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Weekly Media Roundup
May 03, 2019 at 11:43 AM
Newsroom: Davis knocks down Destiny’s ‘Man Up’ programme
Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis has stamped out any hope Brian Tamaki may have held of winning government funding to deliver his Man Up programme in prisons.
The Destiny Church founder has been vocal about what he says is the success of the 15-week programme to help “dysfunctional” men with a record of violent offending and addiction.
Tamaki has repeatedly criticised the Government for not funding him to deliver his programme in New Zealand prisons, despite never making a formal application as part of the Corrections tender process.
Davis said there was no verified, independent research showing the programme has achieved success, and lashed out at Tamaki, calling his claims duplicitous.
Stuff: Report criticises Govt underfunding of sexual violence support and prevention
Government underfunding leaves organisations supporting victims of sexual violence to fundraise millions to stay afloat, a new report has found.
On Tuesday, Action Station released its report, For the Wellbeing of New Zealanders, which found there was a multi-million difference between the needs of support agencies and the amount of Government funding they received.
Of the 38 agencies examined, the Government paid a total of $24.7 million, yet the total expenditure of agencies was $31.7m - leaving a gap of $7m.
Report co-author Laura O'Connell Rapira said at least $10m in this year's Budget was needed.
1 News Now: Funding shortfall in services that help sexual violence victims 'causing further harm' - report
1 News Now: Rise of gang-related violence needs a deeper approach, sociologist says
The rise of gang-related violence in South Auckland is best addressed by focusing on the issue of family violence, a sociologist says.
It comes as South Auckland communities are calling for an increased police presence to deal with gang crime after a spike in gang-related shootings.
In the last year, there have been more than a dozen gang-related shootings or murders in South Auckland, leaving the community on edge.
Dr Jarrod Gilbert is a senior lecturer at the University of Canterbury and author of the book, Patched the History of Gangs in New Zealand.
Speaking to TVNZ1’s Breakfast, he said that unless the problem of family violence is addressed, the problem of gang violence will remain.
Noted: 'I took pleasure in making her feel worthless': The psychology of domestic abuse
When Grace Millane was killed last year, there was an outpouring of anger. Many asked, how could this happen in New Zealand? Others asked, why are we surprised?
On a warm spring day in Hamilton, eight men gathered to share a pork curry in the Hamilton suburb of Frankton. Before they ate, Eric, a large man with a soft voice, said a karakia. He introduced the group, who didn’t know each other, but had something in common: each had punched, kicked, near-throttled or violently threatened a woman in their lives.
Glendon, 37, a man with slicked-back, fair hair, volunteered he had been imprisoned seven times for striking his partner; offences, he claimed, that related to alcohol, drugs and “people who take me down the wrong road”. Rua, 30, a thin man wearing a hoodie, half-throttled his partner when she was pregnant with their second child. Adam’s father ran with the Mongrel Mob and raised him to intimidate and cause pain to all he came across. He said, “I never used my fists or boots on my partner, but I took pleasure in making her feel worthless.”
Eric sat silently, while the men shared their stories. Later he said, “I’ve been married 30 years. Half my kids know me as a man who was violent; the other half can’t believe that’s true.” Against the backdrop of shocking stories laid bare over lunch, it was a small beacon of hope.
Noted: How domestic violence has been normalised in New Zealand
What I’ve learned from a year of writing about domestic violence.
I was deputy editor of the Waikato Times in 1996, when Leon Colin Wilson strangled and stabbed to death his former partner, Leonie Mary Newman, in a Huntly house. The court reporter wrote that Wilson, a 27-year-old Kaitaia man, had been charged with murder and remanded in custody for a depositions hearing. The story appeared on page one, below the fold. The lead that day was about ongoing ructions over rates.
A month later, on page eight, the newspaper reported Wilson had pleaded guilty to murder. The following month, Justice Penlington jailed him for life, with a minimum of 10 years before he was eligible for parole. The court heard Wilson strangled Newman so hard, he broke his thumb; then he stabbed her 28 times with a boning knife. She had the words “Property of Leon” tattooed on her face. Wilson told police, “If I can’t have her, no one will.”
Leonie Newman was 26 when she was murdered. She had three children aged nine, six and five. After the sentencing, her mother told the newspaper, “The nine-year-old – Mereana – is finding it very hard at the moment. The two young ones – I don’t really think it’s sunk in for them yet.”
Newsroom: Can addiction services cope with drug law change?
The Government has made mental health and addiction a priority for its first Wellbeing Budget, due later this month. Laura Walters reports on experts' reservations about whether it will go far enough.
