A man accused of fatally shooting Peter Rasmussen, 75, in Ōtāhuhu, can finally be named as Lasalosi Vaitohi.
Vaitohi, 30, was one of three men charged with murder following an alleged prison-ordered “hit gone wrong”, which left Rasmussen dead in his own home.
Vaitohi lost his battle for name suppression at the High Court in Auckland.
Vaitohi, along with an 18-year-old and 22-year-old who cannot be named, were charged with murder four months after the murder.
“Meanwhile prison inmate Amit Singh, 31, has been charged with conspiring with Vaitohi to injure a woman, a week prior to Rasmussen’s death”, reported Radio ZB.
Lasalo Vaitohi. Photo/NZ Police
Rasmussen died in his home of many years on Princes St East, just days before his birthday.
He was a stalwart of the Ōtāhuhu Rovers Rugby League Football Club for about 60 years, where he was a coach, “old boy” and life member.
“Everyone looked up to him and waited for his comments after a game of course, which were always straight to the point,” club president Wallace Dumper said at the time of his death.
“What the hell happened?”
A four-week trial has been set down for August 2023.
In 2015 Police issued a warrant to arrest Vaitohi for Breach of Parole. It said Vaitohi also sought for a serious assault.
Michael Plank from the University of Canterbury and Covid-19 Modelling Aotearoa expected this death rate to continue for a few more weeks, and ultimately between 300 and 500 people to die by the end of the first Omicron wave.
“Because although it looks like cases have peaked, deaths [lag behind],” Plank said.
The death total was at about the lower to middle end of projections from earlier this year – which picked between 400 and 1200 deaths, he said.
A reason for New Zealand’s low death rate high booster uptake among older people and young people comprising a large amount of those infected.
But Plank said there still could be new Covid-19 variants or second waves which could affect the numbers.
If the virus took hold in communities with low booster rates, for example Māori, or high risk populations such as those in aged care facilities, that could cause the rate to increase again, he said.
Overall, there have been fewer deaths than usual in New Zealand since the pandemic started because lockdowns basically eliminated influenza.
But with borders opening soon bringing in travellers with infectious diseases, and winter coming, there are still difficult times to come.
University of Otago epidemiologist professor Michael Baker said it was likely to be a bad influenza season, and it was crucial people get the flu jab.
Big picture, NZ has done well in Covid-19 response – Baker
Baker said it was prudent that older people and those in poor health thought about cutting back on socialising for a few weeks while the Omicron outbreak ran its course.
While nationwide case numbers appeared to have peaked, many in the community were infected with the virus, he said.
But the big picture was that New Zealand’s Covid-19 response had been effective, with the death toll among the lowest in the world, Baker said.
There were five times the number of deaths in Australia and Singapore, which also implemented strong measures to combat the spread of the virus.
Baker said the death toll was 20 times higher in Hong Kong, Denmark and Canada and 50 times higher in the UK.
Police have seized more than $7 million in assets in relation to New Zealand’s largest meth bust, when 613kg of the drug was seized at Auckland Airport this month.
A Lamboghini Huracan restrained by police as part of the country’s largest drug bust. Photo: NZ Police / Supplied
The restrained assets include four properties – in Karaka, Papakura and Henderson in Auckland; and Pukehina in Bay of Plenty – five vehicles including a Lamborghini Huracan and a Ferrari, and a bank account with more than $1m.
Detective Inspector Lloyd Schmid said they belonged to the alleged lead offender in the drug syndicate – a 36-year-old a patched Mongrel Mob gang member.
The individual is due to appear in Manukau District Court in early May on conspiracy to import and money laundering charges.
“This is a significant seizure of millions of dollars’ worth of property, allegedly gained from the proceeds of crime,” Schmid said.
Photo: NZ Police / Supplied
“These criminal syndicates are motivated by financial greed and prey on those who are most vulnerable, with no regard for the destruction and social harm that methamphetamine causes in our communities … we will continue to target criminals who gain wealth through the sale of illegal drugs and strip them of their illegally obtained assets.”
