next year is insufficient to hold you accountable for the harm you have done, or properly to denounce that conduct, or to protect the community from you.” Justice Pheroze Jagose determined the man was likely to reoffend. Photo / 九一星空无限 But that sentence was largely academic given the judge’s subsequent decision to impose preventative detention. “Unless rehabilitated in custody, I am satisfied you are likely to reoffend if released on expiry of a determinate sentence,” the judge said. “The pattern of your serious offending is to target girls in their childhood and early adolescence. As the judicial decisions on your previous convictions and the girls’ mother’s statement in this proceeding illustrate, your offending has caused serious harm to the community.” He noted that separate psychological reports found the defendant to be an above-average risk of committing similar offences in future. “They are saying your predilection to reoffend will overwhelm measures established to deter you from that,” the judge said. ‘Children deserve justice’The mother of the defendant’s latest victims said his actions had already caused enough harm. His offending, she said, was deliberate and repeated. “[He] stole pieces of their childhood,” she told the court. “He took away their safety, their innocence, and their belief that adults protect children. He created trauma that they will carry into their teenage years, their adulthood, and into every relationship they form. “My children deserve justice — real justice — because they are the ones who live with the aftermath every single day. He gets to move on; they are still learning how." Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand. Sun, 30 Nov 2025 20:09:09 Z /news/crime/significant-distress-shot-fired-at-popular-thames-swimming-hole/ /news/crime/significant-distress-shot-fired-at-popular-thames-swimming-hole/ A man has been charged after allegedly brandishing a firearm, threatening bystanders and firing a shot into the air at a well-known Thames swimming hole. Police said they were called to the swimming hole on Kauaeranga Valley Rd at about 5pm yesterday. Detective Sergeant Mark Leathem of the Coromandel Hauraki Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) said the man had allegedly threatened members of the public before discharging a shot into the air. Leathem said the man then allegedly discarded the weapon into nearby vegetation before fleeing with another party. “Police Eagle attended and located the vehicle a short time later and the pair were arrested,” Leathem said. “The firearm was also recovered from the initial scene.” A 20-year-old man is due to appear in Hamilton District Court tomorrow on charges including unlawfully possessing a firearm and discharging a firearm to intimidate. “Police are aware this incident caused significant distress to those members of the public who were present and additional patrols are in place in the area to provide reassurance,” Leathem said. “We would like to hear from anyone who has not yet spoken to us who might have information about this incident or those involved. “If you can help, please use our 105 service and quote reference number 251129/4740.” Sun, 30 Nov 2025 00:17:02 Z /news/crime/police-update-on-drug-smuggling-ring-that-led-to-arrest-of-auckland-airport-baggage-handlers/ /news/crime/police-update-on-drug-smuggling-ring-that-led-to-arrest-of-auckland-airport-baggage-handlers/ Police and Customs say they have unravelled “a major transnational organised crime syndicate” smuggling drugs into New Zealand through Auckland International Airport with “corrupt” baggage handlers and local gangs. The revelations comes at a press conference livestreamed at the top of this article. “We’ll allege in court that this syndicate has operated with corrupt baggage handlers and local gangs to import massive amounts of drugs through the Auckland Airport,” Detective Inspector Tom Gollan said. “Overall, throughout [...] investigating this group, we’ve seized approximately 630kgs of methamphetamine valued at approximately $220 million in retail terms, and 112kgs of cocaine. “This week saw the fifth phase termination, and this was directed predominantly at the facilitators of this criminal group. This included eight persons from the 28 Brotherhood MC gang, including their president. They have all been arrested and charged with facilitating a large amount of drugs and are facing significant charges.” Detective Inspector Tom Gollan speaking at today's press conference. Photo / Corey Fleming Gollan said that had the drugs been distributed around the country, they would have caused “significant misery” to vulnerable communities. He thanked the agencies that had worked with police, such as Homeland Security in the United States and Customs in New Zealand. New Zealand Customs Service manager of investigations for Dominic Adams said the operation has “successfully dismantled a key arm of a major transnational organised crime syndicate”. “Intelligence revealed that these criminal groups were actively exploiting trusted border workers with access to the airport supply chain,” Adams said. ”The syndicate employed the rip-on rip-off method, a tactic commonly used internationally by placing unaccompanied baggage on inbound flights, primarily through Auckland, for compromised workers to retrieve. “This technique was deployed across multiple global supply routes, including flights from Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Santiago, Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.” New Zealand Customs Service manager of investigations for Dominic Adams. Photo / Corey Fleming A number of gangs are alleged to be involved, including Headhunters, 28 Brotherhood MC, and the Comancheros. Adams said this operation represents one of the most significant breakthroughs against transnational crime in New Zealand in recent years. He said the criminal networks actively look for people in particular parts of the supply chain and use all sorts of ways to exploit them. “And by exploitation, that can be inducements with money, and that’s most often the case, or trying to convince them to do things that they wouldn’t otherwise do. And it’s really sad that people are exploited like that.” Gollan said that as the investigation progressed, more corrupt baggage handlers were identified. “But what we really focused on is not just the baggage handlers and them being corrupted. We’re focusing on the people that actually do the corrupting. So we’re talking about, you know, our local gangs and... overseas networks,” Gollan said. “Overall, Matata has seen 43 arrests made since February. 20 of those arrests were baggage handlers that were employed by baggage handling companies at the Auckland Airport. “Obviously, the major profits that can be made in New Zealand are very attractive to overseas syndicates. And, we’re seizing shoe boxes at baggage handlers’ addresses that are filled with $200,000 in cash and that kind of thing. So, that’s some of the type of money that these poor boys are getting corrupted with.” Police and customs have been looking into the problem since about 2021, when it was first identified through Operation Selena, Gollan added. It comes after, earlier this year, police arrested and charged 15 current and former baggage handlers employed by airline baggage-handling agencies at Auckland International Airport. A further nine people were facing serious criminal and drug charges. A total of 631kg of methamphetamine and 112kg of cocaine were seized by customs while working alongside United States authorities. Detective Inspector Tom Gollan said the flights carrying the allegedly smuggled drugs came from Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Santiago, Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. Photo / New Zealand Police  Detective Inspector Tom Gollan, of the National Organised Crime Group, said this would have equated to roughly six doses of methamphetamine for every New Zealander. Gollan said Operation Matata began on March 20 this year when a man was arrested in East Tāmaki and 25kg of meth was found in his vehicle. The subsequent investigation uncovered “a wider group organising and facilitating controlled drugs being smuggled through Auckland Airport”. Gollan said the flights carrying the allegedly smuggled drugs came from Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Santiago, Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. “Police will allege the group’s operation involved placing unaccompanied bags on international flights, which were then covertly removed on arrival in Auckland by corrupt baggage handlers to avoid security protocols. “Make no mistake, this investigation has exposed and disrupted a significant threat to New Zealand.” One seizure turned up 50kg of meth allegedly smuggled on a flight from Malaysia on June 18. “The man’s attempts were thwarted by a swift and co-ordinated response from police, Customs and other agencies.” Police and customs investigators executed 19 search warrants across Auckland as part of the second phase of their operation. Police also turned up $150,000 in cash. Photo / New Zealand Police  “It will be alleged one of the arrested individuals gained unauthorised airside access at Auckland International Airport and was observed piloting a baggage cart towards the aircraft.” Gollan said criminal syndicates brought misery to communities across New Zealand. “This is particularly the case with methamphetamine, and these organised crime groups are intent on feeding the addiction of our people in vulnerable communities, which saw meth consumption double in July last year.” Customs investigations manager Dominic Adams said New Zealand’s volume of legitimate trade and travel meant the risk of criminal infiltration was “very real”. “In tandem with the police and our international partners and industry stakeholders, Customs is continuing to protect communities from the organised criminal groups who are attempting to exploit our international supply chains.” Thu, 27 Nov 2025 23:04:03 Z /news/crime/auckland-fraudster-peter-austen-jailed-for-400k-investor-scam/ /news/crime/auckland-fraudster-peter-austen-jailed-for-400k-investor-scam/ A swindling Auckland businessman who fabricated a company to cheat investors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars has been sentenced to prison. But Coatesville resident Peter Austen, 65, would have received an even lengthier term had he not been tortured while in a Zimbabwe prison during the regime of dictator Robert Mugabe, a judge informed him this week. “It would not be jail, it would be a death sentence,” the defendant had told a pre-sentence report writer of the prospect of going to prison. Judge Pippa Sinclair reckoned Austen was being overly dramatic about how his post-traumatic stress disorder from the Zimbabwe experience would affect a New Zealand prison sentence. He was not considered the most trustworthy witness, having been called out by prosecutors during his July fraud trial for trying to introduce altered documents to support his case. But the judge said she did believe he spent time in an African prison, allowing a 15% reduction for the added stress Austen