Murder Of British Woman Jacqueline Blackbourn, Trial Underway

The trial of the man accused of the murder and rape of British immigrant, Jacqueline Blackbourn, got underway at Auckland Crown Court today. The man has already pleaded guilty to a charge of arson.
The Crown said in its opening statement that Jacqueline had been raped, strangled and stabbed to death before being set alight in her Glenfield home.

A knife had been plunged into her chest with such force that it when through her sternum. Siobhan Buckley told the court that Jacqueline's boyfriend could not accept the fact that their two year relationship was over and was "relentless in his attempts" to get her back.

A former girlfriend of the accused was in tears when she told about three incidents in which

"household items were smashed and she was physically or verbally assaulted.
After one dinner party she said the accused went "absolutely crazy", dragging her down the hallway before pushing her up against the kitchen bench and putting his hands around her throat.
"I thought he was going to kill me for sure. I was terrified really," she said.
Under cross-examination, the woman admitted that she hadn't called police or sought medical attention after the incidents.
"I'd say nine out of 10 women who get beat don't go to police," she told the court..." source

Ms Blackbourn was found in her burning house in Glenfield, North Shore in June 2010. At the time of the accused man's  arrest, news reports said a 28 year old man had appeared in court and

Police said that Ms Blackbourn, 43, suffered a violent death inside the View Road, Glenfield, house on the night of June 26. Police said the man, who has interim name suppression, was also charged with historical offences that related to another female complainant.  These included injuring with intent to injure, assault with intent to injure, assault with a weapon and intentional damage...
...Ms Blackbourn came to New Zealand from England 20 years ago.”

In our blog of 30 June 2010 we reported that the NZ Herald said that Jacqueline had recently split up with her partner, Steve Ellis. He was severely burned in the fire was found outside the property wearing only his underpants. Her former boyfriend, Karl Hawthorne, told reporters that Ms Blackbourn:

“worked in the accounts section of Harvey Norman at Wairau Park, was “the life of the party” and loved dancing, Mr Hawthorne said.
She missed her family, who were all overseas.
“She was really close to her mum,” he said. “There wouldn’t have been two days go by that she wasn’t in contact with her.”
Another friend, Margie Cardwell, described Ms Blackbourn as an “English rose”. “She was really feminine and girly, looked quite young for her age. She had a heart of gold.”
Ms Blackbourn’s brother, Tommaso Cerullo, yesterday left a heartfelt message for her on a social networking website.
“Rest in peace my darling sister. Love you and always will. You will never be forgotten in my heart or soul, miss you so much.
“To all the people that had the pleasure of having their heart lifted by her kindness and her smile, thank you for being there for her.”
Detective Senior Sergeant Kim Libby, of North Shore CIB, said police officers hoped to speak to Mr Ellis in the next couple of days.
His injuries were not life-threatening, he added.
They would continue combing the scene of the fire today. A post mortem examination has been carried out on Ms Blackbourn, but police have declined to reveal the cause of death, saying only that it was violent.”

Our deepest sympathies are again extended to Jacqueline’s family and friends for their terrible loss. Our thoughts are with you all in the difficult days that lie ahead during the trial.
Domestic Violence a problem in New Zealand
Far from being the safe haven it wishes to present to the world, life in New Zealand is a misery for hundreds of thousands of women, a third of them have been affected by domestic violence at some time during their lives.
New Zealand has an appalling record for domestic violence and some of the highest preventable child death stats in the developed world.  After a spike in referrals to Women's refuges after the shock of the All Black defeat in the 2007 Rugby World Cup, refuges were on standby for an influx if New Zealand lost again in 2011.
NZ’s appalling record for domestic violence is shamed by an international human rights group

"Police statistics show a 15% increase in the number of family violence incidents and offences in 2007-08, with more than 86,000 reports made. They say family violence affects a third of all women during their lifetime and that 45% of murders in New Zealand are family violence-related.

Meanwhile, a second report calling for an overhaul of systems to keep women and girls safe is being presented alongside the New York findings. The report, by a newly-formed local group called the Roundtable of Violence Against Women, says certain types of violence and victims are being overlooked. This includes prostitutes who come from countries known for trafficking, such as Korea, Thailand, Eastern Europe and the Philippines.

It also highlights the "serial abuse" of many immigrant women, saying both Women's Refuge and the Shakti Community Council have evidence that men are using women's residency status to exploit them and keep them in abusive relationships..." April 2009 source

For more read our blogs tagged violence against women.
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NZ ‘Great Place To Raise Kids,’ Not So Great For Teens

Various media outlets are today carrying a story about the release of a new report from the Prime Minister’s chief science adviser, Sir Peter Gluckman, called Improving the Transition. Reducing Social and Psychological Morbidity During Adolescence.
This is how Stuff started its coverage of the report

NZ teens at ‘unprecedented risk’ – report
Adolescents growing up in New Zealand have to navigate a gauntlet of dangers that are putting them at unprecedented risk, a major Government report says.
The report from the Prime Minister’s chief science adviser, Sir Peter Gluckman, says one in five young New Zealanders will face problems as they grow up that will affect the rest of their lives.