Stuff: Tell kids about sex before they turn 13, say some Kiwi parents
With greater access to information about sex via the internet, it is perhaps no surprise that new research has revealed 44 per cent of Kiwi parents think "The Talk" should happen before children turn 13. The nib State of the Nation Parenting Survey of 1200 parents found just over 2 in every 5 parents think it's appropriate to have conversations about sex with their children at that age.
Just over one quarter think waiting to 14 years is more appropriate, the survey found.
RNZ: 'Brutalised inside and then I had to live with that shame'
This story discusses graphic details of a violent nature.
Two sexual abuse survivors from Burnham Military Camp near Christchurch have spoken publicly about the horrors they endured.
Ken Clearwater and Terry King have been part of a CTV series called Challenge the Silence.
Otago Daily Times: Raped by a woman: They ask 'why I didn't like it'
WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Josh remembers yelling over and over for her to stop. But she didn't. He has to deal with people asking 'how a 6 foot 3 guy could be raped' or 'why I didn't like it'.
"Let's take the gender out of it. Trauma is trauma," he said.
Josh spoke to CTV as part of its Challenge the Silence series. One in six boys will be sexually abused before they are 18. In this video series, 10 men have told their stories. All grew up believing they were the only ones it had happened to. Now they want other victims to know they are not alone and, if they are ready, help is there for them.
Newshub: What's New Zealand doing wrong when it comes to child abuse?
New Zealand has one of the worst records of child abuse in the developed world and the woeful number of cases continue to grow.
Every year there are more than 150,000 reports of concern relating to children in this country.
On average one child dies every five weeks as a result of violence in New Zealand, with children under 12 months old making up the majority.
Stuff: Netsafe finds 6 per cent of teens digitally self-harmed in the past year
A new report suggests six per cent of New Zealand teens have anonymously posted mean or negative content online about themselves in the past year.
Online safety organisation Netsafe used an online survey from July to September 2018 for the project. It received 1110 responses from teenagers, aged 13-17. Of those taking part, 66 had engaged in digital self-harm in the past year.
The prevalence among boys was slightly higher than girls - 7 per cent, compared to 5 per cent - but the difference was not statistically significant in the results, the report said.
NZ Herald: Methamphetamine still the drug of choice in New Zealand according to new police data from national wastewater testing
Methamphetamine is easily the most popular drug consumed in New Zealand each week, with an estimated $500 million spent on the Class-A drug each year.
New Zealanders spend nearly $1.4 million cash on methamphetamine every single day, according to police analysis of three months of drug testing of wastewater.
Described by scientists as "one large urine test", the wastewater testing started with three sites in 2016 - Whangarei, Auckland's North Shore and Christchurch - but was rolled out nationwide last November.
The ESR testing at 38 sites now captures 80 per cent of the population and officials hope it will paint a clearer picture of New Zealand's drug habits.
RNZ: Pēpi Koha Packs: Hawke's Bay police provide basics for babies
Emergency supplies of nappies, wipes and baby food and milk are being handed out by Hawke's Bay police to struggling families.
The Pēpi Koha Packs are the brainchild of Detective Libby Bradford from the police's family harm team after noticing many of the families they visited had babies and toddlers who were going without the basics.
"I would see children with heavy nappies on that hadn't been changed and it was a common theme that there was either no money, no nappies or food in the house for the children," she said.
"It was really heartbreaking seeing that, and through no fault of their own, the kids just weren't getting what they needed. So many times we've gone into homes and families have paid all their benefit on a large bill and there is nothing left for the children."
NZ Law Society: Alcohol and Other Drug Court pilot being evaluated
The Ministry of Justice says it is evaluating the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court pilot which began in 2012.
In its latest Justice Matters newsletter, the ministry says it is the first time how well the court is achieving its goals has been evaluated. Evaluation in the past has looked at processes rather than outcomes.
The pilot operates at the District Court in Auckland Central and Waitakere and is a joint initiative between the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health, Department of Corrections, and Police. This type of court has been run successfully in parts of the United States and Australia.
“People get very excited about them, but it’s important to see if they really work, and the timing is also important," say ministry Senior Advisors Laura Crawford and Jody Hamilton.
Stuff: Consent not a given, say panel of experts
A panel of experts answering questions about consent has urged university students to change the way they view consent and realise it isn't like what is shown in the movies.
The Cup of Consent event was held at Massey University in Palmerston North on Tuesday as part of Rape Awareness week.
Massey Students' Association education officer Callum Goacher said the association's Thursdays in Black Manawatū group, part of a national student-led campaign against rape and sexual violence, was holding a variety of events throughout the week.
