Tauranga Grandmother Seriously Injured In Bottle Attack

MaryMary Loader, the 65 year old granny who was seriously injured in a beer bottle attack whilst out fruit picking on Sunday morning, is still gravely ill after a three hour operation on Sunday to repair her damaged face.

Police have released sickening photographs of her injuries which included massive bruising, a shattered cheekbone and a broken nose. They’re very shocking and out of respect to Mrs Loader and her family we won’t be showing them here.

Our thoughts and best wishes go out to her.

This unprovoked and senseless attack on a defenseless woman is a sad indictment of a society that is deteriorating more and more every day. A society where alcohol abuse is out of control and people have no sense of consequence or responsibility for their actions,  where a grandmother can be almost killed by a half full beer bottle at 8.30 in the morning.

We hope the police catch those responsible but doubt that the justice system will deal with them appropriately, any sentence they’re given is unlikely to be punitive or act as a deterrent to others.
Anyone wishing to convey their respects to Mrs Loader and her family can send a get well card to her at Tauranga hospital or leave a message on the Trademe community board

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Community/MessageBoard/Messages.aspx?id=250286

We’ve said before that one may judge the character of a society by how it treats the weak, the vulnerable, the most easily forgotten. Abuse of the young and the old is widespread in NZ, recent attacks on elderly people include:

• Gaynor Alice White, 62, battered to death with a hammer by an intruder in her home in Parkland, Christchurch

• A 72 year old man left shaken and bruised after being robbed at gunpoint at his home in Beerescourt Rd Road, Hamilton

• An 82 year old woman kidnapped and robbed whilst shopping on W.Tamaki Road, Auckland

• Grandmother Barabara Julian, battered to death by an intruder in her Kaitaia home

• Lois Dear, 66, murdered and sexually assulted in her classroom at Tokoroa primary school

• An elderly woman was physically and sexually assulted in her Eltham home

• Retired teacher John Rowe, murdered by two teenage girls in his Opotiki home

• An 83 year old woman who was assaulted and her home set fire to in Howick

• An elderly couple who were hopsitalized after a home invasion in New Plymouth

• An elderly man kicked to the ground and assaulted by a truck driver in Manukau

• An 85 year old man badly beaten during a home invasion at his Bethesda Village retirement home in Wiri.

• 86 year old Patricia Burrows was left with a fractured pelvis, cuts and bruises after she was mugged in a Christchurch shopping mall

• Yin Ping Yang, 80, died following a savage attack during a home invasion in Manurewa East that lasted for several hours.

• A 99 year old woman who was sexually assaulted in her Palmerston North home and died in hospital

See also:

“NZ a more dangerous, more violent place“ -  “Violence and drug-related offences are largely responsible for increased crime rates, according to 2009 crime statistics released by police today”

Booze fuels a massive leap in crime and family violence : “A massive rise in family violence and more drunken teenage girls fighting in the street are features of shocking crime statistics for Hamilton and Waikato released today.”

Family stunned alleged drunk driver in crash bailed twice :  justice system has given family a “kick in the guts”

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New Zealand's Toxic Homes Scandal

A Herald article today highlighted the reality of the ‘cheap’ housing often bought by unwary homeowners and newcomers in New Zealand. It tells the story of a Malaysian couple who purchased a property in Buckland’s Beach, an affluent area in South Auckland that’s popular with immigrants from a number of countries.

Mr Chee bought his monolithic clad property nine years ago so that he and his family could make a new start in New Zealand. The house has been afflicted with leaky building syndrome. This is a caused by a weather tightness defect that allows water to leak into the structure of a building and rot the wooden frame, causing extensive structural damage and the growth of fungus that produces dangerous spores – Stachybotrys which is known to produce trichothecene mycotoxins including satratoxins.:

“…Mr Chee said the garage, living room and master bedroom areas now contained stachybotrys, a dangerous mould found in damp areas and linked to respiratory illnesses and infant deaths.
The 56-year-old watch salesman told the Herald that his family had been through extreme stress, anxiety and countless sleepless nights. He was on medication for high blood pressure.
“It is no wonder some victims have committed or attempted suicide.”
Mr Chee felt victimised and terribly let down by the Government-run Weathertight Homes Tribunal, which awarded only $141,800 for limited “target repairs”, when he had claimed $443,115 for a full reclad…”

One of the most common problems that migrants from developed countries encounter in New Zealand is the poor quality of the houses. Almost all of them are wooden framed and range from quaint old Kauri villas to brand new million dollar mansions and there are often problems associated with dampness, poor weather tightness (‘leaky building’) lack of adequate heating and poor insulation.