Alcohol, depression, drugs, bullying and earlier sexual development are among the issues singled out in the report, which was authored by two dozen leading researchers… read more
You can read a full copy of the report here and we’ve included the executive summary from it below.
Great Place To Raise Kids
Still thinking about moving to New Zealand because you’ve heard it’s a great place to raise kids?
You may want to start by reading our Stats and Facts page about Education and Children’s Issues in New Zealand. This is the first section from that page:

“Aotearoa/ New Zealand has;

• A problem with gangs that are contributing to crime and abuse in the home. Young people are joining gangs for safety and are becoming victims of gang life.
• A problem with bullying – particularly of specific groups like refugee and migrant young people.
• A problem with child abuse which is not just statistics or features in death notices in newspapers but a reality that many of the young story tellers knew and experienced.
• An issue with domestic violence affecting the lives of many children and young people.”
  

          quote from “HEAR OUR VOICES” by  Save the Children, NZ:

Despite statements like the above by Save the Children,  New Zealand is often presented to migrants as a great place to bring up the kids. Is this Marketing hype or just wishful thinking on the part of migrants trying to justify their decisions to leave?
Are you going from frying pan to fire?

“It sounds patronising, but sometimes I feel sorry for New Zealand. We’re a curious anomaly. One day the country is rated as one of the best places in the world to live, most peaceful, best quality of life, best cities to visit, best coastline, best leisure sports. For such a small population, we do incredibly well at certain things and appear, from the outside, to be at one with the environment. Yet, at the same time, there’s high teen suicide and pregnancy rates, high alcohol consumption, high rates of bullying, domestic violence and child abuse.
If New Zealand is such a fabulous place to live, why are we leaving?…” read more on MSN Money NZ…

Teens
The Chief Coroner said he was “shocked and frustrated” by the high number of very young teens (some as young as 13) who drink themselves to death in New Zealand. It’s another symptom of the country’s hard drinking/binge drinking culture.

How would you feel if you found out that your daughter;s school was offering her nicotine patches and other quit smoking products to her and her classmates to wean them off cigarettes. Would you want to be consulted beforehand?


Woud you still move knowing that New Zealand has some of the highest rates of child abuse, teen pregnancy and youth suicide in the world?

How do feel about New Zealand’s problems with youth violence,  human rights abuses in its schools, a bullying culture, the low quality of education and host of other problems including high incidences of diseases more usually associated with developing countries?

Have you thought about your child’s future as they become an adult in New Zealand, will there be sufficient work for them and will they have to leave to have a reasonable chance of a bright future?”
Read more from our facts and stats page

Improving the Transition. Reducing Social and Psychological Morbidity During Adolescence. (Emphasis ours)

Executive summary
• Adolescents in New Zealand relative to those in other developed countries have a high rate of social morbidity. While most adolescents are resilient to the complexities of the social milieu in which they live, at least 20% of young New Zealanders will exhibit behaviours and emotions or have experiences that lead to long-term consequences affecting the rest of their lives.

•  An extensive and unbiased review of the relevant scientific literature has been undertaken by a multidisciplinary panel of experts. The key points are summarised in this introductory Synthesis Report, and the main part of the report contains the detailed and domain-specific reviews.

• One dominant message comes through – that application of the international and domestic evidence base to policy formation and programme development in this area will lead to better outcomes for our young people. However, to do so will require a prolonged effort over several electoral cycles and cannot be held hostage to adversarial politics. Our research suggests that many programmes have been introduced, albeit with good intent, that are unlikely to succeed as they are not supported by the evidence base, whereas other approaches likely to be effective have not been implemented. A key challenge is to ensure that all programmes are appropriately monitored to ensure that they are effective and cost effective within the New Zealand context, allowing better use of scarce public resources to support our young people.

• Adolescence is now a prolonged period in the human life course. Its length is influenced by the declining age of puberty as child health has improved and by the rising age at which young people are accepted as adults. This has both societal and biological elements, the latter reflecting recent findings that brain maturation is not complete until well into the third decade of life and that the last functions to mature are those of impulse control and judgement. It is therefore inevitable that adolescence is a period of risk-taking and impulsivity. For many children these are basically healthy and transient behaviours, but for too many there are long-term negative consequences. The key issue is what can be done to change the nature of, and reduce the impact of, these behaviours.

• The evidence shows that the risk of impulsive and antisocial behaviour is greatly increased by experiences earlier in life. It is now clear that early childhood is the critical period in which executive functions such as the fundamentals of self-control are established. Children who do not adequately develop these executive functions in early life are more likely to make poor decisions during adolescence, given the inevitable exposures to risk in the teenage years. It is very clear from our review of the literature that more can be done to improve socialisation and executive function development by reorientation of early childhood programmes. Further, while all children will benefit from these programmes, the evidence is compelling that targeting intensive but costly interventions towards the higher-risk sections of the community has a high rate of social and economic return. Hence the critical importance of adopting a life-course approach to prevention.

• Remediation in adolescence is not likely to be as effective as prevention. Although there are some remediation programmes that are partially effective, others clearly are not. Public and voluntary investment in programmes directed towards at-risk adolescents needs to be re-orientated towards those interventions that can be shown by high quality research to have real impact within the New Zealand context.

• The adolescent brain is clearly more sensitive to both alcohol and cannabis, with long-lasting adverse consequences for far too many. Stronger measures are needed to restrict access of young people to these drugs.

• One cannot overestimate the changed nature of the social environment in which young people find themselves compared with that of previous generations. The nature of peer pressure and role models has been radically altered by exposure to electronically connected social networks and to very different media content. Young people have far greater freedom, engendered by more ready access to funds. While the exact impact of these changes is difficult to ascertain, it is clear that they have radically affected the social pressures that influence adolescent behaviour. This creates challenges for parents and society in establishing boundaries and acceptable behaviours.

• A significant proportion of young people suffer from depression and other mental health disorders, yet the range of services available to them is inadequate. Given New Zealand’s high rate of adolescent suicide and psychological morbidity we suggest that priority be given to addressing this capacity gap and to raising public awareness of the particularities of adolescent depression.