Ann Kent, from Abuse and Rape Crisis Support, was on the panel and said the way consent was portrayed in movies and television was different to reality.
Stuff: Demand for Christchurch's Cholmondeley Children's Centre up 150 per cent in nine years
Solo dad Raymond was shaking when he first took his two children to stay at Cholmondeley Children's Centre in Christchurch.
But with no family support, he needed help.
It has been more than two years and his two children – Renee, 9, and Dray, 8 – stay at the respite centre for five nights every six weeks.
More than 500 children stay at the largely community-funded Governors Bay centre each year, an unprecedented increase from less than 200 in 2011, which chief executive said could be indicative of the "increasing gap between the rich and the poor".
Auckland Magazine: Stress in the womb lead to mental resilience later in life?
Like other animals, humans can be prepared via epigenetic changes to face the environment their mother experienced during pregnancy, a recent study suggests.
A new human study shows that in high-violence communities where children experience prenatal stress, psychiatric problems appear to be less frequent – and a different, potentially protective, the pattern of epigenetic changes emerges.
“In animals, under some circumstances, exposure of pregnant mothers to predators leads to behavioural and molecular changes in the offspring, that are beneficial in predator-rich environments but not otherwise. A similar relationship between prenatal and postnatal stress may help us explain why some individuals develop psychiatric problems while others seem resilient,” explained Daniel Nätt, lead author of the study.
Auckland Magazine: Adverse events during initial years of life may affect future mental health: Study
Latest findings suggest that the first three years of life may be an especially important period for shaping biological processes that ultimately give rise to mental health conditions.
The study claims that the timing of adverse experiences, including poverty, family and financial instability, and abuse, has more powerful effects than the number of such experiences or whether they took place recently.
NZ Herald: Chester Borrows: Caught in a cycle of abuse
We need to recognise that while some victims have protective factors around them like strong, loving, nurturing families, good role modelling and healthy relationships, other victims are inundated with risk factors. It is little surprise that offending follows and, when it does, we, and those government agencies working on our behalf, need to look behind the triggers for that offending to prevent the victimisation of another generation.
They say that ignorance is bliss, but this is not blissful ignorance because we cannot deny what we know. There is a direct correlation between some offenders and the abuse they endured, which led to an inevitable outcome.
It is time we woke up.
Stuff: Half of children deported from New Zealand since 2014 were born in the country
Nearly half of the children deported from New Zealand during the past five years were born in the country, figures from Immigration New Zealand show.
Figures obtained through an Official Information Act request showed Immigration New Zealand (INZ) deported 194 children between 2014 and 2018 – 84 of whom were born in New Zealand.
Before 2006, people born in New Zealand were given citizenship but a law change now meant children were only entitled to citizenship by birth if at least one of their parents were a citizen or permanent resident of New Zealand, Australia, the Cook Islands or Tokelau.
However, immigration lawyer Richard Small estimated the actual number of children forced to leave New Zealand could be triple the figures revealed in the OIA. He believes the number could be much higher because official figures show that many people caught on the wrong side of immigration choose to leave the country before being officially deported.
Stuff: Police create Evidence-Based Policing team to fight crime with data and research
A Wellington-based team of people are fighting crime – but not in the traditional way you might think.
Instead of hitting the streets looking for guns and gangs, scientists and academics are pouring over research and data.
"You could call it fighting crime with academia," head of the group Superintendent Bruce O'Brien said.
The Evidence-Based Policing (EBP) team – the first of its kind in the world – was created at the end of last year.
ODT: Exhibition brings issue of sexual assault 'to life'
Even friends and family sometimes buy into myths around sexual assault regarding victims' clothing, organisers of the second "What I Was Wearing'' exhibition at the University of Otago say.
But the exhibits the survivors of sexual violence have entered are pyjamas and dressing gowns, and everyday clothes such as T-shirts and skirts.
The display opened yesterday and continues today from 10am in the Union Hall building, just before the start of national Rape Awareness Week, which runs from May 1 to 7.
Stuff: Man with history of domestic violence, child neglect, escapes preventive detention
A man with a history of violent offending has avoided an indeterminate jail term after his latest conviction for assaulting a former partner.
Melagi Vela was convicted in October last year of causing grievous bodily harm. Judge Jane Farish in the Christchurch District Court ruled Vela should be considered for preventive detention – where someone can remain in prison past their sentence term if they are considered at risk of similar serious reoffending – and referred sentencing to the High Court.
