Three French Tourists Beaten Up In Northland Campervan Robbery

Attacks on tourists continue in New Zealand with the savage beating of three french tourists in Mangamuka, Northland
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The Dominion Post covered the story, saying:

“Three French tourists, attacked despite handing cash to robbers in Northland, feared for their lives, police say.
Two were taken to hospital with facial injuries after being attacked in their campervan, in a rest area south of Mangamuka, east of Kaitaia.
Detective Eddie Evans said the three awoke early yesterday to a man demanding money. The tourists, all in their 20s, handed cash through a window. Another man appeared and the pair broke into the van, attacking the trio and taking more property, Mr Evans said.
“The [tourists] met their demands and these guys have still proceeded to break into the campervan. They were freaked out … they feared for their lives.” The two men, described as Maori, left in an “old” car, that was possibly dark red or brown in colour.
In August three Chinese tourists were robbed at knifepoint in the Far North by two men they stopped to help. In October 2008 four Irish tourists had their van stolen at gunpoint in Dargaville. In 2006 a Dutch couple honeymooning in the Bay of Islands in a campervan were robbed at gunpoint and the woman raped. “

We’ve often called for tourists, especially those using campervans, to be given more information about the dangers of crime in New Zealand and advice about areas to steer clear of. Sadly, it seems that the message still isn’t getting out.

If you’re planning to take a holiday in New Zealand be sure to find out about the risks before you leave. If you are British you may wish to read the travel advisory issued about New Zealand by the Foreign and Commonwealth office here.

Low crime rate a ‘myth‘
Kevin Hicks, Chair of Neighbourhood Support Auckland City was once quoted as having said:

“…the popular notion that we have a low rate of crime Is yet another myth that has been perpetuated over the years.
Another myth is that we are a punitive society. Quite the reverse is true – we are actually a very lenient society with the chance of imprisonment falling from one chance in 30 in before the 1950s, to less than one chance in 200 by the 1980s. “It is very disappointing to see the debate still based on urban legends ideologically driven “research” when the statistics that are easily found on the government website say the exact opposite”. “Over those same years when prosecutions and imprisonment was falling, crime was exponentially rising” he says.
Crime is now
· impacting nearly quarter of a million kiwis per annum (ed. the pop. is only 4 million)
· damaging our reputation worldwide
· causing governments to issue tourism warnings due to our high crime rate
· spawned several websites now actively discouraging migration and tourism to NZ
· Costing the country over $12 billion per annum
· Hurting the most vulnerable people
Kevin says it is time to be honest and admit there is a problem and actually formulate some long term plans to deal with it. “

We agree with him and we will continue to highlight how crime impacts migrants and visitors to New Zealand until things improve.

In August of last year we wrote “Attack on three Chinese tourists – Reputation comments commence“:

“Labour’s tourism spokesman Kelvin Davis has been swift in issuing a strong rebuke as part of a damage limitation exercise following the knife point robbery and assault of three Chinese tourists in Northland. At least we’re not seeing the usual ‘isolated incident’ comment trotted out, so some credit to him for that.
Time to get tough on the causes of crime. Want to send out a really strong message to the community? catch those responsible and impose stiff sentences. In the meantime launch a honest campaign to warn visitors about the risks present in NZ so that they’re not sitting ducks – savvy consumers are nothing to be afraid of. A false image makes visitors vulnerable, use incidents like these to highlight the dangers and tell people they need to be as street-wise in NZ as in any other Western country with a high crime rate...”

For more see our Crime Stats and Facts page

Other tourist attacks and robberies include:

A family of Swiss tourists that were assaulted and racially abused in Kaitaia, Northland

Anke Kuballa and Marc Busch from Germany who were robbed in Whangarei, Northland

Two German tourists attacked in Paihia, Northland

Two American tourists were robbed at Shipwreck Bay in Northland whilst sandboarding

Asian woman, (probably Japanese) age 22, raped in her room by 2 teenagers in a home invasion in Opotiki, Northland


Three Chinese tourists attacked and robbed at Te paki, 90 Mile Beach, Northland, by two men they’d stopped to help

French tourist Anthony Cressend, beaten and robbed at campsite in Ahipara, Northland

Two Australian tourists robbed at knifepoint for their holiday money in Te Puke, SE of Tauranga.

Japanese tourist age 23 (female) kidnapped, robbed and assaulted in Rotorua by four men

French tourist (male) raped at gunpoint near Opotiki

American peace corp twins Adam and Alex Rahmlow, 21 were robbed of all their possessions by a man they tried to help in Amberley, Christchurch.