• In general, most of the risky and impulsive behaviours of adolescence reflect incomplete maturation of self-control and judgement. Accordingly, punitive approaches are less likely to be effective than well-established and validated approaches that attempt to remedy these deficits. There is an inherent conflict between the practical focus on using chronological age to determine rights and obligations and the highly individualistic processes of maturation.

• The young people of New Zealand reflect the changing ethnic mix of our population. While the issues and their solutions are generic across all of our population, programmes must be developed and delivered in culturally appropriate ways to the very different communities that now make up young New Zealand. Targeted investments in the ‘long tail’ of educational underachievement and social disengagement will be needed. It is clear that while adolescent morbidity is observed across the whole of our communities, it is disproportionately found within sectors where there is intergenerational disadvantage.

• Social investment in New Zealand should take more account of the growing evidence that prevention and intervention strategies applied early in life are more effective in altering outcomes and reap more economic returns over the life course than do strategies applied later. This will require long-term commitment to appropriate policies and programmes.
Synthesis Report

• The report identifies a number of knowledge gaps that should be addressed.

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New Zealand A Great Place To Raise Kids?

Why is it that in New Zealand councils seem to think that putting signs up is the answer to dangers in play parks?

You’d think after the scalding death of the little Toromon in Rotorua’s Kuirau Park, councils would have learned that signs are not enough where the safety of  young children is paramount.

This was in today’s Herald

A small boy was left with second-degree burns to his feet from playground equipment heated by the sun.
David “Noah” Jones, 2, needed hospital treatment after climbing on metal rails at the Wesley Community Centre in Mt Roskill on Tuesday.

His mother told the Herald

My friend heard him screaming and saw him standing on the ground and he was standing like he wanted to lift his feet off the ground. He kept saying, ‘It’s hot! It’s hot!’
“When I got there a minute later the skin was hanging off his feet.”
She said she did not see what her son was climbing on, but believes it was a climbing frame with metal bars.

Air temp that day was 27 degrees Celsius, not exactly a baking hot day.

It seems that other toddlers get burned in NZ playgrounds and its highly likely that Safekids only gets to hear about a few of them.

Safekids New Zealand is the national child injury prevention service, and a service of Starship Children’s Health. They told the Herald that other children have also been burned.

We think there are probably many other cases they aren’t aware of because not every parent seeks hospital treatment for their child.

Safekids New Zealand director Ann Weaver said each summer her organisation saw a case of a child being burned by playground equipment.
“But we’ve never seen someone burnt by climbing rails. There have been examples where kids have been severely burnt on a slide, and needed hospital treatment. They are always kids aged between 18 months and two years.

And what is the council’s solution?

“The council was looking into the incident and would consider adding warning signs.” Read the full report here

What’s so wrong with providing shade? Not only will it prevent contact burns but it will also protect kids from UV burns;  NZ has the world’s highest rate of melanoma.

But Auckland Council may be well aware of that overheating is being caused by lack of shade because it admits

"Please note: some of the playgrounds do not currently meet the safety requirements. As Auckland City Council upgrades these playgrounds we are ensuring that they then meet this standard."

Although it doesn’t say which playgrounds don’t meet those requirements.

No right to sue
New Zealand’s has a no-fault Accident Compensation Scheme. The Accident and Compensation Commission administers a 24 hour, 7 day per week, no-fault, comprehensive accident insurance scheme covering New Zealanders and those people visiting New Zealand. In return for this cover, people do not have the right to sue for damages if another person, or organisation, is at fault.

No fault can also mean no responsibility.

You may also be interested in

Hot Pool Fencing and Signage Under Scrutiny In Kuirau Recreational Park

Auckland playgrounds- which are best? In a thread on a parenting forum, one mother says “Gladstone park on gladstone road in parnell is quite good it has a couple of good slides but no shade and gets quite hot in summer.”

Children in NZ – Facts and Stats


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Open Season On Freedom Campers Well Underway In New Zealand

Well it’s been a glorious start to New Zealand’s first open season for hunters of Freedom Campers.

Last February the president of the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association, Dick Waters  issued a second call for freedom campers to be “shot” if they use vans that don’t have their own toilet facilities.

Mr Waters, was reported as having said  that

“Messy freedom campers who trundle around the country in sleeper vans without toilets or self-contained utilities should be “shot”.

It followed similar comments he made in January.

At the time we said effectively declaring open season on certain types of campers wasn’t going to do much to enhance the country’s tarnished reputation for visitor safety. Read Freedom Campers “Should be Shot,” 15 February 2010.

Even if Mr Waters’ comments were meant to shock, rather than be taken literally, it may cause certain elements of NZ society to feel less than ‘gracious’ towards visitors, who may now be viewed as little more than vermin. Rednecks with guns on a mission aren’t a good combination, in any country.
How right we were, because it would seem that someone may have taken up Mr Waters on his invitation to have a crack at campers.

A couple camping in Tamatea Point in Pakawau we lucky to escape with their lives after someone ” shot at, smashed and attempted to set fire to their campervan” at 5.50 one morning,  presumably they were sleeping in it at the time.

The holidaymakers, a “44-year-old male New Zealander and a 36-year-old New Zealand-residing Chinese woman,” from Hamilton

“had earlier been verbally abused about freedom camping in the area and police say the attack may have been an “extreme, over-the-top reaction” to the practice.” Source NZ Herald

Apparently a man has been arrested in relation to the incident, charged with attempted murder and given name suppression. The Herald said that he has a holiday property on the reserve on which the campervan has been parked.