Unfortunately many migrants are unaware of the massive extent of the leaky building disaster in New Zealand, even though it has been very much in the news for the last few years. 

A recent estimate is that it will $11.5 billion dollars to repair all leaky homes in NZ, that’s approximately 10% of the country’s GDP. But the government actually stands to gain from those repairs because GST is charged on the work.

Stitched Up Migrants
In April of last year we picked up on another Herald report by Anne Gibson about another migrant family who unwittingly bought a leaky home nine years ago. ( see Leaky Homes Issues and ‘Stiched up’ Migrants) The White family were British immigrants who bought a house in Whangaparoa through a licensed real estate agent, Mrs White was keen to warn other migrants against being duped:

“Wilna White and her family are migrants who became leaky-building victims. After a nine-year struggle which is yet to end, she wants to warn other migrants of the dangers of buying a New Zealand house.
Paul and Wilna White lived in the English village of Barton-le-Clay outside Luton and worked in London, arriving here in December 2001.
The family loved Auckland’s beaches and bought a house at Whangaparaoa. They dealt with a licensed real estate agent.
Soon after buying, they discovered severe weather-tightness issues and the rot was so bad that a child fell part-way through an exterior deck.
The couple have fought for eight years to get compensation, claiming $475,000 in a Weathertight Homes Tribunal case. But earlier this year, they got just $173,000 and have appealed the decision.The tribunal awarded the Whites $121,000 from Lorelle Kerkin as the sole trustee of an estate that sold them the house at 6 Castaway Place, and $52,000 from Rodney District Council, which signed it off.
Mrs White said the past eight years had been a nightmare. She has been robbed of annual holidays because dealing with the leaky-house issue has taken up all her spare time.
Mrs White warned that migrants were in danger of being tricked.”

Has much changed  for migrants since the Whites arrived all those years ago? it would seem not, immigrants are still being seen as naive or easy targets and “stitched up” accordingly (also by Anne Gibson):

“Immigrants are being saddled with leaky homes, unwittingly buying into our national disaster, says a Remuera real estate agent.Steve Koerber of Barfoot & Thompson has pointed the finger at vendors and other real estate agents, saying there is a lack of information about houses.
John Gray of the Homeowners and Buyers Association agreed that some agents were reluctant to let potential buyers know of weather-tightness issues, but an agency boss has rejected criticism.
Bryan Thomson, Harcourts chief executive, said agents were upfront if they were made aware of leaks. But not all vendors told agents about leak issues, he said.
Mr Koerber said migrants were particularly at risk because so many were unaware of the dangers of buying a New Zealand house. “I have a big problem with the fact that hundreds of new immigrants and some locals are literally stitched up into potentially leaky or actually leaky homes. Their eyes are wide shut and some owners and agents are genuinely relieved to find them,” Mr Koerber said.”

We’re mindful of the current immigration campaign being targeted at countries like Singapore that is using the draw of “cheap houses” to attract skilled, cashed-up workers over to New Zealand:

“The bait was better working hours, cheaper cars and housing – and in three weeks thousands from Singapore have registered their interest in living in New Zealand.
An Immigration New Zealand pilot project aimed at attracting Singaporean migrants has resulted in over 1000 registrations each week since it was launched last month, with 3565 potential immigrants having registered their interest in just three weeks.
Would-be migrants are told of comparatively cheaper housing, car ownership and a relaxed lifestyle – and those who registered their interest on newzealandnow.govt.nz received an email from Immigration telling them how to apply for relevant visas.”

Caveat Emptor! when something looks too good to be true…  Just remember that $11.5 billion has to come from somewhere.

See also: Health ruined in Quarter of a Million NZ Homes: “A quarter of a million homes are so cold, damp and poorly built they are causing serious health problems.”

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Migrant Tales - Teacher Duped By The Hype, Can't Find Work In NZ

$10,000 down the drain

Continuing in our series of Migrant Stories: first hand accounts of migrant life in New Zealand, taken from locations around the net.

This tale is taken from Expatexposed, a support forum for migrants in New Zealand.
The poster is a fully qualified American teacher who believed that New Zealand has a skills shortage and that people in her profession are needed there. Unfortunately she found out, after considerable expense to herself, she wasn’t needed at all and that there wasn’t a job for her.