More than six arrests were made after more than half a tonne of methamphetamine, worth more than $245m, was seized on 2 March.
Police at the time said some of those arrested in the operation, dubbed Weirton, had links to the Comancheros motorcycle gang.
His Majesty’s Armed Force Brigadier Lord Fielakepa who is also the Acting Police Commissioner. Photo/Screenshot (Broadcom Broadcasting)
Tongan Police are investigating a leak of information to the media.
Acting Commissioner of Police, Brigadier Lord Fielakepa said information contained in a recent media report concerned an operation in 2019.
“It is clear that the information in the article, though taken out of context, would have been sourced from a police officer,” Brigadier Fielakepa said.
“A breach of operations security is a serious matter and I have authorised investigation into this leak of information and to establish the motive behind it.
“Operations security in all police operations is necessary to safeguard police officers and the integrity of the operations. A breach of operations security not only places police operations at risk of failure, but it endangers the lives of police officers involved.”
The Brigadier said a media article questioned the integrity and conduct of two senior Police officers in relation to an operation conducted in 2019.
The article alleged that a diary, an unlicenced rifle and ammunition were seized and two suspects were arrested during this operation. The suspects arrested were related to Acting Deputy Commissioner Ashley Fua. It was also alleged that food and drink were donated to the Police by the family of those who were arrested.
The article claimed that Acting Deputy Commissioner (A/DC) Halatoa Taufa who leads the Drugs Enforcement Taskforce (DET) returned the diary to a family member of the owner, disregarding likely information and evidence of drug dealing.
Brigadier Fielakepa said an internal investigation submitted to the Commissioner of Police reported that the diary seized by a member of the taskforce was not registered as part of the evidence seized in the operation. The DET member disregarded the procedures for seized property during a police search.
A/DC Taufa gave the leader of the operation time to go through the diary to see if any information could be taken from it.
A/DC Taufa also checked the diary to see if it contained any relevant information, but there was none. The diary was then returned to the owner.
Former Police Commissioner Stephen Caldwell directed that a Last Warning be issued to the DET member who took the diary and failed to follow proper procedures. The Commissioner also directed that all food and drinks donated to Tonga Police be given to victims of domestic violence.
Brigadier Fielakepa said Tongan police were subject to the law and must follow the Police Code of Conduct. The conduct of A/DC Halatoa Taufa is commendable and maintained the credibility of the Tonga Police, he said.
“The foundation for Tonga Police services is the trust given to the Tonga Police by the community and the people of Tonga,” he said.
“Tonga Police values and protects public trust through maintaining clear guidelines for Police conduct and operations. These guidelines help to ensure appropriate level of accountability is maintained by individual police officers and the Tonga Police as an organisation.”
Explainer – There’s a new Covid-19 variant making headlines around the world – Deltacron. Whatever you may think about that name, it’s exactly what it sounds like – a combination of the Delta and Omicron variants.
So how did this happen, where did it come from and should we be worried? RNZ is here to clear it all up.
That’s when two related viruses infect the same individual and the same cell during a co-infection, she says.
“That person is unlucky enough to be infected by two different variants of the same virus and the virus replication machinery kind of accidentally switches from one genome to the other, resulting in a mixed genome, so that’s called viral recombination. “
It’s worth noting that there are different versions of Deltacron – Geoghegan says it’s actually somewhat unhelpful to use the name Deltacron because of this.
One version that’s been detected is a combination of Delta and BA-1. There’s also one that is a combination of Omicron variants BA.1 and BA.2.
Earlier in March, World Health Organisation Covid-19 technical lead and infectious disease epidemiologist Dr Maria Van Kerkhove said the WHO was aware of Deltacron but the levels of detection are low.
“The recombinant itself, this is something that is expected given the intense amount of circulation that we saw with both Omicron and Delta and given the sheer number of changes and mutation within Omicron, it was much easier for … people who are studying the genome to be able to detect these recombinants…
“Unfortunately, we do expect to see recombinants because this is what viruses do, they change over time.