Stuff provided more in-depth coverage than the Herald, with the following information

The Tasman District Council reserve is a popular site for public beach access and there are no signs banning freedom camping.
Golden Bay residents are growing increasingly intolerant of issues posed by freedom campers which include littering and defecating in public places.
The intolerance came to a head last month when the Golden Bay Community Board made an urgent request to the Tasman District Council to have a compliance officer based in the bay to monitor problems. A council officer is monitoring the bay during January and February.
In April last year, freedom campers were forced off land near the Waitapu Bridge spot by angry Golden Bay local…more here

The have been plenty of other incidents recently where tourists have been attacked and robbed whilst using campervans but this is the first we’ve heard of where an attempt has been made to burn them out. Read Welsh Couple Left Without a Penny in New Plymouth 7 January 2011

Months from now thousands of world cup rugby fans will be descending on New Zealand, eager to hire out campervans and totally unaware of the risks they are taking by not using authorised campsites.
Neither are they aware that they will be targeted by thieves if they leave their vehicles in public car parks or on the roadside.  It would be a bit rough to loose those prized match tickets in addition to cameras, iPods, treasure holiday snaps and passports and credit cards.

We think mass public information campaigns are needed, and fast.

One to warn tourists about the dangers and how to keep themselves safe and another to encourage locals in New Zealand to have a more relaxed and accommodating attitude towards visitors.

Hug a camper today.


Today's posts - click here

Welsh Couple Left Without A Penny In New Plymouth

It must be summer in New Zealand because a couple of Welsh holidaymakers are the latest tourists to appear in another New Zealand camper-van robbery story; there have been so many of them over the years.

“Michael Wright and Amy Murphy‘s latest bit of misfortune struck when thieves broke into their van at New Plymouth’s Back Beach while they were out surfing.
Passports, bank cards, ipods, drivers licences, cameras and cash were stolen. “It was just a complete shock,” Miss Murphy said yesterday. “Now we haven’t got a penny to our names.”
The Cardiff pair found their van ransacked after they had spent an hour and a half in the late afternoon surf. “Everything was all over the place. They had been in everywhere and all through our backpacks,” Miss Murphy said.
She was surprised nobody had spotted the thieves…” source

The previous similar story we commented on was the two US soldiers Eli and Tonia Gerhard that were robbed in Kaikoura last week. The young couple were taking a well earned break from the conflict and crime of Afghanistan. They must have thought that New Zealand would have been the last place on earth where they would have been robbed blind.

A few weeks before that British couple Jake Graham and Jess Kelly were also robbed in New Plymouth when their campervan was broken into and they lost almost everything they owned. Read more here


But there have been so many of these types of robberies in New Zealand haven’t there,  you’d think that word would have got out by now?

Perhaps not.

Always  it’s the same type of belongings that are stolen (cameras, money, passports, ipods, computers) tourists are obviously rich pickings in New Zealand, a country of vast inequalities and a grinding poverty in some sectors of the community that could go unnoticed by the casual observer,  or be passed over for being “quaint.”

Tourist authorities really should be asking themselves are they doing enough to warn visitors not to leave their belongings in unattended vehicles. The problem is that there is such a widespread misconception that New Zealand is a safe, tourist friendly safe place to holiday that some people are unwittingly  leaving themselves open to theft, sometimes accompanied by assault and battery. As in the case of the French tourists who pulled-over to sleep one evening.  Read more here.

Would it take a lot to fit hidden safes or security boxes in these vehicles? or for tourists to have access to short term safety deposit boxes, rather like mailboxes at post offices? A few more signs in car parks warning about thieves would probably be a good idea too.

Other stories you may be interested in:-


Suffolk couple put emigration plans on hold after experiencing NZ’s crime:

“Today’s Herald is reporting on British couple Dean and Tabitha Forbes who lost most of their possessions whilst on a pre-emigration trip to Auckland, New Zealand…”

British Migrants Robbed:

“”An English family who came to New Zealand to make a fresh start were left with only the clothes on their backs when their motel was burgled two days after they arrived.
Dawn and Conrad Tutin and their children Stephanie, 14, and Kiel, 12, arrived from Nottingham a week ago to begin a new life in Auckland, where Mr Tutin will work for Fisher & Paykel…””

More British tourists robbed, no gold for New Plymouth:

“Earlier today we wrote about honeymooning couple Simon and Sabine Greenslade whose campervan was robbed of outside of Auckland Zoo, losing most of their holiday and honeymooning photographs amongst other possessions.
We’ve also heard about another young British couple, Jake Graham and Jess Kelly,whose campervan was also broken into and who lost almost everything they owned in New Plymouth yesterday afternoon…”

Honeymoon couple lose precious photos, no ‘gold medal’ in Auckland

US rowing team member  robbed, world rowing championships 2010 in Queenstown

Czech Tourist, Jan Fakotor, Stabbed In Motueka
English tourist mugged in Gisborne
Chilean tourist punched, robbed in Nelson
A group of students that were beaten and robbed whilst on a treasure hunt at the Hundertwasser toilets in Kawakawa, Northland
A series of random, unprovoked attacks in Queenstown
Previous robbery of British tourists at Kerosene Creek
Tourists robbed at Kerosene Creek
Three French tourists beaten and robbed in their campervan in Mangamuka, Northland - police have yet to resolve this crime

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
A family of five robbed at the roadside whilst camping in their van at Oturere Stream, 25km south of Turangi
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.