might feel as a result. He was ordered to serve three years and three months’ imprisonment, with the judge attributing part of the sentence to a lack of remorse. “You genuinely believe you had set the business up legally,” she noted. “I don’t accept that, Mr Austen. To put this colloquially, you conned [them].” His explanations, she said, were “implausible and disengenuous”. Judge Pippa Sinclair, photographed at North Shore District Court in 2014. Photo / Sarah Ivey Jurors were told during Austen’s trial that he registered a company called The Couch Potato Ltd – its sole proclaimed product being a pillow that unrolled into a blanket. Between 2012 and 2019, he put on a ruse that the company was a success, even creating a fake email at one point suggesting the product would be distributed to retail outlets throughout New Zealand. But there never was a product, and much of the nearly $400,000 he gathered from investors went into his personal account, the court was told. He met the first victim in 2011 through friends and eventually convinced him to invest $200,000 for a 25% stake in the business. Two years later, he went back to the victim and said the company needed more investors. The original victim was able to find three more investors – including his mother – to pony up about $110,000 combined. In 2015, he convinced his personal trainer and her husband to invest $39,000, lying that the company was profitable and the product was sold at 1330 retailers. “She believed you,” the judge noted. In 2017, when she confronted him after realising something was amiss, Austen showed her a forged bank transaction purporting to pay her what was owed. But in reality, there was no way he could pay, the judge said. He had $1.03 in his account. Austen also convinced his cleaner and her husband to invest $100,000 – an amount that took years of scrimping, saving and foregoing holidays to save up on their working-class salaries, the couple said in their victim impact statements read aloud in court this week. “We now have to work into our 70s to save this amount again,” the wife said, explaining that her trust in others had vanished. The couple said they had expected $473,000 once their investment matured, but they would be content for the court to order Austen to pay the $97,600 lost from their investment. The crime has affected their marriage, the husband said, with each blaming the other “for being drawn into his web of deceit”. “Peter gained our trust and deliberately fleeced us while smiling at us,” he said. The first victim said in a written victim impact statement that he has lost 20kg due to the frustration, anger and guilt of having lost his retirement fund and having brought his 87-year-old mother into the scam. “I’m no longer the man I was before I met the accused,” he said, explaining that he used to own and run his own business but he now lacks the self-confidence to make big financial decisions. He estimated he was out about $900,000 when also considering what he should have made on the investment. “I rue the day I met the accused,” he said. Judge Sinclair described the victim accounts as “raw and sobering”. At the conclusion of Austen’s trial, jurors had quickly found him guilty of three representative charges of obtaining by deception, punishable by up to seven years’ imprisonment. Crown prosecutor Matthew Nathan. Photo / Jason Oxenham Crown prosecutor Matthew Nathan advocated for a starting point of four to five years’ jail, to be followed by modest reductions for his lack of prior convictions and the impact PTSD would have on his time in prison. Defence lawyer Shane Kilian sought a starting point of two to three years, with a much more substantial 35% reduction for a range of personal mitigating factors. He said his client hoped the end sentence would be home detention. “There were some sales being made,” Kilian said of the business. “There was a product. There was actually something happening.” But Nathan described the company as “effectively non-existent” despite Austen’s brazen “false narrative of this thriving, successful business” in which he claimed millions of dollars were being made. Austen, he said, was “the sole author of this fraudulent scheme and the sole recipient”. “This was to enable him to maintain his lifestyle,” Nathan said, adding that the defendant created “a facade of being wealthy” by claiming to own property he rented – “not for need but purely for greed”. Judge Sinclair was unpersuaded by the defence’s non-custodial sentence request. “The safety of the community requires a sentence which may be a deterrent to others,” she said before reviewing all the aggravating features of Austen’s scheme. “Your deceit was layered,” she said, describing the swindle as sophisticated, long-running and financially lucrative. “You manufactured documents, including fake transactions, cheques and emails.” He was also responsible, she said, for repeatedly breaching the trust of his victims – exploiting them “in a deliberate and high-handed manner” and conveying “a false narrative of a thriving and successful business... for the purposes of maintaining your lifestyle”. She ordered a starting point of four years and three months’ imprisonment before allowing a 5% discount for his previous good character and the 15% for his PTSD. Born in Zimbabwe, Austen said he studied architectural drafting and got involved in the building sector. According to his own unverified account, he at one point owned the largest home construction business in Zimbabwe but he lost the business when Mugabe took power in the 1980s. Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. Photo / Reuters The controversial President, who spent decades in power before a 2017 coup, was both lauded and fiercely criticised for his steps to erode the power of the nation’s white minority. Austen said he immigrated to New Zealand with only a few thousand dollars in 2005, three years after he was detained by soldiers for two months and tortured. “The court is not unsympathetic to someone who has been detained and tortured,” the judge said. But, she added, she had confidence the New Zealand prison system could help him cope with any mental health strains. “You have functioned in the community since 2002,” she noted. “I have gained the impression you have overstated the significance of your PTSD.” The judge agreed with lawyers there was little hope of Austen ever repaying the $238,000 still owed to his victims. Since his arrest, he said, he has gone bankrupt, his wife has left him and he is surviving on a benefit. Given the circumstances, Judge Sinclair said, ordering restitution would be futile. Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand. Thu, 27 Nov 2025 07:33:31 Z /news/crime/auckland-mum-hakyung-lee-jailed-for-murders-of-children-yuna-jo-8-and-minu-jo-6/ /news/crime/auckland-mum-hakyung-lee-jailed-for-murders-of-children-yuna-jo-8-and-minu-jo-6/ An Auckland woman whose grandchildren were murdered by her daughter seven years ago says she spent months falling asleep only with the help of alcohol and with a single mantra running through her head.  “If she wanted to die, why didn’t she die alone? Why did she take innocent children with her?”  The woman’s victim impact statement was read aloud by prosecutors in the High Court at Auckland today as her daughter, Hakyung “Jasmine” Lee, was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of imprisonment of 17 years.  “It felt like a pain that cut through my bones, or like someone was gouging out my chest,” the defendant’s mother told the court.  “I do not know when this pain and suffering might heal, but I often think I may carry it with me until the day I die... The acts my daughter committed were horrific, cruiel and terrifying - there is no dispute in that.”  Lee was found guilty in September — following an unsuccessful insanity defence - of murdering 8-year-old daughter Yuna Jo and son Minu Jo, 6, inside the family’s Papatoetoe home in June 2018. She then stuffed the children’s bodies in suitcases and put them in storage before changing her name and moving overseas.  The horrifying act wouldn’t be discovered until 2023 — resulting in international headlines — when the children’s corpses were discovered by a family who had won an auction for the contents of Lee’s abandoned storage shed.  Although she claimed repeatedly in the years that followed that she wasn’t responsible for the children’s deaths, Lee finally admitted just prior to trial that she had intentionally given her children a fatal overdose of sleeping pills mixed with juice.  Hakyung Lee (inset) was found guilty of having murdered her 8-year-old daughter, Yuna Jo, and 6-year-old son, Minu Jo.  Lawyers Lorraine Smith and Chris Wilkinson-Smith argued at trial that it was a failed murder-suicide and that Lee should be found not guilty by reason of insanity because her disordered thinking led her to believe killing the children too was more humane than leaving them orphans. He husband had died of cancer months earlier, sending her into a mental health spiral, Smith argued.  But Crown solicitor Natalie Walker suggested Lee was lying about her own suicide attempt — pointing to evidence that she was taking steps to set up a new life overseas before the children were killed. In the days following their murders, the woman bought a Lotto ticket, spent $900 at a hair salon and purchased a business class ticket to Korea.  “It was a selfish act to free herself from the burden of parenting alone,” Walker told jurors at the conclusion of Lee’s trial.  ‘Deliberate and calculated’  During today’s hearing, Walker re-emphasised there was no evidence that Lee was suicidal at the time of her children’s deaths.  Unlike the Christchurch trial of Lauren Dickason, who also killed her children, there was no evidence that depression had dominated Lee’s reasoning process, the prosecutor said.  She sought a minimum term of imprisonment of between 20 and 22 years imprisonment based on the number of victims, their youth and their vulnerability and a “degree of calculated planning”.  That sentence would reflect a reduction of one year for her mental health, the prosecutor said.  Parents Ian Jo and Hakyung "Jasmine" Lee had a "happy little family", with children Yuna and Minu Jo, prior to Ian Jo's cancer diagnosis, the defence has said at Lee's double murder trial. She has said she was insane when she killed both children in Auckland in June 2018. Photo / Supplied  Lee’s lawyers argued that a life sentence would be manifestly unjust given her mental health issues. They sought a finite sentence with a minimum term of imprisonment of under 17 years.  Wilkinson-Smith pointed out that his client has spent the past seven years in isolation in mental facilities and in prison. She has been shunned by her own community and threatened in prison, he said.  “She lives in a world of shame for, effectively, the worst crime a mother can commit,” he said.  “There is real diminished responsibility here for her mental health,” he continued, describing her as someone who was fragile but a stable, loving mother up until “a cluster of circumstances conspiring to bring her down”.  