When did this variant pop up?
Various reports have pointed to Gisaid, a virus information sharing initiative, as noting the “first solid evidence for a Delta-Omicron recombinant virus” showed the recombinant was identified in several regions of France and “has been circulating since early January 2022”.
“Genomes with a similar profile have been also identified in Denmark and The Netherlands. Further investigations are needed to determine if these recombinants derive from a single common ancestor or could result from multiple similar recombination events.”
Writing for The Conversation, Trinity College Dublin biochemistry Professor Luke O’Neill said “Deltacron’s story begins in mid-February, when scientists at the Institut Pasteur in Paris uploaded a genetic sequence of the coronavirus that looked very different from previous sequences. The virus sample had come from an elderly man in northern France and looked odd.
“Most of its genetic sequence was the same as Delta’s, which was dominant worldwide up until late last year, but the part of the sequence that encodes the virus’s spike protein – a key part of its external structure, which it uses to get inside cells in the body – came from Omicron.”
What are the chances of this happening?
Geoghegan says viral recombination is an important way for viruses to generate genetic variation.
“This coronavirus has been doing it all the way through this pandemic. However, it’s only recently become easier to spot since viruses that are circulating now are becoming more genetically distinct from one another.
“For example, we now have Delta, but we also have BA.1 and BA.2 which are variations of Omicron. And they’re all circulating, causing infections. So when recombinants occur between these lineages, it’s possible to identify, even if that switched part of the genome is quite small.
“Another reason why we’re seeing a lot of it now is because when BA.1 took off, at least [when] it spread across Europe really rapidly as well as the US, there was really high levels of Delta already there, and so there’s so many opportunities for these people to get co-infected and then recombine and transmit onwards.”https://players.brightcove.net/6093072280001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6301433365001
How worried should people be?
We said before there were different version of Deltacron – the one people might be more concerned about has been given the name XD, Geoghegan says.
“It’s basically a name for Delta and BA.1. It was first detected in France, and it contains a spike protein of BA.1 and the rest of the genome of Delta.
“It’s been now found in Germany, in the Netherlands and Denmark. And because it contains the structural proteins of Delta, if any of these different recombinants were to act much differently, it could be this one, but generally viral recombinants like these should be closely monitored for signs that they might be increasing in frequency, so we can kind of understand if these recombinants induce changes to the virus’ transmissibility or disease severity or in fact immunity.”
That said, it’s not clear if we need to be worried yet, she says.
Van Kerkhove said the WHO has “not seen any change in the epidemiology with this recombinant. We haven’t seen any change in severity but there are many studies that are underway”.
“It is also the main target of antibodies produced through infections and vaccines. So the defenses that people have acquired against Omicron – through infections, vaccines or both – should work just as well against the new recombinant,” the Times reports.
“Scientists suspect that Omicron’s distinctive spike is also partly responsible for its lower odds of causing severe disease. The variant uses it to successfully invade cells in the nose and the upper airway, but it doesn’t do so well deep in the lungs. The new recombinant may display the same penchant.”
Van Kerkhove also says in a WHO broadcast “we could have variants that emerge that have properties that are quite concerning, but if it doesn’t circulate, then it doesn’t become a public health threat”.
It’s worth noting that the recombinant is quite rare so far.
Writing for The Conversation, O’Neill said: “We can, though, be somewhat confident that prior infection with other variants, as well as vaccination, will offer protection from severe disease should Deltacron begin to dominate. We know that vaccines, which are based on the original Wuhan strain of the virus, also protect against severe disease with the more recent variants.
“Time will tell whether Delta and Omicron have produced a wild child for us to worry about.”
Is this Delta-Omicron mashup in New Zealand yet?
Geoghegan says it hasn’t been detected here yet and while it has been found in parts of the United Kingdom and Europe, it’s relatively rare.