Today's posts - click here

US Solidiers Robbed in Kaikoura

Yes that's right - Kaikoura, not Kandahar.

Kaikoura is a popular seaside town in New Zealand, and setting-off point for whale watching trips. But Kaikoura has been having a rough time of it recently what with visitors getting beaten up on the streets and seals being clubbed to death.

Now we hear that two American soldiers, Eli and Tonia Gerhard, lost a large amount of property when their rental car was robbed.

Following the theft police used a search warrant to enter a local address and “recovered a “substantial amount” of property” according to the Kaikoura Star.

The couple had decided to take a holiday in New Zealand, away from the crime and strife of war ravaged Afghanistan where they'd both been posted. What a bad choice New Zealand turned out to be for them.

From the Marlborough Express:

They had hoped to leave behind the air of crime and mistrust of Afghanistan and enjoy what should have been a relaxing holiday in a country which is generally considered a safe haven.
“This sort of thing does nothing for tourism.”
Constable Dean Schroder of Kaikoura agrees.
“This is a senseless targeting of tourists in Kaikoura. It does nothing for our image. The damage this sort of crime does to our region far outweighs the value of the property stolen.”…
…Items stolen included a small laptop, a Toshiba notebook, a fisheye lens for their Canon camera, a video camera and a couple of hard drives with all their holiday photos as well as all Mr Gerhard’s footage of Afghanistan – he has a helmet mounted camera with which he has recorded many of his missions.
“There is some pretty explicit s**t in there – almost three hours of mission videos,” he says. “But I doubt they will even look at it to realise – they will probably just delete everything.” read the full report here

According to another report a

“man aged 19 and a woman aged 23 are due to appear in the Kaikoura District Court on January 21 in relation to the theft.
Police were called to the Presbyterian Church on Deal St over the weekend after windows in the church were found broken. Mr Schroder believed the breakages were as a result of stone throwing and occurred on Thursday or Friday night last week. An amount of steel was stolen from the railway yard on Edmund Ave on Thursday night.
A pallet full of plates, often used to weight craypots down, and some cut-up railway iron was stolen.” read the full report here

The message here, as always is when in New Zealand never leave anything unattended in your car or camper van that you don’t want to lose.

Just how much of the couple’s property has been recovered isn’t clear but we hope they manage get it all back. Next time they have a much needed furlough  we also hope they chose somewhere more secure to vacation than New Zealand, where it seems a great many tourists are falling victim to crime recently.

Other stories you may be interested in:-
Suffolk couple put emigration plans on hold after experiencing NZ’s crime:

“Today’s Herald is reporting on British couple Dean and Tabitha Forbes who lost most of their possessions whilst on a pre-emigration trip to Auckland, New Zealand…”

British Migrants Robbed:

“”An English family who came to New Zealand to make a fresh start were left with only the clothes on their backs when their motel was burgled two days after they arrived.
Dawn and Conrad Tutin and their children Stephanie, 14, and Kiel, 12, arrived from Nottingham a week ago to begin a new life in Auckland, where Mr Tutin will work for Fisher & Paykel…””

More British tourists robbed, no gold for New Plymouth:

“Earlier today we wrote about honeymooning couple Simon and Sabine Greenslade whose campervan was robbed of outside of Auckland Zoo, losing most of their holiday and honeymooning photographs amongst other possessions.
We’ve also heard about another young British couple, Jake Graham and Jess Kelly,whose campervan was also broken into and who lost almost everything they owned in New Plymouth yesterday afternoon…”

Other stories you may find interesting
Honeymoon couple lose precious photos, no ‘gold medal’ in Auckland

US rowing team member  robbed, world rowing championships 2010 in Queenstown

Czech Tourist, Jan Fakotor, Stabbed In Motueka
English tourist mugged in Gisborne
Chilean tourist punched, robbed in Nelson
A group of students that were beaten and robbed whilst on a treasure hunt at the Hundertwasser toilets in Kawakawa, Northland
A series of random, unprovoked attacks in Queenstown
Previous robbery of British tourists at Kerosene Creek
Tourists robbed at Kerosene Creek
Three French tourists beaten and robbed in their campervan in Mangamuka, Northland - police have yet to resolve this crime

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
A family of five robbed at the roadside whilst camping in their van at Oturere Stream, 25km south of Turangi
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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No Gold For NZ Honeymoon Couple

A  couple honeymooning in Auckland didn’t have the same Gold Medal rapid response that an American rowing team member got just three days later, when they too were burgled hours before leaving New Zealand.

British newlyweds Simon and Sabine Greenslade were married in August in Germany and had been honeymooning in New Zealand. At the end of their holiday they parked outside of Auckland Zoo and it was there that their campervan was ransacked on 6 November, the last day of their honeymoon – according to a report in the NZ Herald.

During the robbery the couple lost a laptop and iPod with their wedding photos, shots of their NZ holiday and months of Mr Greenslade’s programing work were taken from their van.

Coincidentally the unnamed American sportsman also lost a laptop and iPod in his burglary.

Unfortunately there was no gold medal for this couple, they got a clunker. The Herald said:

An appeal to police in the aftermath of the theft didn’t produce any results, says Ms Greenslade.
“They simply gave us a crime reference number and left it at that.”

The young couple had to get back to the UK with the help of the motorhome company, who replaced some of their missing belongings.

The news of this robbery has filtered out in the hope that the couple may retrieve some of their lost photos, which are obviously irreplaceable.

We wish them good luck with that, although their chances are pretty slim ten days after the event, ‘miracles’ have been known to happen.