Dutch couple raped and robbed on a campsite in Tuatapere, NW of Invercargill, whilst on their honeymoon. (Dutch govt. issued a travel warning about NZ)

Two Koreans were attacked and robbed of their possession which included a laptop computer by a man claiming to be a gang member in Blenheim.

British tourist worker sexually assaulted near Hururu Falls, Northland when she was dragged off a walking track.

Canadian tourist Jeremie Kawerninski, kidnapped, assaulted and robbed in Lower Hutt, Wellington.

Dutch couple robbed and sexually attacked Haruru Falls, Northland whilst on honeymoon.

Two British women robbed and raped in their campervan at Tokomaru Bay, north of Gisborne.

Japanese tourist subjected to a prolonged and brutal sex attack in a communal area of a backpacker’s hostel in Turangi, Taupo.

Scottish woman Karen Aim brutally murdered by a youth in Taupo.

German woman Birgit Brauer murdered near New Plymouth.

Korean man Jae Hyeon Kim decapitated with a spade by white supremacist.

Japanese tourist robbed at gunpoint in Oamaru.

Irish cycle tourist Paul Mack bashed, robbed and urinated on throughout his NZ tour.

6 English and Danish tourists attacked and stabbed in Cashel Mall, Christchurch for having “foreign accents.”

Irish man Robby O’Brien beaten up in Westport.

Russian couple Denis Khotchenko and Lera Nesterova beaten and robbed in Milford, Auckland.

English woman knifed and sexually assaulted in a toilet block at an A1 motor camp in Kaikoura.

American campers Patrick Dykstra and Kelsey McGinley beaten and robbed at Whangarei Falls, Northland.

Australian tourist sexually assaulted on a street in broad daylight in Nelson.

Australian tourist subjected to a sex attack by Maia Crawford Rongonui whilst walking home to a backpackers in Christchurch.

Canadian tourist left with a fractured skull outside Silver Fern backpackers in Taupo.

Dutch tourist beaten and robbed at Lake Rotorua.

British man Paul Speakman and his young son beaten and robbed in a campervan at Athenree Gorge, Katikati.

Chinese woman attacked for speaking Chinese on a train approaching Petone.

Scottish visitor Stuart Martin who was left in a coma and with a boot print on his face after a street bashing in Taradale, Christchurch.

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Hoon Car Kills Kid In Christchurch

Many of our regular readers already know that New Zealand has world’s second highest road death and injury rates, twice that of countries like the UK. Much of the tragic loss of life and injuries can be attributed to two major factors – poor roads and bad driving, especially by ‘hoons’ or ‘boy racers’ and people under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

In the 12 months to 21 May 2010 126 people aged 24 and under have been killed on NZ roads.
For many years kids as young as 15 have been allowed to drive whatever they can get their hands on in NZ, including high performance cars and there is no legal requirement for them to hold so as much as third party insurance, often with tragic consequences.

It may come as a shock to outsiders when they realise that this sort of thing happens in a country that is allegedly ‘such a great place to raise kids.’

A four-year-old boy, who was walking with his six-year-old brother and mother on Linwood Ave, Christchurch (the city is the hoon capital of NZ) died after he was hit by a car that lost control in wet conditions, shortly after 5pm last night. The driver had been seen drifting before the collision:

“The car slid from side to side on the road before climbing the footpath and hitting the children. One News described the driver as a boy racer doing drifts.
The six-year-old boy is in serious but stable condition at Christchurch Hospital.
Police were talking to the 18-year-old male driver.”

Linwood Avenue relative to other crash locations

View Larger Map

Fatal and serious crashes Christchurch City 2008

source

A report in the Herald added

“Linwood Ave is a long stretch of road with multiple lanes, and residents said it was often used as a racetrack by boy racers. The road was wet yesterday after rain during the day.”

View Larger Map

Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family of the deceased child, and to his brother who was injured in the collision.

This tragic loss of a child’s life and the injuries of another,  may prove to be the last straw for the residents of Christchurch, who have endured a plague of hoons in and around the city for many years, police seem powerless to control the situation and there are bound to be calls to deal with the problem before any more innocent lives are lost.

It has understandably caused an outrage in the community, reflected in comments left in multiple threads on the Trademe boards, this is part of one of them:

Boy Racers your time is up
-”After today why would we want any car that’s a boy racer car on our roads.”

-”a small child was killed tonite by an out of control young male driver in chch”

-”Whatever, Judges are complete PUSSYS when it comes to sensible sentencing. Maybe if one our them had their kids killed by a boyracer we may see some common sense sentencing.”