He asked that she receive compulsory treatment at the Mason Clinic, a lockdown psychiatric facility, rather than serving her time in prison. The Crown opposed the request.  Justice Venning granted the request for compulsory treatment, with the caveat that she return to prison when found mentally fit to do so.  But he rejected the defence argument that a life sentence would be manifestly unjust.  “The circumstances ... are properly described as tragic,” he said. However, he added, “the jury found you intended to kill your children [and] you knew your actions were morally wrong”.  “...Perhaps you could not bear to have your children around you as a constant reminder of your previous happy life,” the judge suggested.  Regardles, he said, her actions suggested she planned the killings “in a deliberate and calculated way” before taking active steps to cover it up.  Family shattered  Lee’s brother-in-law also submitted a victim impact statement to the court for today’s hearing, describing “devastating ongoing trauma”.  “I never imagined such a profound tragedy would ever befall our family,” he said, explaining that he still hasn’t told his own children about their cousin’s deaths.  He fears telling his own mother, who is fighting cancer overseas, will cause her death.  Hakyung "Jasmine" Lee appears in court for sentencing after having been found guilty of murdering her two young children. Photo / Michael Craig  “The truth shattered our family,” he said, describing the children’s absence as “a continuous, gaping wound” that has taken a “massive psychological toll”.  Lee’s mother also recounted the psychological fallout of her daughter’s actions. She recalled feeling ostracised at church.  “I came to the realisation that among the church members I had been labelled the mother of a murderer,” she said.  She often wishes she had forced her daughter to get counselling earlier, she said.  Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.  Tue, 25 Nov 2025 21:56:58 Z /news/crime/maya-moore-turns-back-on-court-as-she-s-jailed-for-nine-years-for-wairarapa-arsons/ /news/crime/maya-moore-turns-back-on-court-as-she-s-jailed-for-nine-years-for-wairarapa-arsons/ A woman who lit eight fires, causing millions of dollars in damage, refused to engage in her sentencing, insteadopting to stand with her back to the court. Maya Moore was dialling in remotely from a small booth at Wellington’s Arohata prison on Monday. She made no comment and never showed her face during the hearing, as Judge Peter Hobbs told her the emotional toll of her offending couldn’t be understated. In September, a jury found Moore guilty of setting fires at two properties on Wards Line, near Greytown, in October 2022. Moore didn’t attend her trial despite repeated efforts by the judge to get her to do so, and was found guilty of nine charges, including attempted arson and five of arson. During the sentencing, Judge Hobbs said while the Crown’s case was circumstantial, “having sat through nearly two weeks of evidence, in my view the evidence was overwhelmingly strong and the jury’s verdict was unsurprising". The court heard that before the fires, Moore had been living and working on one of the farms and grazing her small herd of cows at the other. Relations with both property owners soured over Moore’s refusal to invoice for her work, her insistence on grazing cattle on land she wasn’t leasing and her refusal to allow beekeepers access onto land she was leasing. Shortly before the fires, she’d lost her job, been asked to leave her accommodation at one of the properties and had lost the lease on her land. On the night of the fires, she told a neighbour, “No one’s going to be safe” and “I’m going to deal with it”. Two vehicle tyres with fabric found at Wards Line near Greytown after the fires. The Crown’s case, which the jury accepted, was that the 50-year-old took tyres from the silage pit at the farm where she worked, stuffed fabric inside the tyres and then drove them in her car across muddy farm tracks, placing them outside buildings on the property. She then either poured or placed accelerant on the tyres before lighting them. In total, eight fires were lit, damaging five buildings, including two houses, a sleepout, an implement shed and a hayshed. A tyre, left outside the sleepout where Moore lived, was found unlit. Firefighters with decades of experience told the court the scale of the fires was unprecedented. The court heard insurance covered about 70% of the estimated $2.3m loss. The fuel tank stand at one of the properties on Wards Line, near Greytown. Moore wasn’t arrested until almost 24 hours later, when she was seen by a police officer in a paddock at one of the properties. A subsequent search of her house truck uncovered a gun and ammunition. Moore was also found guilty of resisting arrest and possession of a rifle and 133 rounds of .22 calibre ammunition. Crown: 10 years’ jail starting point Crown prosecutor Anselm Williams sought a sentence of 10 years’ jail, submitting there could be no credit for a guilty plea because the matter had gone to a trial. Moore’s refusal to engage in the sentencing also meant there could be no credit for personal factors, he said. Janine Bonifant, who acted amicus at trial and prepared submissions for the sentencing, said she agreed with the Crown’s suggested starting point. She asked the judge to take into account Moore’s mental health at the time, acknowledging there was no expert evidence on this point because Moore had refused to be interviewed. The court heard in preparation for sentencing, Moore refused to engage with the pre-sentence report writer or a psychiatrist, and it’s unclear whether she had read the lawyer’s submissions, which were sent out to the prison for her. Only good fortune they escaped uninjured In sentencing, Judge Hobbs said there were several serious features to the case, including that the arson was clearly planned and premeditated.   The first of two houses left with major damage after an arson in October 2022. There was also the sheer number of fires lit that night, and the significant financial loss and emotional harm that resulted from it. He said it was clear that the fires were a traumatic event for the homeowners and the emotional harm couldn’t be underestimated. Aside from significant financial losses, both couples had escaped with only a few personal items that night, he said. The second of two houses at Wards Line near Greytown which was badly damaged after a fire in October 2022. Moore had set the fires while both couples were asleep with the intention of causing maximum damage, adding that it was only good fortune that they’d woken and escaped their homes uninjured. Judge Hobbs agreed that a starting point of 10 years’ jail reflected the seriousness of the offending, reducing it by a further 10% for Moore’s lack of previous convictions, leaving a final sentence of nine years’ jail. He declined to order reparation, saying it would be unrealistic to do so, but did impose a minimum period of imprisonment (MPI) of 4.5 years, saying features of the case went outside the normal range. Moore, who stood at the start of the hearing before sitting down, was out of camera shot by the end of the hearing when the AVL link was cut. A vexed process from beginning to end Today’s hearing was the second attempt at sentencing Moore, who was supposed to appear last Thursday. The law says Moore had to be present during her sentencing. Despite repeated attempts by Corrections staff, court security and Bonifant, Moore couldn’t be coaxed from the holding cell below the courtroom, choosing instead to remain there, as she had during her trial. When Corrections staff told the court that Moore was refusing to appear, the judge said it wasn’t appropriate to put Moore’s safety or the safety of Corrections’ officers at risk. That meant he had no choice but to adjourn sentencing, apologising to those who’d driven down from the Wairarapa. “As you understand and appreciate, this has been a vexed process from beginning to end,” he said, thanking them for their patience. Today, Moore appeared from the AVL booth at Arohata Prison, wearing a grey prison-issue T-shirt and trackpants. Henry Benson-Pope, a law lecturer at Otago University, said the Remote Participation Act allowed courts to use audiovisual links (AVL) when sentencing a defendant in custody, if it was in the interests of justice to do so. Typically, AVL was used at sentencing to save time, money and because it was more efficient to do so. Otago University law lecturer Henry Benson-Pope, pictured while he was working as a Crown prosecutor. Photo / Michael Craig “A warrant would allow you to bring a person forcibly into a courtroom, and Corrections have powers when someone is lawfully in their custody as well, to use physical force to move them around the prison,” he said. Benson-Pope said judges had the power to compel a defendant’s attendance through warrants and the Corrections Act, adding the safety of staff was also a relevant consideration. “It sounds like the judge has made a cautious decision based on the least disruptive and safest course of action for the staff,” he said. Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice. Tue, 25 Nov 2025 02:20:32 Z /news/crime/northland-police-investigating-after-whang%C4%81rei-woman-seriously-assaulted-in-murdoch-cres-home/ /news/crime/northland-police-investigating-after-whang%C4%81rei-woman-seriously-assaulted-in-murdoch-cres-home/ A woman has been left shaken after she was seriously assaulted in her Whangārei home overnight. Police were called to Murdoch Cres in Raumanga, close to State Highway 1, about midnight after a report a person had been injured. Whangarei Detective Senior Sergeant Shane Pilmer said the woman suffered moderate injuries during an assault in her home. She was taken to hospital for treatment. Inquiries into the assault were now under way. “Police are focused on identifying this person and understanding exactly what has taken place,” Pilmer said. A guard is at the house and Pilmer said residents could expect to see an increased police presence. A resident told the Northern Advocate they saw a police car stationed outside the home this morning and that the property had been taped off. They said police were going door-to-door in the neighbourhood, telling residents a serious incident had taken place. Murdoch Cres was also blocked off while police investigated. The resident this afternoon could see forensic staff working in the area. Pilmer said police wanted to hear from people who may have seen or heard anything suspicious, including vehicles, in the area between 4pm and midnight yesterday. “We would also like to hear from anyone who may have seen any vehicle leaving the area at speed between 11.30pm and 12am last night.” Information can be provided to police via 105, quoting file number 251125/6316, or anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111. Tue, 25 Nov 2025 00:35:08 Z /news/crime/geoffery-miller-sent-to-prison-for-historical-whang%C4%81rei-sex-crimes/ /news/crime/geoffery-miller-sent-to-prison-for-historical-whang%C4%81rei-sex-crimes/ WARNING: This article discusses sexual abuse and may upset some readers. It was not the sexual violence or years of