What she wasn’t told was with so many Kiwis returning during the recession employers are more likely to give jobs to New Zealanders and in some cases have been forced to do so. Please see the collection of posts tagged “jobs for kiwis” for examples of this.

Yet despite all this campaigns are still being launched in countries like Singapore to attract migration applications, using draws such as ‘cheap’ housing and cars.

The situation has got so bad for some groups of migrants, who are being offered temporary WTR visas rather than PR, and not being able to find work that their consulates in NZ have issued a warning that Immigration New Zealand “covers up the fact that it is very difficult to find jobs“. See the post on wordpress: “Philippines warns citizens about NZ work to residence scheme”:

“Philippines consul-general Emilie Shi says Immigration New Zealand is not doing enough to warn would-be applicants about the difficulties of finding a job or telling them that Kiwis will be given preference by employers.

“Immigration New Zealand continues to say what a great place this country is to come live and work in, but they cover up the fact that it is very difficult to find a job here, or that they will be treated as second-class workers under the scheme,” Ms Shi said…

Migrants are worth millions to the NZ economy. You could even say they’ve kept it afloat during the recession and prevented the ailing housing market from imploding into a cloud of rotten timber.

Official figures dating back to 2006 show that the migrant population of 927,000 people had a positive net fiscal impact of $3,288 million in the year to 30 June. The net fiscal impact per head was $2,680 for recent migrants, $3,470 for intermediate migrants and $4,280 for earlier migrants. The net fiscal impact for the New Zealand-born population was $915 per head.

When you look at this person’s migration costs it’s easy to see those the official figures may be on the conservative side.

Now that you’ve been filled-in on the background here’s our migrant’s tale, you can see that the odds were stacked against her from the start:

“…I have been here for only 3 months, I felt something was not right almost from the start.. I am a teacher believing the hype about the “teacher shortage“, got certified and qualified in NZ before I came, took the plunge..I don’t even know where to start. I applied to so many schools but none except for one did not even bother shortlisting me, immigration has played games with me, and my savings from the states have been depleted, had to pay for my children’s school for part of the term we have been here (even though I had a part-time job). I am exhausted, mentally drained, depressed..I feel like a failure and a fool for moving here. Now I have to put the pieces back together. I barely have enough money for next 4 months til I start teaching again in the states in Aug,will try to survive though the kindness of family and friends. How did it come to this? Please enlighten..

“Welcome to EE. I am sorry to hear that you have been scammed by NZ immigration. How did it happen? Let me answer your question with a question. How much money have you dumped into the NZ economy since you arrived? NZ is a country based on dairy, immigration (and the return of Kiwis with foreign earned cash), landlords and tourism. So many people are granted visas and get their qualifications recognized ($$$$$) only to arrive here to not be able to find work. In the meantime you drop tens of thousands into the NZ economy and then you are shown the door with a “we didn’t want you here anyway” attitude.NZ has a population of 4 million. About 240,000 are on the unemployment benefit, yet thousands are here on unskilled work permits (fruit picking, cafe work, hospitality). There are few professions in real demand (meaning that there are jobs currently available) and most available aren’t interested in migrants.Yet the immigration wheel continues to spin and to prop up a broken economy. Even Kiwis born and raised here must take an OE to buy property if they are not helped onto the ladder by family (or a family trust).It’s not your fault. Help the Karma wheel and tell your friends!Best to you!”

"Thanks for your reply. You have hit the nail right on the head! And unfortunately yes, I have spent tons of money in trying to get certified and approved by immigration, the flight itself, renting a place, household items, etc.. as I said in the previous post, my savings are all gone even though i am a fairly economical person, hardly go out, cook from scratch, etc.. I would say and this is not an exaggeration, i have lost at least $10,000, to find out no one wants to hire me. It really makes me angry, not only at NZ but also at myself for getting fooled..this is what’s causing the depression. I am counting the days now, trying to warn people in another website who (some) are still wearing rose tinted glasses. At first I got flak but now more people and their stories are coming out of the woodwork and i really think it is helping prospective migrants think twice about coming here to NZ. I feel like one of those people who fell for the internet lottery scam or something. Again, thanks for your support.
My savings were wiped out in less than 3 months, i had a part-time job but it was a joke, did everything i had to do on my end to teach here( NZ claims to have a teacher shortage but no one will hire you, not even shortlist you) and luckily, LUCKILY i did not give up everything back home, am going back at the end of this month…almost got stuck here…”

We wish her every success with re-establishing herself in the States and hope that others will have the wisdom to learn something from her experience.

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