Wouldn’t it be splendid if all tourists who experienced loss or crime in New Zealand got a gold medal response. Not just those who have a high profile internationally.

Also read:
US Rowing Team Member Robbed, World Rowing Championships 2010: 9 November 2o10

“The United States rowing team has just had an unpleasant brush with New Zealand’s spiralling crime problem.
On Saturday a member of the team had a number of personal items stolen after the World Rowing Championships at Lake Karapiro.
A Police press released managed to turn what could’ve been a PR clunker into a  ‘gold medal’ news story for the police (and New Zealand) when they apprehended the young burglars responsible and returned the stolen goods to the rower just minutes before he left the country:
“After speaking to management at the teams’ hotel, police tracked the stolen iPod, laptop and other belongings to three brothers aged 14, 15 and 17, who admitted the theft.
More stolen property was also found at an Otorohanga property, 58km southwest of Hamilton in the King Country.
Police contacted a man in Otorohanga who admitted receiving the laptop and “it was explained the significance of the theft and the damage to this country’s reputation and he agreed to bring it into the Hamilton Police Station.
“From there an aunty of the offenders helped Police recover the victim’s camera, the US team left Hamilton yesterday about 6pm for an 11pm flight and we needed to get all the property recovered, documented and back to the victim. Time was against us and there’d be no ‘B’ final if we didn’t make it.”” Smith (Ed. Sergeant Dale Smith of the Hamilton Proactive Policing Team) said.” Read more here – police win race to return rower’s stolen property

We particularly liked the section that said
“It would be fair to say that while the rest of the country is celebrating the achievements of our teams on the water the team in blue delivered a gold medal performance as well in terms of New Zealand’s reputation of a safe, friendly place to visit.”
Well done to the police for working with the community and relatives of the thieves to bring about a successful conclusion to this sorry event. But, if New Zealand was that safe the rower’s hotel room wouldn’t have been burgled in the first place, would it and he would have left the country with only fond memories? If only other tourists could’ve been so lucky!”

Other stories you may find interesting
Czech Tourist, Jan Fakotor, Stabbed In Motueka
English tourist mugged in Gisborne
Chilean tourist punched, robbed in Nelson
A group of students that were beaten and robbed whilst on a treasure hunt at the Hundertwasser toilets in Kawakawa, Northland
A series of random, unprovoked attacks in Queenstown
Previous robbery of British tourists at Kerosene Creek
Tourists robbed at Kerosene Creek
Three French tourists beaten and robbed in their campervan in Mangamuka, Northland - police have yet to resolve this crime

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
A family of five robbed at the roadside whilst camping in their van at Oturere Stream, 25km south of Turangi
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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Yesterday a middle aged man was shot in the back as he filled-up at a service station in Wairoa, what makes the crime particularly disturbing is that it happened during a busy time of day and other people could’ve been hurt or killed in the attack.

A RadioNZ report said it was only a matter of time before someone got killed and that

“Mayor Les Probert said a shooting in such a public place has connotations. He says its bad enough when gangs are fighting amongst themselves, but at least in that circumstance members of the public aren’t in danger.
On Tuesday, a 17-year-old man was shot in the chest outside the Mongrel Mob headquarters. There have been four shootings in the town this year.

View Larger MapAccording to a later NZ Herald report the mayor said

“”We have got these two gangs, one of each side of the river and of course it doesn’t matter what agreement you come to with one of them, if another drives past and fires a gun then there’s retaliation.”

Although no mention of drugs/gang involvement was made in the original police reports (it seldom is these days in New Zealand) the intimation was there if you read between the lines – note a police report on the incident on infonews stated  “members of the public going about their normal activities” and not “other members of the public”:

30 October
A 48 year old man received gunshot wounds after an incident on the forecourt of a service station in WAIROA. The man had stopped to fuel his vehicle when he was approached by another person who fired two shots which struck the victim in the side and back. The offender then ran off.
AOS and CIB staff from GISBORNE were in WAIROA overnight and will return to continue the enquiry this morning. The victim of the shooting has come out of surgery and is in a stable condition in HASTINGS Hospital.
Police are concerned that the shooting took place at a busy time of the day when the service station forecourt had members of the public going about their normal activities, and seek their assistance to identify the offender. Source

The two gangs mostly likely to be involved are probably Black Power and the Mongrel Mob, following Tuesday’s clash between the two outside a mob house on Kaimoana St, in which a 17 year old male was shot.

Understandably this latest shooting has caused some consternation among ‘the public’ and soon became the topic of conversation on the Trademe message boards among Kiwis.

Conversation rapidly turned to how gang activity is spoiling the area and suggestion that high unemployment was resulting in increased crime/gang activity:

• Morning ***, how horrible, its such a shame ,as Wairoa is a lovely town, But one i wouldnt like to be living in now.

• Wow! I must be thinking of a different Wairoa. The one I know is on the way to the worst town in NZ, Gisborne. Now both those places are real shitholes.

• No i dont think you are thinking of a different Wairoa ,nor for that fact Gisborne, not all parts are the same, its just a shame they are moving the violence into the township its self.

• i have to agree with **** on this,what a shithole of a place,full of gangs.

• Gisborne is a very nice place to live, there’s just certain places you don’t go like any city. I have to go down to Wairoa for work and there’s some very lovely people. The gangs are the problem, not the town.

• Its a town in the middle of no where and high unemployment. Of course the gangs will set up residence there …… plenty of bush for their lucrative horticulture business

• In Gisborne in 1968, I was spat at and called a Pakeha (one reason why I loathe that name). I had a similar experience in Whangarei 3 years later. These experiences have forever coloured my opinion of both towns. Last year I returned to Gisborne and although no-one spat at me, I still felt uneasy there, so filled up with petrol and moved on to Tauranga quick smart.