trauma that finally broke a victim’s silence, but a chilling moment in adulthood when her perpetrator stood in her kitchen, boasting of being “proud” of his life. The remark felt so brazen, it ripped open the locked boxes of pain she carried and gave her the courage to report Geoffery Miller to the authorities. Now, Miller, 53, has appeared in the Whangārei District Court for sentencing on historical sexual abuse charges relating to two victims in separate decades. He was found guilty by a jury earlier this year of 12 charges, including rape and supplying methamphetamine to one of his victims. Miller’s first round of offending occurred when he was 14 years old and repeatedly sexually abused a girl. The court heard he violated her with objects and, on one occasion, he plied her with alcohol until she passed out, and then raped her. Decades later, Miller’s sexual offending continued but he had a new victim. Miller repeatedly touched that girl sexually and gave her cannabis. He also supplied her with methamphetamine and smoked it with her. Miller touched her inappropriately and spoke to her sexually as a form of payment for the drug. Both victims, now adults, read their victim impact statements to Miller while he stood in the dock at his recent sentencing. The first victim said that when she was younger, she had been scared of Miller’s dark moods and he was intolerable to be around. She said she felt safer on the streets, in the dark. “I had to grow up real fast to survive you,” she said. For years, she lived with post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse and had more than 20 clinical bouts of depression as a result of his offending against her. When she encountered Miller in her adult life, she became triggered by something he said. “You stood in my kitchen one day, in front of my teenage kids, and said, ‘I’m really proud of my life’,” the woman recalled. “Those words triggered me and sickened me. How could you be proud of what you did to me? Geoffery Miller was verbally and physically abusive to the first victim. Photo / supplied “All the locked boxes in my brain, all the tucked-up pain came out piece by piece. “That event is what brought us here today. Your words set me free. I finally felt the courage to stand up tall and do the right thing.” The second victim also lived a life with mental health challenges linked to Miller’s offending and battled a drug addiction, which took hold after he had supplied her with drugs when she was younger. “I’m constantly living the same thing, repetitive memories take over my mind that I never asked for,” she said in her victim impact statement. “I had so much more potential than what I’ve been and what I am now. I don’t remember ever feeling happy or, let alone, good enough. Instead, I felt like a worthless piece of meat.” Her statement had some parting words for Miller. “I hope you f* rot in sh**.” Continued denial of the offending Crown lawyer Danette Cole said both victims had reported Miller was also physically violent towards them. “Both victims came forward and said how they thought their life would turn out differently, but because of the offending their lives have taken a turn for the worse,” Cole said. Miller’s lawyer, Chris Muston, made no oral submissions at the hearing. Judge Keith de Ridder noted Miller had denied the offending when speaking to pre-sentence report writers. “You make no admission whatsoever of any offending and deny any offending of any sort,” the judge said. “The report touches briefly on your upbringing and your employment history with some sense of self-pity arising from, what you say, were the actions taken against you by the victims’ families.” Judge de Ridder said the offending, particularly with the first victim, was premeditated, violent and intrusive. “There were threats made to her, in particular if she told anybody about this offending. And the jury obviously also accepted her evidence that you would become physically and verbally abusive towards her.” The judge considered the act of supplying drugs to a child to facilitate offending against the second victim as an aggravating feature. He sentenced Miller to five years and seven months for the rape of the first victim, and imposed an additional cumulative four‑year term for offending against the second. Miller was sent to prison for nine years and seven months. SEXUAL HARM Where to get help:If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7:• Call 0800 044 334• Text 4334• Email support@safetotalk.nz• For more info or to web chat visit safetotalk.nzAlternatively contact your local police station - click here for a list.If you have been sexually assaulted, remember it's not your fault. Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined 九一星空无限 in 2023. Sun, 23 Nov 2025 02:41:11 Z /news/crime/major-emergency-response-to-west-coast-crash-involving-multiple-vehicles/ /news/crime/major-emergency-response-to-west-coast-crash-involving-multiple-vehicles/ Emergency services are responding to a multi-vehicle crash on the South Island’s West Coast, with a major incident support team sent to the scene. Fire and Emergency said it was called to a motor vehicle crash near Ross, Westland, about 1.11pm on Thursday, with four crews there now. Two people are trapped in vehicles, with crews working to extricate them. Hato Hone St John sent one ambulance, two first response units, three helicopters and two operations managers. A Greymouth-based major incident support team have been sentto the scene. More to come Thu, 20 Nov 2025 01:36:41 Z /news/crime/dunedin-man-accused-of-using-explosives-to-ignite-abandoned-house/ /news/crime/dunedin-man-accused-of-using-explosives-to-ignite-abandoned-house/ A man has been charged after allegedly using explosives to start a fire at an abandoned house in Dunedin this week. Police said it was one of three suspicious fires in the city in the space of several hours early on Tuesday morning. The 48-year-old man faces charges of wilfully damaging a property by explosive in relation to just one of three fires. All three were being treated as suspicious. “A vacant building and 30x30m of pine trees were ruined in the other blazes," police said. A Fire and Emergency spokesperson earlier said they were notified of the first fire at a vacant building well ablaze on Harrow St, around 11.30pm. Four fire trucks and a ladder truck arrived at the scene. The fire was contained after midnight and extinguished at 3am, the spokesperson said. Fire and Emergency received multiple calls of another fire at a Central Dunedin house around 12.30am. Concerns that people were in the house were quashed after it was found empty, said the spokesperson. Five fire trucks and a command unit contained the fire at 1.50am. Around 1.30am, firefighters responded to reports of trees on fire near Otago Pistol Club in Waldronville. Thu, 20 Nov 2025 01:32:56 Z /news/crime/auckland-businessman-ashik-ali-jailed-for-construction-site-death-in-remuera/ /news/crime/auckland-businessman-ashik-ali-jailed-for-construction-site-death-in-remuera/ A former construction transport company boss whose runaway truck killed a roadworker has been sentenced to prison for manslaughter, after prosecutors argued his gross recklessness needed to serve as a deterrent to others. Victim Johnathon Walters was working a night shift on a Remuera Rd in May 2024 when he was hit by Ashik Ali’s vehicle. The truck’s brakes had failed – hardly a surprise given its long history of non-compliance – and had rolled downhill roughly 40m before going through the area where Walters and others were cutting through the road surface, likely with ear protection. The truck, filled with a full payload of chip seal roading metal, weighed 20 tonnes. Instead of waiting to see if anyone had been hurt after the truck came to a stop after about 400m, Ali fled the scene in the vehicle – its windscreen by that point dislodged from hitting two poles and a tree. While imposing a sentence today, Justice Graham Lang described the death as “an absolutely tragic and completely avoidable event”. Company owner Ashik Ali appears in the High Court at Auckland for sentencing after pleading guilty to manslaughter. Photo / Michael Craig “This was not a one-off incident,” the judge said, referring to the vehicle’s appalling, years-long history of non-compliance with regulations and unroadworthiness. “You can consider yourself fortunate that nobody else was killed as a result of your actions.” As the judge spoke, members of Walters’ family sobbed in the crowded courtroom gallery. Ali, as he had throughout the hearing, looked down into his lap. ‘A steady presence’ Before filing into the courtroom for today’s sentencing, Walters’ family sang a waiata in his honour that could be heard through the courthouse. The judge later apologised for refusing a haka inside the courtroom, citing security reasons and the last-minute nature of the request. Walters had been the eldest of eight siblings and had taken over the role as “a pillar of our whānau” after their parents died, his loved ones recalled in a series of emotional victim impact statements. He was remembered as a family-oriented man known for his strong work ethic and kindness that “touched everyone around him”. “He was always there for me when I needed him,” said sister Karin Fraser, describing through tears how she rushed to be by her brother’s side at the hospital but never got to tell him goodbye. She described her brother as a “loving father, a devoted uncle ... and a steady presence for our tamariki” who was looked up to for his “guidance, love, laughter and support”. Harry Tautuhi described his brother as “the best person I’ve ever known” – someone who always did what was right and who gave his whole heart to making sure his family was cared for. “We miss him every day – his voice, his presence, his light,” he said. Several family members said the case had caused deep concerns for others working in the roading industry, leaving them anxious that another whānau might be left to suffer the same pain. “To lose my brother because of someone else’s carelessness and negligence is unbearable,” said sibling Sidney Tautuhi. “Jonathan’s death has left a void that can never be filled.” Flagrant non-compliance The truck’s many defects would not have been a surprise to Ali, police and prosecutors have said. Ali, now 56, had bought the previously owned Isuzu CXZ 72J in November 2017 and it was issued its first pink sticker – barring it from being used on the road – just two months later. “The VSO [vehicle safety officer] recorded the truck was in poor condition and should not have been on the road,” the summary of facts states of the January 2018 traffic stop. A subsequent May 2019 inspection “established the brakes were dangerous and the vehicle should not have been operating”. Police investigate the scene on May 8, 2024, after roadworker Johnathon Walters was fatally hit by a runaway truck on a job site in Remuera, Auckland. Photo / Hayden Woodward The company director was contacted by the New Zealand Transport Agency the following year, with officials expressing concern his fleet was not being maintained to a safe standard and the company was not paying