“However, we need to closely monitor these and we need to continue our genomic surveillance to then be able to identify this if it occurs in New Zealand.”
Genomic surveillance will help us identify if it is worth concern – and find any other variants that crop up, she says.
“I think for the foreseeable future, we can expect new variants, if not recombinants, to emerge. And that’s basically evolution. It’s happening in real time in front of our eyes, which is daunting but quite fascinating.”
Van Kerkhove says “it’s really critical that we have testing and it’s really critical that we continue with sequencing, that we have good geographic representation of sequencing around the world and that the systems that have been put in place for surveillance, for testing, for sequencing, right now be reinforced”.
The kingdom’s largest prison is clear of active COVID-19 cases Thursday after 256 inmates and staff recovered, the Prison boss reported.
Hu’atolitoli prison
The clearing of cases occurred about a month after the first inmate case was reported in February at the Hu’atolitoli jail. At its peak early this month, 260 active inmate and employee cases were reported.
Tomorrow, Friday 25, it is expected 256 people were released from MIQs leaving only four patients to complete their 14-day isolation period, the Prison Chief Executive Sēmisi Tapueluelu told FM 87.5 Broadcom this morning.
Tapueluelu said he was glad that the prison was “cleared”.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Health reported yesterday Wednesday 23 nine people as having died with Covid.
Hon Saia Piukala said three people died of Covid related causes while six died after being tested positive but they had underlying health conditions.
There were 390 new cases of Covid yesterday in Tonga, the Minister told a virtual press conference.
There were 4174 confirmed cumulative cases including 4065 in Tongatapu and 108 in Vava’u.
There was a total of 1545 recovered cases. Vava’u had 42 people recovered, nine in MIQs and 57 had been in self isolation.
There were 2620 active cases yesterday in Tonga.
There were 126 stranded Ha’apai residents repatriated this week from Tongatapu and 29 of them had tested positive. They are in MIQs in Ha’apai.
There were 119 international returnees released from MIQs yesterday leaving only 16 people required to have further isolation, the Minister said.
The large proportion of recent positive cases which is 1812 are between the ages of 20 and 39. Three children under one month old, 51 under one year old had tested positive but they had been recovered.
The Minister said 86 cases of Covid had been at the age of 70s and over.
New Zealand’s total death toll of people with Covid-19 has now grown to more than 200, with 11 new deaths announced today, as well as 20,087 new community cases.
Photo: 123rf.com
The new deaths bring the official total of people who have died with Covid-19 to 210.
The 11 deaths announced today include two from Northland, five from the Auckland region, one from Bay of Plenty and three from the Wellington region. One of these people was in their 30s, one in their 60s, one in their 70s, four were in their 80s and four in their 90s. Six were men and five were women.
The seven-day rolling average of deaths is nine.
There are also 960 people in hospital with the coronavirus today, down from 1016 yesterday, but the number of people in ICU has grown from 25 yesterday to 31 today.
The ministry said there were 4122 cases in Auckland, down slightly from yesterday’s 4291 cases. The case numbers in Canterbury have also dropped by 20 from 3488 yesterday to 3468 today.
The rest of today’s cases were in the Northland (727), Waikato (1726), Bay of Plenty (1290), Lakes (505), Hawke’s Bay (1,064), MidCentral (919), Whanganui (388), Taranaki (679), Tairāwhiti (339), Wairarapa (276), Capital and Coast (1259), Hutt Valley (720), Nelson Marlborough (584), Canterbury (3468), South Canterbury (319), Southern (1631), and West Coast (56) DHBs.
The ministry said 34 cases were also identified at the border.
New Zealand has now recorded a total of 517,495 confirmed cases of Covid-19.
There were 3972 booster doses given yesterday, as well as 194 first doses; 388 second doses; 29 third primary doses; 208 paediatric first doses and 4028 paediatric second doses.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is revealing Cabinet’s decisions about when and how Covid-19 restrictions will be eased.
Ardern is joined by Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall.