-”Just heard the news re 1 child killed and another seriously injured when a boy racer car went out of control in Christchurch”

-”I saw the news headline but not the rest. Oh the poor family – crush him AND the car.”

-”Enough is enough!!!!!!!”

-”Agree time is up. They have had their warning and the softly softly approach. . Bring out the crusher and take the toys away. The ones that are playing by the rules you should be on the case of those indiots out there that have no respect for anyone.”

-”This was one driver, driving a boy racer style car (no eveidence he *is* a boy racer) and he must stand up and take responsiblity for his actions whether he was out of control on purpose or he just made a mistake – as everyone does. And to be fair, “ma and pa average” have more accidents every day (but that is not newsworthy) than Boy Racers ever have in month (as per police comment)”

-”you dont often see ma and pa average kill girls while speeding down fendalton road, or kill pedestrians while racing down Fitsgerald ave or kill innocent drivers while drag racing on ferry road. Do I need to continue? Accidents happen but deaths caused through sheer stupidity behind the wheel of a car should carry a murder charge. Fact is all the above examples were drivers between 18 and 25 in boy racer cars. Downplay it as much as you like but here in ChCh they are a problem and it is time they got sorted out once and for all.”

-”You don’t see it because the media get more of a response when a “boy racer” is involved. So they make more effort to give it a higher public profile. I lived in chch for a long time. Don’t tell me about the problem you have. It’s not half as bad as you would like to believe. I would have called myself more of a boy racer in my 2 door ford laser than half the kids rolling around that town at night. Majority of those kids just do laps because they have nothing better to do. Yes, there are some that are reckless but you will find them in every city. Christchurch happens to have a good circuit for it too, long, wide open streets, unlike somewhere such as wellington. And there are more houses living next to those roads, which means more people notice the sound of boy racers.
If wellington had the same type of streets, you would notice the boy racers more often and no doubt more accidents.”

-”I agree that it’s not just boy racers and If you’re a boy racer and a responsible one then I don’t have any issue with you. But with young people, fast powerful cars, peer pressure, maybe liquor and bravado combinne to give a rather leathal mixture.”

-”Look. Once someone has killed in a car, they KNOW not to be reckless again. The sentencing is nothing but more punishment. They will be tormented by what they have done. And don’t give me that ” Well they should be tormented and punished more blah blah blah” bullshit. The trick is to get through to them before they do it. It’s not the car that’s the problem, it’s the mindset.”

-”from the news report: A young eye-witness told The Press he saw a car “screeching” around a corner before hitting the group. Car tyres only screech when they’ve lost traction mainly due to excessive speed. My friend’s 20 year old son had an accident on his motorbike last week, doing 50km around a greasy tight bend, lost control, skidded along the road for 5 metres with the bike on top of one leg. Thankfully he hit no-one and nothing. He said it was his fault for driving too fast for the wet conditions and will take that corner at 30km from now on. Now THAT is the right (grown up) attitude.”

-”Last week there was a auction that got banned promoting Boy racers. Most of the ppls that came onto the thread supported Br’s. I really hope you are reading this thread tonight. It was a matter on time before things like this happen. That poor kid didnt deserve to die, When are the Rb’s going to learn. How many more kids have to die?”

-”Over and over again these young clowns are bringing misery and heartbreak to others and their own families because of this entrenched “must go fast” culture they have all subscribed to. This reckless disregard for the saftey of others coupled with that dip shit attitude of being ten foot tall and bullet proof. Adding to that is the fact that these young idiots have easy access to high performance vehicles which do require a reasonable amount of skill and experience to operate.”

-”in another thread someone says they have seen that car doing skids in the neighbourhood. You only have to look at the damage in the photos to see this guy was out of control and kids on the TV news said he came sliding down the road!I hope you will visit your mate when he is in prison – he will need your support. An 18 year old + high powered turbo rear wheel drive + wet road = recipe for disaster.” more…

In Feb 2009 in an attempt to rid the city of this problem, police took 67 boy racers off the streets of the city, in 2007 police prosecuted 500 people after a sting targeting boy racers in the area. However, these efforts seem to be futile if the comments left on the Trademe threads are anything to go by. more

Isn’t it time that long, straight stretches of road like this in Christchurch were fitted with speed reduction measures, isn’t it time that compulsory age weighted insurance was made mandatory in NZ.
Who wants to live in a city, or a country,  that’s little more than a race track?