road user fees. The suspicions were confirmed following a July 2020 inspection of the entire fleet. As a result, Ali was ordered to obtain certificates of fitness every three months. The following month, Ali told authorities he was addressing the truck’s brake issues. But when police again pulled over the truck in Otara in March 2021, it again failed a spot inspection. “This truck was still subject to the pink sticker that was issued on January 30, 2018,” court documents state. “The sticker had been unlawfully removed. “The inspection identified serious safety defects, including a cracked right front wheel, loose wheel nuts, the second axle differential was leaking oil, an air leak behind the cab [the air reservoir supplies air to the brake and suspension systems], insecure batteries, a stop light not working, and worn brushes on the tipper arm. The overall safety appearance of the truck was described as very bad by the VSO.” More non-operation stickers were placed on the truck and the driver was issued a written notice warning that the vehicle should not be operated again unless on “a direct route to a place of repair”. As a result, Ali assured authorities that he no longer intended to use the vehicle – choosing to scrap it rather than get it repaired. But instead, it appears, he simply changed the plates and kept on using it. The work site on Remuera's Victoria Ave where Ashik Ali's truck fatally hit a road worker in May 2024. Photo / Michael Craig By the time of the fatality, the truck had been unregistered for two years and the last warrant of fitness had been issued three-and-a-half years prior. The sticker identifying the truck as unusable had been partially removed along with the last certificate of fitness, from nearly five years earlier. A post-crash inspection revealed many of the defects that had been identified in 2021 still plagued the vehicle. ‘Sense of desperation’ Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield KC noted there was a significant chasm between the sentences suggested by the Crown and by himself. Similar cases, he suggested, have resulted in non-custodial terms involving reparation payments and community work. “Obviously, Mr Ali never contemplated that his actions on that day might result in such a loss,” Mansfield said, describing his client as now receiving welfare after having closed his business following the crash. “Mr Ali was in a bind,” the lawyer added. “He couldn’t afford to keep his truck roadworthy, and he also couldn’t afford to turn away work.” Ron Mansfield KC. Photo / Michael Craig It was that “sense of desperation” that led to Ali’s bad decision to use the truck that night, Mansfield added. He described his client as a quiet, shy and humble man who “made a grave mistake”. “He should have thought it through. He didn’t,” Mansfield said. “He is extremely remorseful.” Crown prosecutor Clare Antenen, meanwhile, said the death wasn’t the result of a single error in judgment. She outlined the vehicle’s history and Ali’s “complete disregard” of orders by police to keep it off the road. “The death of Mr Walters was clearly avoidable,” she said, adding that imprisonment would hold Ali responsible while also serving “as a deterrent to others who drive unroadworthy vehicles ... that have the ability to kill”. ‘Significantly more serious’ Justice Lang ultimately agreed with prosecutors. He noted that the two manslaughter cases cited by the defence as having resulted in community work had involved one-off negligence – a faulty helicopter inspection and a hang-glider who failed to check his passenger’s safety strap. “I regard your offences as significantly more serious,” he said. He also noted that Ali’s immediate reaction had been to flee the scene rather than help with the workplace chaos he caused. Justice Graham Lang. Photo / Michael Craig “I accept that you did not know Mr Walters had been injured ... however, that does not relieve you of your obligation,” Justice Lang added. His financial desperation at the time “does not mitigate the offending in any way at all”, the judge said, describing Ali’s actions at the time as having fallen “well short” of what a reasonable person would have done in the circumstances. The judge ordered a four-year starting point before allowing reductions for his guilty plea and remorse. The end sentence was three years’ imprisonment, with an additional order that Ali pay $20,000 to Walters’ family in emotional harm reparation. It was a death that had “catastrophic consequences” for Walters’ family and colleagues, and it never should have happened, the judge repeated. Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand. Thu, 20 Nov 2025 01:02:15 Z /news/crime/young-woman-dies-after-manawat%C5%AB-crash-between-car-and-truck/ /news/crime/young-woman-dies-after-manawat%C5%AB-crash-between-car-and-truck/ An 18-year-old woman has died two days after suffering critical injuries in a crash between a car and truck in Manawatū. Police said the crash happened at the intersection of Kairanga Bunnythorpe Rd and Roberts Line at about midday on Tuesday. “The young woman was critically injured in the crash and tragically has subsequently passed away in hospital,” they said. Inquiries into the circumstances of the crash were under way. Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:25:47 Z /news/crime/zak-kameta-matthew-snaylam-hassan-al-fadhli-found-guilty-of-murdering-jayden-mamfredos-in-auckland/ /news/crime/zak-kameta-matthew-snaylam-hassan-al-fadhli-found-guilty-of-murdering-jayden-mamfredos-in-auckland/ Three Head Hunters-affiliated men have been found guilty of the premeditated murder of a teenager who vanished in 2023, resulting in a months-long, high-profile search before his body was eventually discovered in a deep, professionally dug grave. It took jurors in the High Court at Auckland 17 hours over three days to reach their verdicts for patched gang member Zak Kameta, 28, Matthew Snaylam, 22, who was a gang prospect at the time, and 28-year-old construction company boss Hassan Al Fadhli. Their verdicts for Kameta and Snaylam were unanimous. Al Fadhli, who was known to wear a “Head Hunters supporter” shirt but was not a member, was found guilty by a majority verdict. During a closing address late last week, Kameta’s lawyer acknowledged for the first time that his client was the person who concealed 19-year-old Jayden Mamfredos’ body outside Al Fadhli’s Dairy Flat home after the teen was shot at the rural North Auckland property. But defence lawyer Ron Mansfield, KC, insisted that his client wasn’t the killer – instead acting in panic after a large-scale drug deal that went badly wrong. While Kameta didn’t give evidence, it was suggested by his lawyer that Mamfredos – armed and unpredictable due to his own meth consumption – was somehow fatally shot by a mysterious Black Power member who had travelled from Northland for the buy. Co-defendants Zac Kameta (left), Hassan Al Fadhli and Matthew Snaylam have been found guilty of murdering Jayden Mamfredos, 19 (right), after luring him to a Dairy Flat property in North Auckland under false pretences in April 2023. Photos / Michael Craig But the jury’s decision suggests the group preferred the narrative suggested by Crown Solicitor Alysha McClintock, in which there never was a Black Power member - only Kameta, Snaylam and the victim. Instead, the Crown suggested, Mamfredos was lured to the rural area with the promise of an easy-money, fake-drug-deal robbery of the fictional Black Power member. He would have arrived, McClintock said, to instead find a pre-dug grave and to realise – too late – that he had been double-crossed by his acquaintances. Prosecutors suggested an execution-like killing in which Mamfredos suffered a single gunshot to the head and was quickly disposed of – Kameta, a licensed digger operator known by the nickname “Johnny Trigger”, refilling the grave while his prospect kept a lookout. Al Fadhli, it was alleged, knew about the scheme but his role that night was to keep his partner and her children away from their home so there were no witnesses. It was not in dispute that Mamfredos, working under an imprisoned Bloods member with the street name Raw, was a drug dealer who had recently obtained 1kg of methamphetamine worth an estimated $80,000 to $100,000. Jayden Mamfredos went missing in April 2023. Three men were later charged with his murder. Photo / Supplied Defence lawyers suggested it was a ridiculous notion that their clients would conspire such a “sinister” plan to kill over as little as $80,000 worth of drugs that would then have to be split three ways. Prosecutors, however, held a more sceptical view. “Sadly, what you can see is for these men, Jayden Mamfredos was dispensable,” McClintock said, describing the victim as vulnerable in the criminal underworld – likely seen as an “easy target” due to his recent drug cache paired with his youth and naivety. “His life was cheap and meth was king for them.” Police found Mamfredos’ body in the 3m-deep grave in January 2024, after a nine-month search that had included two other searches of Al Fadhli’s property and a search of a gang pad also in Dairy Flat. Police search a Head Hunters gang property in Dairy Flat during the months-long search for Jayden Mamfredos. Photo / 九一星空无限 In July, police had used a digger to find a nearly identical pit but after excavating it, found only rubbish. Detectives then spoke with an Australia-based geoforensics and policing professor, and he came up with a hypothesis the earlier pit was likely a test grave. After reviewing the site, the professor suggested where police should concentrate their next search. Authorities would later find Mamafredos’ remains in a hole dug within feet of the rubbish pit. All three defendants were arrested in the days that followed. Kameta had temporarily gone on the run after the first search, telling a fellow gang member in an intercepted call that he expected to go to prison. “Reckon yous will be safe?” the friend asked again after promising to look after Snaylam in prison. “F***, I don’t know,” Kameta responded. “Slim chance but I’m running with it, all good.” His intuition was not wrong, as demonstrated by today’s verdict. The now-convicted murderers are likely to face mandatory life sentences, with Justice Geoffrey Venning set to decide their minimum terms of imprisonment at a hearing in February. Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand. Wed, 19 Nov 2025 02:52:46 Z /news/crime/suppression-lapses-for-uepa-tumaialu-accused-of-killing-ivan-jordan-fifita-in-%C5%8Dt%C4%81huhu-auckland/ /news/crime/suppression-lapses-for-uepa-tumaialu-accused-of-killing-ivan-jordan-fifita-in-%C5%8Dt%C4%81huhu-auckland/ A man accused of killing another man in South Auckland can now be named, five months after his initial arrest. Uepa Tumaialu, 32, had been set to have a hearing tomorrow in which a judge would decide if name suppression was to continue until next year’s trial. But defence lawyer Brad Moyer instead informed the High Court at Auckland during a brief hearing this morning that his client wished to abandon the application. Justice Mathew Downs ordered suppression to lapse immediately. Tumaialu was initially charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm following a June 29 incident at Beatty Lodge Accommodation in Ōtāhuhu. Ivan Jordan Fifita, 33, was found critically injured at the scene and later died in hospital, prompting police to increase the charge to manslaughter. Ivan Jordan Fifita died following an Ōtāhuhu incident in June 2025. Police have charged Uepa Tumaialu with manslaughter. Photo / Supplied Counties Manukau CIB Detective Inspector Karen Bright said, prior to Tumaialu’s first appearance at Manukau District Court, that the quick arrest was a good result and police hadn’t ruled out the possibility of further charges. She had earlier said the people involved in the incident were believed to be known to each other, which led police to believe there was not an ongoing risk to the wider community. Police have declined to give further details of what is alleged to have happened that night, citing the pending court case. Police investigate the scene in Ōtāhuhu where Ivan Jordan Fifita was fatally injured. Name suppression has now lapsed for Uepa Tumaialu, who has been charged with manslaughter. Photo / Hayden Woodward Tumaialu’s case is set to be called again for a brief callover hearing in February, followed by a three-week trial set to begin in September. He was excused from attending court today, with Moyer speaking on his behalf. Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand. Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:13:51 Z /news/crime/bomb-threat-triggers-lockdown-at-manawat%C5%AB-prison/ /news/crime/bomb-threat-triggers-lockdown-at-manawat%C5%AB-prison/ Manawatū Prison is in lockdown after a bomb threat was made this morning.  Deputy general manager of Manawatū Prison Shane Petersen said the decision was made as a precaution after a threatening phone call was made to police.  “Just before 9am, police notified the prison that a person had called them to suggest a bomb was on site at the prison,” Petersen said.  “The prison was immediately locked down for searches to be conducted and police are currently on site.  “The safety and security of the prison is our priority. We take threats to the operation and security of our facilities very seriously and have detailed protocols for dealing with incidents of this nature.”  A police spokesperson said they were in attendance at the prison after receiving a call at about 8.40am reporting a threat.  More to come  Tue, 18 Nov 2025 23:39:21 Z /news/crime/ex-marist-brother-and-serial-paedophile-charles-afeaki-denied-parole/ /news/crime/ex-marist-brother-and-serial-paedophile-charles-afeaki-denied-parole/ The Parole Board has declined to release an elderly paedophile who used his position at Catholic boarding schools to physically and sexually abuse boys in the 1970s and 80s.  The lawyer for Charles Robert Afeaki, 83, strongly urged his release during a hearing yesterday, describing his client as a model prisoner and a low risk due in part to his significant health issues.  However, the three-person parole panel said the problem is that alleged victims of Afeaki’s historical offending are still coming forward.  “We need to know where these charges are going,” said panel convenor Judge Jane Lovell-Smith.  “At present, the department won’t do [a psychological assessment] because you have all these active charges.”  The former Marist Brother has been in and out of prison since the mid-1990s, when he was first prosecuted for the historical sexual abuse. He has not been accused of current offending for over two decades, but the number of his known victims from the earlier period has steadily grown.  Afeaki was handed a 25-month prison term in August last year after admitting to the abuse of two boys at schools in Auckland and Invercargill.  Former Marist Brother and boarding school teacher Charles Afeaki, who sexually abused students in Auckland and Invercargill in the 1970s and 1980s, is sentenced again in Auckland District Court on June 4 this year. Photo / Craig Kapitan  Auckland District Court Judge Kirsten Lummis added two months to that sentence in June this year for the abuse in 1975 of a 12-year-old attending Invercargill’s Marist Brothers Primary School.  In a pre-sentencing interview, Afeaki told authorities he didn’t remember that accuser nor the allegation he had pleaded guilty to, but he accepted he must have done it because it matched so closely how he had victimised other boys.  The sentencing was Afeaki’s 40th criminal conviction for child sexual abuse and involved his eighth confirmed victim.  Even during the last sentencing, another set of charges was waiting, involving allegations he repeatedly indecently assaulted an 11-year-old boy in Whanganui in 1977. Those charges remain pending.  And a new charge, involving a 10th accuser, was filed out of Auckland District Court in September. That accuser previously told the Herald he was abused some time between April and June 1980 on a single occasion after he was caught giving the defendant the finger.  Brother Charles Afeaki. Photo / Supplied  Afeaki, then a teacher at St Paul’s College in Ponsonby, allegedly responded by grabbing the student by the arm and pulling him into his personal quarters, closing the door behind him as he began to inflict a series of hard slaps.  “Do you know what the finger means?” Afeaki allegedly asked the young teen. “It means f*** you. So you want me to f*** you, do you?”  The accuser recalled crying, pleading with Afeaki to stop as the teacher continued the beating and tried to pull off his shorts. He wouldn’t tell anybody about the incident until 45 years later, after a near-death experience, he said.  Afeaki has pleaded not guilty to both of the pending sets of charges and has elected a judge-alone trial. A date has not yet been set.  His lawyer confirmed that the pending charges are not suppressed.  During yesterday’s hearing, the contents of which were suppressed until this morning, Judge Lovell-Smith noted that Afeaki’s next parole hearing is set for April.  But she also noted that a lot could happen between now and then – including charges possibly being dropped due to the time elapsed since the alleged offending. If there was a major change in circumstances, she said, Afeaki’s lawyer could apply for an urgent hearing to reconsider parole.  “Hopefully, by April, a lot of things will get sorted,” she said, adding: “We have taken into account your health issues. Obviously, we are concerned about that.”  She noted that the inmate had received positive reports from those who manage his case.  “I’m sorry we can’t give you a decision at this stage on release, but we need to tick all the boxes and be satisfied that you aren’t an undue risk,” she said.  Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.  Tue, 18 Nov 2025 18:12:30 Z /news/crime/wellington-rape-trial-jordan-tegus-denies-17-charges-including-sexual-violation/ /news/crime/wellington-rape-trial-jordan-tegus-denies-17-charges-including-sexual-violation/ WARNING: This story contains allegations of sexual offending A man accused of raping a young woman allegedly continued to harass her after his arrest, setting up fake Instagram accounts, demanding naked photos and pressuring her to drop a police complaint. But Jordan Tegus’s lawyer says the sex was consensual, and other events have been misconstrued. “The Crown’s case is that he was endeavouring to get her to change her truthful account in her statement,” defence lawyer Tony Bamford told the jury in the Wellington District Court. “Whereas the defence case is that he was saying, ‘How could you say these things about me when they didn’t happen?’” Tegus is on trial, where he denies 17 charges, including rape, sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, indecent assault and making an intimate visual recording. Opening the Crown’s case this week, prosecutor Michaela Waite-Harvey told the court Tegus was physically and sexually violent towards the woman, twice filming her while they had sex without her knowledge. He’s also alleged to have raped her, as well as forcing her to have oral sex and physically assaulting her. Waite-Harvey said the woman confided to her mother and later spoke to police. As a result, Tegus was arrested, and a protection order was issued. Tegus’ actions following his arrest are the basis of two charges of perverting the course of justice and a charge of breaching a protection order. The Crown says he pressured the woman to withdraw or amend her complaint, urging her to say she had lied to the police or that her mother had forced her to make the false allegations. It’s alleged he even got the woman to send a letter in her own name retracting her testimony. In return, he allegedly promised to take her overseas once the court case was over. And, despite the protection order, the Crown alleges they met twice in person. Online, he allegedly created false Instagram profiles so she could contact him, deleting them periodically to avoid detection. The Crown says she was told to message him at certain times of the day, and she had set an alarm on her phone, reminding her to log into Instagram. If she didn’t message, he would get angry. It’s also alleged he demanded she take photos of herself in the shower and send them to him, and he would check what she was wearing before she left the house, ordering her to change her clothes if he thought her outfit was inappropriate. Jordan Tegus, 27. Photo / Catherine Hutton. ‘I own you now’ In the woman’s video statement to police, which the jury began watching today, the woman described how Tegus allegedly put a hand on her throat, leaving a purple bruise. The next day, he asked her to send him a photo of the bruise. “He thought that was, like, cool and, like, he was proud of himself that he did that to my neck,” she said. He said, “It’s like I own you now because I left my mark on you.” During the interview, she described several instances of being raped, telling the interviewer she had told him to stop while they were having sex, but he didn’t. Defence: the victim’s reliability and credibility at issue However, in a brief opening statement to the jury, Bamford suggested that while they may find the charges distasteful and abhorrent, they should set those feelings aside. He told the jurors this was a case where the woman’s reliability and credibility was going to be squarely at issue and urged them to keep an open mind. Bamford suggested to the jury that the allegation that Tegus put his hand to her throat may have been an innocent incident that had morphed into an assault allegation. In regards to the sexual offending, he said the key issue was whether the woman had consented to certain sexual activity. He told the jury it was clear from the many messages the pair exchanged that they both had an interest in sex, but also that the woman was trying to do what Tegus wanted in order to make things good for him. As a result, the woman had consented to things, even if she found them painful, he said. But he told the jury that his client was clear: if the woman said she didn’t want the sexual activity to continue, he would respect that and stop. The trial before Judge Noel Sainsbury is expected to take up to two weeks. SEXUAL HARM Where to get help:If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7:• Call 0800 044 334• Text 4334• Email support@safetotalk.nz• For more info or to web chat visit safetotalk.nzAlternatively contact your local police station - click here for a list.If you have been sexually assaulted, remember it's not your fault. Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice. Tue, 18 Nov 2025 07:24:59 Z /news/crime/well-known-far-north-businessman-named-as-alleged-murder-victim-as-woman-charged/ /news/crime/well-known-far-north-businessman-named-as-alleged-murder-victim-as-woman-charged/ The Far North community is shocked and saddened after the death of a well-known Kaitāia business man, Monty Knight. Knight died on Sunday following reports of an assault and a 57-year-old woman has since been charged with murder. Knight was a stalwart of the Kaitāia community, who was the director of Knights the Jewellers and Okahu Estate winery. He was also a former councillor with both Far North District Council and Northland Regional Council. On Sunday, emergency services were called to an Okahu Rd address about 12.35pm, where a man was found with critical injuries. Despite the best efforts from emergency services, he died at the scene. Acting Detective Inspector Tania Jellyman, from Northland CIB, said police arrested a woman at a separate address on Sunday afternoon and she has since been charged with murder. “Police are not seeking anyone else in relation to this matter,” she said. “A scene examination is continuing and a post-mortem examination will be carried out in the coming days.” The 57-year-old woman will appear in Kaitāia District Court today. Former Far North mayor John Carter described Knight as a “dear friend”. “He’s an amazing community person. He’s a very successful businessman who has contributed an incredible amount to the community in which he lived. “He is certainly one of the people that everybody knows and the community will miss him badly.” Carter said Kaitāia will not be the same place without him. “I’m still in shock - I just can’t get over it.” The feeling of shock was echoed by Colin “Toss” Kitchen, another Kaitāia community leader who served two terms with Knight on the Far North District Council. “He was a community icon in Kaitāia, a business leader and people’s person. “He has done so much for the community of Kaitāia and indeed for Northland - and the wine industry and local tourism - there’s just so much that he’s done.” Kitchen said Knight was generous, not just with money but with sound advice, and he always had an open-door policy. While details of Knights farewell are still being worked out, Kitchen said he expected the Kaitāia community to get involved. “Monty’s farewell celebration, I think, is going to be massive. He touched so many people’s hearts.” Kitchen said he knew the woman who has been charged with murder and said he saw no red flags in her behaviour. He offered his condolences to all the emergency services staff who attended the incident on Sunday, including Kaitāia Volunteer Fire Brigade, who did their best to revive Knight to no avail. Denise Piper is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference. Sun, 16 Nov 2025 23:00:31 Z /news/crime/i-ll-get-you-too-bstarstarstarstar-man-threatened-ex-caused-45k-damage-to-historic-house-injured-police-dog/ /news/crime/i-ll-get-you-too-bstarstarstarstar-man-threatened-ex-caused-45k-damage-to-historic-house-injured-police-dog/ “I’ll get you too, bitch.” Those were the parting words of a man who had arrived unannounced at his ex-partner’s house, despite him not being allowed near her. This week Jayden Wells shed tears as he was sent to prison on a variety of charges that began with offending in October 2023 and ended 21 months later. During that time he injured a police dog and evaded police on a motorbike at speeds of up to 200km/h. He also damaged the council-owned, historic Broadgreen House in Nelson during a burglary, leaving ratepayers to foot the almost $45,000 repair bill. “You have caused the wider Nelson community to incur significant costs for remedying damage caused by your impulsive, greedy behaviour,” Judge Jo Rielly said in sentencing Wells. Wells appeared tearfully on screen from prison, where he was held on remand, as he was sentenced in the Nelson District Court to a further two and a half years in prison. Unannounced arrival ends with threat One evening in late October 2023, Wells went unannounced to his former partner’s address, despite a long-standing condition in the protection order that he could only visit if permitted. He had wanted to drop off some clothing for their son but refused to leave when asked, then began swearing at a man there. It grew confrontational, which frightened the woman as she tried to separate the pair. Wells shouted, “I’ll get you too, bitch”, as he finally left. Judge Rielly acknowledged Wells had been motivated by a recent hurt over the couple’s child that had triggered his negative reaction and spiral into further offending. Riding motorbike at 200km/h On the afternoon of October 25, 2024, Wells was clocked by a police patrol car riding his motorbike at 123km/h along a rural highway in Motupiko, near Motueka. Police activated their lights but Wells rode off at a speed estimated to be more than 200km/h. Police abandoned the pursuit but two days later he was caught riding the same motorbike at 133km/h on a section of the Lewis Pass highway. Again, he “accelerated heavily” when police activated their lights. He was thought to have been travelling at 170km/h before he was found near Murchison. Just before that Wells had been sentenced to 130 hours of community work for an earlier breach, in that he had only completed half an hour of a previous community work sentence. Police dog seriously injured On March 19 this year, Wells ended up charged with unlawfully being on a property, possession of a knife, possession of utensils for cannabis and methamphetamine and injuring a police dog. He and others went to Silvan Park mountainbike park on private property near Richmond. Access was through a locked gate, where vehicles were not permitted. About 4.30pm, Wells arrived in his vehicle with fuel containers and bolt cutters. The group gained access to the property, then fled when they saw police arrive. A police dog was deployed but when it tried to restrain Wells, he seriously injured its eye and it needed ongoing veterinary treatment. Police found he had a knife, cannabis bong and meth pipe in his possession. Wells told police he hadn’t intended to commit a crime and that he had “just gone for a drive”. Burglary damages 1850s house The crime spree ended with the burglary of Broadgreen House in July, when Wells took copper downpipes and damaged the slate roof of the 1850s cob building while scaling it. Judge Rielly considered the burglary, which left the building needing $45,000 of repairs, as the lead charge. Defence lawyer Josh Friend said inquiries revealed the Nelson City Council did not have insurance to cover the damage because of the costs associated with insuring historic property. It therefore had to draw on a special contingency fund that would cover half the repair cost, with the remainder coming from the council’s maintenance fund. From an adjusted starting point of three years and three months in prison, which factored in Wells’ offending while on bail, he was given credit for his guilty pleas and for his personal circumstances. Judge Rielly noted Wells had been raised in state care from the age of 18 months and had been subjected to abuse and suffered an “extreme sense of abandonment”. She said it was clear from a letter he had written to the court that he had taken time to think about things, was motivated to get better and to re-engage with the workforce. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on the lead charge of burglary, plus further prison terms on the other charges, to be served concurrently. He was disqualified from driving for six months and nine months respectively on the failing to stop charges. Judge Rielly said it was unrealistic to impose a full reparation order for the damage to Broadgreen, despite the fact she would have liked to. Instead, Wells was ordered to pay the 10% or $4500 he had earlier agreed to, once released from prison. Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at 九一星空无限. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail. Sun, 16 Nov 2025 20:31:32 Z /news/crime/refugee-businessman-abdul-ahmadi-sentenced-for-800k-stolen-car-chop-shop/ /news/crime/refugee-businessman-abdul-ahmadi-sentenced-for-800k-stolen-car-chop-shop/ A man who fled from Afghanistan and sought refugee status in New Zealand went on to establish a chop shop which received $800,000 worth of stolen cars. Abdul Ahmadi was the director of a dismantling business that was carrying out legitimate work. But it was also dismantling and exporting stolen cars overseas behind the scenes. Ahmadi operated dismantling yards in Christchurch and Wellington and, over a period of time, became known as someone who accepted stolen cars. Some vehicles were stolen and delivered to his yard within hours. They would quickly be dismantled and shipped overseas. The practice came to an end when police raided his Christchurch yard and found several stolen vehicles on site. When authorities eventually completed their investigations, they found that 38 stolen vehicles with a combined value of $800,000 had been through Ahmadi’s yards. The offending occurred between December 2023 and August 2024. Today in the Christchurch District Court, defence lawyer Philip McDonnell said Ahmadi had faced numerous challenges as a refugee who fled Afghanistan about 25 years ago. The lawyer said Ahmadi and his family were forced to leave and were not treated well during their journey through Iran before eventually gaining refugee status in New Zealand. McDonnell described the offending as reckless. He asked for a starting point of between three and a half and four years in jail. With discounts, he said, that would allow for an electronic sentence. Crown prosecutor Will Taffs asked for a sentence of five and a half to six years’ jail, saying the offending was premeditated. Taffs said the defence had minimised the offending. “This is not cultural ignorance; there is no culture in the world where it is acceptable to chop up cars and sell them.” Taffs added that there was no evidence of remorse. “This is highly sophisticated offending. It used a business with licences and obligations, [and] yards in two cities which were chopping up vehicles and sending them around the world. “We are looking at a staggering loss; it doesn’t include the emotional loss, the broader harm to the public with increased insurance premiums.” Judge Quentin Hix said the fact that the business was legitimate was not a mitigating factor. He said several victims had described how they had been affected emotionally by the thefts. Judge Hix took a starting point of five years in prison. He said there was difficulty making a connection with Ahmadi‘s cultural background and the offending, and he had made a reparation offer which could not be met. There was also difficulty in accepting Ahmadi‘s claims of remorse, he said. Judge Hix said he was prepared to give some consideration, given the amount of mana Ahmadi had lost. The judge gave Ahmadi a 35% discount before sentencing him to prison for three years and three months. McDonnell said his client would appeal the sentence. Ahmadi’s wife burst into tears after the sentencing. Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the past 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands 九一星空无限. Wed, 12 Nov 2025 07:31:01 Z /news/crime/auckland-man-accused-of-killing-11yo-boy-and-father-after-bucklands-beach-house-fire-pleads-not-guilty/ /news/crime/auckland-man-accused-of-killing-11yo-boy-and-father-after-bucklands-beach-house-fire-pleads-not-guilty/ An Auckland man accused of murdering an 11-year-old boy and the child’s father appeared in the High Court at Auckland for the first time today.  The 38-year-old asked for name suppression until next week so his family can get their affairs in order.  Justice Mathew Downs granted the request after no opposition from the Crown.  The man was charged with two counts of murder on October 24, three weeks after the bodies of Jung Sup Lee, 36, and his son, Ha-il Lee, were found in a house fire on Murvale Drive in Bucklands Beach.  Police allege the East Auckland fire was deliberately lit with an accelerant.  CCTV footage and information provided by the public aided in the arrest, Detective Inspector Tofilau Faamanuia Va’aelua previously told the media.  An Auckland man with name suppression is accused of killing Jung Sup Lee, 36, and his son Ha-il Lee, 11, in a Bucklands Beach house fire. Photo / Jason Dorday  The defendant, who bowed his head and wept during parts of today’s brief hearing, entered not guilty pleas through lawyer David Hoskin.  The judge ordered a three-week trial, scheduled to begin in February 2027.  Ha-il Lee, a student at Bucklands Beach Intermediate, has been described by his principal as a “delightful” pupil and a credit to his family.  Emergency services at the scene of a fatal house fire on Murvale Drive, Bucklands Beach, in October. Photo / Corey Fleming  The child’s older brother and mother escaped unscathed, authorities said. A boarder at the house was also uninjured.  Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.  Tue, 11 Nov 2025 21:44:22 Z /news/crime/police-cleared-over-west-auckland-shooting-after-ipca-investigation/ /news/crime/police-cleared-over-west-auckland-shooting-after-ipca-investigation/ The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found police were justified in shooting an armed man who attempted two carjackings in West Auckland. Police responded to an incident on September 27, 2023, after they received information about a stolen vehicle involved in an aggravated robbery at a petrol station. At the time, police said they sighted a vehicle of interest on Te Atatū Rd on the Te Atatū Peninsula. There was an attempt to block the vehicle in at the petrol station, but the driver rammed other vehicles to escape. Police units pursued the vehicle on the Northwestern Motorway before it exited at Lincoln Rd. The driver left the vehicle on the Lincoln Rd overbridge with a long-barrelled firearm, unsuccessfully attempting to carjack multiple vehicles. An armed man was chased and shot by police at the Lincoln Road flyover at Henderson across State Highway 16. Armed police arrived at the scene with the man pointing the gun toward the first officer. He would not drop it despite being instructed to by officers. The man continued, then opened the door of a truck and pointed the weapon at the driver. An officer then fired their pistol at the man, injuring him and he was then taken to hospital for surgery. IPCA found Police were justified in shooting a man in September 2023. Photo / Supplied The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) said police were justified in shooting the man and exercised appropriate command and control of the incident. Waitematā district commander Superintendent Naila Hassan said the police frontline was often required to respond and make split-second decisions “in situations unfolding rapidly, to keep people safe”. A white truck at the scene with bullet holes in its windscreen. Photo / Hayden Woodward IPCA found the use of force with a firearm was reasonable and proportionate. Hassan said it was clear the man posed an imminent threat. “The entirety of this incident unfolded in around 10 minutes, and our staff moved forward with courage given what was taking place on the overbridge. Armed police at the September 2023 Lincoln Rd incident in Henderson. Photo / Dean Purcell “I’m incredibly proud of our Police Officers on that day.” In September, a 31-year-old man was convicted and sentenced at the Auckland High Court for presenting a firearm at a person. Tue, 11 Nov 2025 02:20:02 Z /news/crime/bay-of-plenty-teenager-on-trial-charged-with-raping-young-schoolgirl/ /news/crime/bay-of-plenty-teenager-on-trial-charged-with-raping-young-schoolgirl/ Warning: This story deals with allegations of the sexual assault of a child and may be distressing. A primary-aged girl has described being sexually violated by a friend of her brother under a trampoline, behind bushes and in her bedroom. A teenage boy is on trial in the Youth Court at Tauranga, in a judge-alone trial before Judge Paul Geoghegan, where he denies the allegations. The boy, who cannot be named because of statutory suppressions, faces six charges – three of sexual violation by rape, one of sexual violation and two of indecent assault. The girl, who was 6 at the time of her evidential video interview, told the interviewer the boy would promise to give her lollies if she would let him “put his penis in her ’gina”. She described it happening on repeated occasions when he would come to visit her brother at their Bay of Plenty home. ‘Sometimes I’d trick him,’ says girl The girl said she and the boy would hide behind bushes or under the trampoline and he would sexually violate her as they stood in a hug embrace, while in a kneeling or “squat” position, or when they were seated on her bed and she was facing him. When asked to describe what amounted to mechanics, she said it was “too tricky” but later demonstrated using soft toys provided to her. She told the interviewer that “sometimes I’d trick him ’cause I really don’t wanna do it” and would tell the boy she was “busting” and needed to go to the toilet. He would be “waiting there and then he’ll come back and look for me but then I’d be like hiding somewhere”. The girl also described them kissing like when you’re “married” and the boy touching “her privates” over her clothing. She said the boy had told her to keep it a secret but she “didn’t actually want to”. The boy’s lawyer Steve Franklin suggested the girl had made up the stories. He put to her, under cross-examination, a description of their height difference and the difference in the length of their legs when standing. She then said the boy “was on his knees” and she stood when the violations behind the bushes happened. Franklin responded: “That’s not what you told [the interviewer]”, at which point the girl began to cry. After a brief break, the cross-examination continued, and the girl denied having made up stories about each sexual encounter. The girl said the reason she couldn’t explain more detail about the specific mechanics of the alleged sexual offences, at the time of her evidential interview was that she “didn’t really understand back then”. Franklin asked her if someone else had touched her, but she said no. Mum says she ‘caught’ teenager in girl’s room The cross-examination also included questions about the proximity of the girl’s bedroom to the communal areas of the home, as well as the visibility of the trampoline. Under re-examination, the girl said the sexual violations only happened when the trampoline was away from the house, by some trees. The girl’s mother gave evidence and said she had “caught” the boy in her daughter’s room about “four to six times” and at least once she had told her daughter off for drawing on the boy’s face. She said the blinds were down and the door was closed before she walked in. “I look back now and think I was stupid,” she said, but at the time she thought it was “perfectly innocent”. During her evidence, the mother said her daughter had started to become increasingly interested in human anatomy books and had also complained of discomfort around her genital area. The mother described other changes in her behaviour, including anxiety, which at the time she had put down to her starting school. She had also begun to exhibit some sexualised behaviour around men and, on one occasion, around her brother. At this point, the mother had enough concerns to talk to her daughter and in the course of the conversation explained to her about her “private parts” and that others shouldn’t touch them, nor should she touch others. At this, she said her daughter’s facial expression changed. The mother then asked her daughter if somebody had touched her. She said the girl replied yes and named the teenager. The mother said at first she “couldn’t compute” the disclosure and checked the girl was, in fact, referring to her son’s friend. She had asked more questions and the girl had used sexual gestures that the mother thought a child wouldn’t otherwise know. The mother had also tried to understand when the alleged incidents might have occurred based on things such as the timing of Christmas and birthdays. ‘Extraordinarily risky’ locations, defence lawyer suggests Under cross-examination, the mother was asked about the family’s daily rhythms, activities and the house layout. It was put to her the girl’s bedroom would have been a “risky place” for the boy to do what he’s accused of because anyone could have walked in. “You would think so, wouldn’t you?” she replied. It was also put to her that given she moved around her property a lot, tending to animals, gardens and outdoor chores, she could have walked past the trampoline at any point. Again, Franklin suggested to her it was an “extraordinarily risky” location, to which she replied, “obviously not”. Under re-examination, the mother confirmed there were times when her daughter would be in the house or around the property unsupervised, while she was in her vegetable garden or doing chores. Franklin also questioned her about her daughter’s interest in the anatomy books, one of which he described as a guide for children about how babies were made, which included descriptions of sex. He then asked her if her daughter was bright and curious and liked to learn, which the mother confirmed was the case. The trial before Judge Geoghegan continues. SEXUAL HARM Where to get help:If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7:• Call 0800 044 334• Text 4334• Email support@safetotalk.nz• For more info or to web chat visit safetotalk.nzAlternatively contact your local police station - click here for a list.If you have been sexually assaulted, remember it's not your fault. Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at 九一星空无限. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at 九一星空无限talk ZB. Mon, 10 Nov 2025 07:26:19 Z