• I’ve lived in Gisborne for 31 years and have never had an experience like that, racism is ugly but it’s not confined to a couple of places.

• I agree. However, that can be all it takes to colour one’s opinion. Its hard to overlook what to some are trivial things, but its stuck in my mind all these years.

• AND Look at the houses for sale in Wairoa. lovely too some of them.. what a shame. I could live there.Plenty fishing and Hunting and all the facilities that you NEED not Want…Shame shame..has the Works not started back up there yet…gee BMWNZ 1968!!! they have moved on.. Just fight you in the courts now!!! “let it go”

• We moved there in 2001 due to hubbys work and moved away again in 2004 I was glad to be out of there as it is a very stressful town , very negative feeling but we did meet some lovely people there. It will never change as most people there dont want to accept change. They hate out of towners coming to their town and suggesting new ideas , the residents are too set in their ways what a shame.

• what i can never understand is why the gangs are held in such high regard and education which could free so many of them isnt same as when i saw that feature on that terry guy in huntly the other night all those little wannabes and yet they have so much choice in the world being so young yet they are already limiting themselves

As the day progressed the press got their teeth into the incident, with the NZ Herald running an incident, with the headline - “Police out as Wairoa gangs clash.”

The Herald said confirmed that it was a Mongrel Mob member who’d been shot and it appeared to be in retaliation for the shooting of the 17 year old earlier in the week, the youth is alleged to be a Black Power member.

Police and the AOS (armed offenders squad) will be out in force in the town tonight in an effort to prevent any further violence.

There seems to be some tolerance for inter gang warfare in the area, with authorities only getting twitchy when it spills out onto the streets and presents a risk to innocent people.

Restrictions on the reporting of crime in NZ
If you recall back in July of this year we blogged about the Gisborne Herald running a piece called Crime, What Crime? in which the paper said that police in the area had decided to restrict the information on crime they provide to media in a move to “make the community feel safer“

At that time we asked the question “isn’t it preferable to create a safer, low crime community rather than mislead people into thinking that it is?” Raising public awareness of crime could be a valuable tool in combating lawless behaviour and raising the public’s intolerance of law breaking and gang activities.

The Dom Post also reported on the police’s ‘media policy’ in an article on Stuff.co.nz that had within in its  URL “Gisborne police defend information blackout” but with a headline of “Gisborne police stand firm on keeping some crime quiet”.


Their coverage was much the same as in other publications but they did publish a rather interesting list of crime figures under the heading:

SPOTLIGHT ON OFFENDED
NZ Police figures for offences per 10,000 people:

which showed that for Eastern District: Gisborne, Napier and Hastings, the figures for serious assaults, alcohol offences, cannabis offences and sexual attacks were well above the national rates, which made it even more odd that crime information given to the media was restricted.

Click on the links for more blog posts about

Gisborne
Wairoa
Hastings
Napier
Gangs
Gun crime



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"What Are You Doing In OUR Town?"

A group of visitors to Kawakawa’s iconic Hundertwasser toilets got rather more than a ‘traditional Kiwi welcome’ as they visited the facility late Tuesday afternoon. A couple of (local?) thugs decided to beat and rob them.

The assault was covered by the Northern Advocate, which said that the group was on a scavenger hunt, for which one of the tasks was to be photographed outside of the ‘world famous’ public convenience.
As the photo was being snapped a man and woman approached the group of Auckland university students and began to harangue them.

One of the local police officers told the press:

“Both asked the group, “What are you doing in our town?”, before the man held one of the male victims up by his T-shirt and punched him in the head.
Meanwhile, the woman took the camera from one of the female students and pushed another to the ground, where she kicked her several times. She then turned her attention to the last female in the group and punched her twice in the head.
The male offender then tried to punch the second male student, which was followed by a scuffle on the ground, Mr Raitt said…
One was described as a male Maori, about 18 to 20-years-old, skinny and with short black hair. The other was a 16 to 18-year-old female Maori, also described as skinny, with long black hair tied up in a pony tail…” more here

Police are appealing to the public for help in catching the two thugs.

We note that the identities and nationalities of the victims has not been released to the press, from this we infer that they were probably international students and the local authorities may be keen to minimise any global interest the muggings may attract.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that innocent tourists have been attacked and robbed whilst visiting Northland, as any reader of this blog will know. Other posts about crime in the ‘lawless north’ may be found here.

You may recall that in May three young French tourists were beaten and robbed as they camped on the roadside in near Mangamuka, east of Kaitaia, by two men posing as police officers.

We hear that little progress has been made in apprehending those responsible and the trail seems to have gone cold since the victims returned to France. Is the message getting out that international visitors are a soft target in Northland?

At the time of the Mangamuka assaults we said that Northland seemed to be a particularly risky place for visitors, with many of the aggravated robberies on tourists  overly violent and aggressive. See French tourists thought they were going to die.

See also:

“The Land Of Misadventure” – …”Northland has a high level of unemployment, a lot of low- income people and there are criminal groups targeting tourists at popular spots. Locals get robbed as well, but the tourists offer richer pickings for the criminals.
Though locals may lose their shoes, cellphone and the small sum of cash in their pockets, tourists were known to carry a lot more money, have expensive cameras and sometimes iPods and laptops. The latest attack and robbery of the three Frenchmen was typical…” Dom Post

Related posts “Tourist Beaters Up Un-Maori” and “French Tourists Back in Northland to Help Catch Attackers“

A good reason perhaps to give the region a wide berth until its crime problem is sorted out once and for all?