Stuff: Karori murder-accused now accused of sex offences against victim's 12-year-old daughter
A man charged with murdering a woman in the Wellington suburb of Karori in early April is now charged with sexually violating the dead woman's 12-year-old daughter.
The man, 30, was originally charged with murdering a 52-year-old woman on April 4 or 5, but faced nine new charges in court on Tuesday.
New charges were laid against him in the Wellington District Court relating to the dead woman's daughter, including two of sexually violating a 12-year-old girl, wounding her with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, impeding the girl's breathing, and doing an indecent act on her.
NZ Herald: Prominent Kiwi entertainer sentenced to community work for assaulting wife, placing her in headlock
A prominent Kiwi entertainer has been convicted of assaulting his wife after he spat in her face and placed her in a headlock.
He will also keep his name secret for at least 20 working days.
The man was sentenced today in the North Shore District Court by Judge Claire Ryan to six months' supervision and 70 hours of community work.
The entertainer was due to go to trial in February after an incident involving his wife last year, but he reversed his not guilty plea to a male assaults female charge in November.
Stuff: Mother and her partner admit neglecting Ashton Cresswell
Only three weeks after he was born, Ashton Cresswell's body shut down.
His mother, Alesha Lee Cresswell, was told he had a cold. But she knew something was wrong when he started turning purple.
She rushed him to hospital, where doctors saved his life.
For the next few years he would battle severe combined immunodeficiency, an illness also known as "bubble boy disease", requiring chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.
But at age 4, his body shut down for good.
Covered in dozens of bruises, suffering injuries like those people suffer in car crashes, fluid leaking from a burst intestine into his abdomen, Ashton died while under the care of his mother and her then-partner, Peter James Otuszewski.
Stuff: Man granted discount off jail term for being detached from his Māori culture
A man has been given a discounted prison sentence due to him becoming detached from his Māori heritage.
On Tuesday, Derek Manihera Stubbings was sentenced in New Plymouth District Court to three years and six months' jail on nine charges related to a December 6, 2017 attack.
This was after Judge Gregory Hikaka gave Stubbings a 10 per cent discount after a cultural report canvassed his background, which included poverty, alcohol abuse and violence.
Stuff: Hayden Anthony Gray shook 4-week-old son, causing fatal injuries
Broken bones indicated a baby was shaken so violently by his father, Hayden Anthony Gray, that his arms and legs would have been "whiplashing".
Justice Rob Osborne found Gray, 32, guilty on two charges of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm to 4-week-old Carter Hutton in July 2017.
Delivering his judgment in the High Court at Christchurch on Wednesday after the judge-alone trial, Justice Osborne said Carter received a life-threatening head injury that left him with permanent neurological damage.
He died in July 2018, a year and a day after the Crown said the injuries were caused. Due to a limitation period in the Crimes Act in force at the time, the time between the injuries and death meant Gray could not be charged with manslaughter or murder. The rule was repealed in an amendment that came into force in March this year.
ODT: Complainant's friend testifies
A Dunedin woman lost her best friend when she went to police with concerns the woman was the subject of severe domestic violence.
"I'd rather lose my best friend than see her dead,'' she told the Dunedin District Court yesterday.
The defendant, a real estate agent aged in his 50s, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of injuring with intent to injure, one of assault with intent to injure and one of assaulting a female.
NZ Herald: Police and public demand authorities to appeal Borce Ristevski's sentence
Pressure on Victorian authorities to appeal Borce Ristevski's nine-year sentence is approaching boiling point, with the state's top cop revealing his officers remain "frustrated" and "upset" at the lenient term.
The case has generated public fury, with more than 70,200 people putting their names to a petition demanding state prosecutors appeal the sentence.
A Scotland Yard-trained criminal profiler and victim advocate has also weighed in on the debate, slamming Ristevski's punishment as "unacceptable and unconscionable".
Ristevski, 55, was jailed for a minimum of six years earlier this month for killing his 47-year-old Melbourne retailer wife Karen. With time served, he could be free on parole in five years.
Stuff: Nelson man who sexually abused girl sentenced to prison
A sexual abuse victim says she has "horrific dreams" but is doing everything she can to stop other vulnerable girls being taken advantage of.
The young woman's victim impact statement was read to the Nelson District Court on Wednesday at the sentencing of a 46-year-old Nelson man convicted of sexually abusing her.
Ivan Michal Basalaj was sentenced to five years in prison.
He was convicted following a trial in March on two charges of indecent assault on a child under 12, one of sexual violation and a charge of blackmail.
In her statement, the woman said the abuse had affected her self-worth and the way she related to other men in her life.