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Name Suppression v. Rights Of The Child In New Zealand

You may remember the “well respected” professional man in Palmerston North, Manawatu,  who was uncovered with 300,000 pornographic images on his computer after being caught in an FBI operation, many of them were of children.


He was given name suppression and sentenced to 4 months home detention.

You may also recall the ‘world famous in NZ’ muso (we use the term loosely) that was also given name suppression and discharged after pleading guilty to the sexual assault of a 16 year old girl.

One case that is presently before the court in Wellington shows how the cult of status may be being used to protect alleged wrong doers in New Zealand: people who really should know better and be setting an example to the rest of the community.

“Accused public servant a gentle fellow“
“A father is accused of assaulting his son after he allegedly stole $700 from his mother.
The crown’s case rests on the boy’s initial testimony that his father dragged him down Manners Mall then pushed him into his car where he repeatedly punched him in the head…
But the boy later retracted his comments.

It just so happens that the boy’s father is a high profile public servant who has been granted name suppression. One can imagine the pressure this kid is under to stop dad from picking up a criminal record and losing his job.

“If there was any contact at all it was all unintentional,” he told the court via video link on Tuesday.
During cross examination of the defendant today, crown prosecutor Paul Dacre cited the boy’s initial statement in which he said his father had threatened to break his legs, and had punched him before and after pushing him into the car.
He also reminded the jury of three witnesses’ saying that they had seen the man punching the boy in the car.
“You hit him as punishment for taking the money. You said he was a thief and you were treating him like a thief,” he told the court.

So, is that how thieves are really supposed to be treated in New Zealand? so much for informing them of their rights and giving them access to legal representation.

But the man said the witnesses must have mistaken his removing the boy’s bag – bought with the stolen money along with a new cellphone – for punching…

The NBR gives a few more relevant details:

The jury at the Wellington District Court was shown a recording of a police interview with the complainant in which he said that his dad assaulted him after finding him on Manners Street near the McDonald’s fast food restaurant.
The complainant, 15 at the time, said he had ran away from home and stolen $700 from his mother’s bankcard with the intention of paying friends to stay with them.
After being discovered he said his father warned him not to run, saying “if you try to run I’ll break your legs”, he told the court.
He explained how his dad dragged him back to the car and smacked him on the back of the head which left a red mark.
After dragging him into the car he looked through his bag and after he found cigarettes he smacked him in the face, he told the jury.
He told the jury how he heard a girl ringing the police while he was in the car.
His father then told him “if I lose my job it’s your fault”, he said.
The teenager said in the video that it was not the first time his dad had assaulted him, saying that he had hit him after he got in trouble at school and after being caught shoplifting.”

Is it likely that three witnesses could be mistaken in what they saw? Not that it matters because the defendant’s word is likely to carry more weight than their collective evidence because:-

a. He is a “high ranking public servant”, who is important enough to have been granted name suppression. He has a lot to lose if found guilty.

b. He is a “gentle fellow” according to his wife.

It’s a long stretch from “gentle fellow” to allegedly punching your kid in the head and threatening to break his legs. If this is a “gentle” person in New Zealand we’d hate to meet a violent one. One has to wonder if his wife has been on the ‘sharp end’ of this type of gentleness on occasions.

Now, this may be unrelated of course, and there’s no way of knowing  if the two are linked, but has name suppression been granted despite the details of a very similar case already being in the public domain for over a year?

On Sat 15 May 2009 the ODT reported that an assault claim had been brought against Wellington’s top cop who was on leave on full pay over an allegation he’d assaulted his teenage son. When he was interviewed he was observed to have an blackened eye.  The article started with:

“The head of Wellington’s police force is under investigation for an alleged assault on a family member….”

If the article is still there if you wish to read it, or you can find it here .

Is it any wonder that New Zealand is ranked joint third in the world by UNICEF for the highest number of  child maltreatment deaths? (1.2 per 100,00o children) only the US and Mexico have more. (source) and that One child is abused to death every 23 days?

A recent Independent Police Complaints Authority report stated that “urgent action” is needed by police when investigating child abuse cases. Some cases were found to have been languishing in the “to do” pile for 5-11 years.

“The failures may occur again unless shortcomings in police practices, policies and procedures are remedied.”

Here’s hoping that every abused child in New Zealand gets taken seriously when they bring an assault complaint, and that prompt action is taken to protect them and not their abusers.

See also blog posts
“Families of murder victims protest suppression laws“
“Privileged name suppression furore, Sensible Sentencing Trust comments”
“Name suppression of Manawatu man condemned by child advocacy group”
“Name suppression farce continues”