Also in the news today – Unemployed Kaitaia teenager Jameel Job, 17 is to be sentenced today for the brutal murder of semi-retired school teacher Barbara Julian, whom he bashed to death during a home invasion in Kaitaia, Northland, in November 2009.

News reports at the time stated that the 70 year old grandmother had told her niece she was thinking about leaving town because people in the street were frightening her. See also: “It could have happened at any house” 

f you’re planning to take a holiday, or migrate to 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.

Some other recent tourist attacks and robberies in Northland include:
A family of Swiss tourists that were assaulted and racially abused in Kaitaia

Anke Kuballa and Marc Busch from Germany who were robbed in Whangarei
Two German tourists attacked in Paihia
Two American tourists were robbed at Shipwreck Bay in Northland

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

Three Chinese tourists attacked and robbed at Te paki, 90 Mile Beach, Northland
French tourist Anthony Cressend, beaten and robbed at campsite in Ahipara
French tourist (male) raped at gunpoint near Opotiki,

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

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Havelock North Armed Robbery Impacts On Family

The Dom Post has today reported on the robbery of another small business in New Zealand, this time a dairy (NZ vernacular for a small convenience store) in the small town of Havelock North.

The report in itself is surprising given that there are restrictions on crime reports that are released to the press.

It tells of the terror an immigrant family faced when trying to run a small business in small town New Zealand. Their story must be similar to that of many other dairy owners, for whom the death of Navtej Singh who died in his store when he was shot in the chest with a rifle,  must be still prominent in their minds, and it demonstrates how acts of robbery impact on migrant families who come to New Zealand looking for better lives.

Four men came into the family's Middle Road Dairy on Sunday afternoon and held a rifle to Mr Ramjit Ramjit as they robbed his store,  metres away from where his wife was preparing the family's evening meal. The Dom Post said:

Mr Ramjit said the experience was terrifying, particularly as most of his family were in the rear of the dairy in Middle Rd, Havelock North, where they lived. His 10-year-old son was due to walk through the front door of the shop at any minute...

But this wasn't an isolated incident by any means, Mr Ramjit's only staff member was held up at gunpoint in the town last year and is still traumatised by that event. According to the Dom Post.

Mr Ramjit said he would not consider changing occupations, but his sole staff member was not so sure. John Booth sold his own dairy in Havelock North last year after being held up at gunpoint in April. He and his mother and aunt were in his Lipscombe Cres dairy when a man with a pistol burst in and took cash.
Mr Booth said his decision to sell the business was directly related to the robbery. "It was just too scary." Though he had not been in the dairy on Sunday, the robbery had frightened him all over again.
"I was just starting to come right. Now I'm very nervous again." Read the full report here

We checked our list and found just two other aggravated robberies in small businesses in the town that had been reported on by the media since 2009. There is the hold-up at Lipscombe Dairy on 2 April, in which the accused had been bailed and had then crashed his vehicle. The other was at the Video Ezy on 10 March this year when a man threatened staff with a spanner before stealing cash.

Coincidentally, Havleock North was one of four regions in New Zealand included in an Victoria University Study - "Not in my backyard? Crime in the Neighbourhood" 

The study showed that although >80% of people thought crime was a problem in New Zealand  63.2 per cent of them believed it was a problem only in other areas. Given the rising crime figures in New Zealand, which includes the fifth highest murder rate in the OECD and the overall rise in total offences in the Hastings area, that raises some questions as to the accuracy of crime reporting by the media and how much the public's perception's of crime can be influenced by news reporting.

Recorded crime in the area, 2008 & 2009

Read also
No Crime in Gisborne, It's Official - Updates - "GISBORNE police have decided to restrict the information on crime they provide to media in a move to “make the community feel safer”. Up until now, The Gisborne Herald has been given detailed reports of crimes attended by police, including burglaries, domestic violence and the arrests that make up our daily “Police briefs”. But earlier this week area commander Inspector Sam Aberahama said comprehensive information would no longer be provided. He saw no benefit in “reporting all and sundry”…read the whole article here

Under reporting of crime to the media – it took a year before the news of the second robbery of Navtej Singh’s shop got out.

Yin Ping Yang’s Murderer Was A Serial Home Invader; NZ Crime Compared To Oakland, US And South Africa - " Last month, Joanne Wang, 39, was killed in a hit and run after her handbag was snatched; Yang Yin Ping, 80, was fatally attacked in her Manurewa home; and Navtej Singh, 30, was shot during a robbery of his liquor store. All the victims were Asian...Businessman Charles Kang, a trade consultant originally from Singapore, said many of his overseas clients have raised concerns over safety issues over doing business in New Zealand.
“One compared New Zealand to South Africa, and another said Auckland was fast becoming for us what Oakland is to America,” said Mr Kang. “Many expressed surprise at the level of crime we experience here, because New Zealand has a reputation as being a safe country.”

Police Minister infuriated at newspaper’s test of security at Super 14s match – reporters testing security at a rugby match weren’t pretending to be terrorists.

It’s official: Politicians can’t take a joke - “MPs may make fools of themselves from time to time but they want to ban others from doing it. Satire, ridicule and denigration of MPs using any television footage shot from parliamentary galleries is to be banned under rules proposed by the standing orders committee. The move on freedom of expression is not the only controversy the rules have caused. They also create anomalies between what television cameras can show and what newspapers photographers are allowed to show, giving television the advantage…”

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