Ardern says the traffic light system will remain help manage any future outbreaks.
However, she says things have changed since the system was introduced: we’re now dealing with Omicron, rather than Delta; we have more data now and are better able to identify which environments are high risk; and we have high rates of vaccination coverage.
With that in mind, Ardern says she is announcing that all outdoor gathering limits will be removed from the traffic light system.
She says indoor gathering limits will increase from 100 to 200 under the red light setting.
Ardern says data shows hospitality had a relatively low secondary attack rate of 6.7 percent, which is backed up by other research.
She says it’s the view of public health officials hospitality gathering limits can be increased in the red setting from 100 to 200 without having a significant impact on the health system, particularly when retaining the seated and separated rules.
She is also announcing that vaccine passes will no longer be required from 11.59pm on 4 April.
Businesses and events will still be able to use them, if they choose to do so, but they will no longer be mandated, she says.
Ardern says masks are vital, and while people do not like them – for good reason – a study from the British Medical Journal late last year showed mask wearing reduced new cases by 53 percent.
In Orange, outdoor events will also be limitless. Close contact is higher risk for indoor events however so organisers of events over 500 people are encouraged to either add extra capacity or provide seating.
Green will not have restrictions but there will be guidance, and will not change.
“These changes are based on the best available evidence we have right now in real time. We believe they will make the Covid Protection Framework easier to maintain while also still being very effective,” Ardern says.
She says the changes can be made almost immediately and will come into effect at 11.59pm on 25 March.
On mandates and vaccine passes, Ardern says she was initially not in favour of their use but after months of Delta it became clear that mandates were needed to achieve vaccination levels required for safe reopening, and passes had a role to play too.
She says these were undoubtedly one of the reasons we reached 95 percent of the eligible population vaccinated, and achieved the near elimination of Delta over summer, but Omicron has changed things.
Almost all of New Zealand’s more than 500,000 cases of Covid-19 have been in the Omicron wave, she says. Many cases do not show symptoms and testing does not catch every case, so modellers expect total cases now could be as high as 1.7 million.
For the unvaccinated, the illness can be severe, she says.
Ardern says these people will have built some immunity from the illness itself, and as we come down off the peak the need for passes changes.
The isolation period for household contacts remains at seven days, Ardern says.
On QR codes, she says there is no plan for us to contact trace more widely with the exception of high-risk environments like aged care facilities or residential facilities for the vulnerable.
From this weekend people will no longer be required to scan everywhere they go, and businesses are no longer required to provide the means to do so.
Ardern says businesses should stand ready to stand up QR codes again and people should not yet delete the app from their phone, in case of a new variant that evades vaccines or is more deadly, in which case contact tracing would provide again a more critical role.
“Scanning has been a really important part of what we’ve achieved, so thank you for everyone for playing your part.”
Finally, Cabinet has also reviewed the role of vaccine mandates. As rates increased, they sought advice from professor David Skegg, who said the case for or against was now more finely balanced.
Skegg said: “Because of our relatively high vaccination coverage and increasing natural immunity as well as the apparent lowering of vaccine effectiveness of the Omicron variant, while vaccination remains critically important in protecting New Zealanders from Covid-19 we believe that several of the vaccine mandates could be dropped once the Omicron peak has passed.”
The government will no longer require mandates for education, police and defence workforces and businesses operating vaccine passes from 11.59pm on 4 April. They will continue to be used in health, aged care, corrections staff and border and MIQ workers.
Ardern says the government has also asked whether the mandates in the health sector could be narrowed, and expects to provide more updates on advice to the private sector on their use more broadly.
However, she asks that people still get vaccinated and boosted, saying it will continue to be central to the stability and strength of New Zealand’s recovery.
Looking back
Ardern says after two long years of living in a pandemic it’s easy to lose sight of how far New Zealand has come.
“This exact day two years ago, Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield announced from over at the Ministry of Health that we had 36 new cases of Covid-19. Half at that time were from overseas travel, with the exception of the Queenstown World Hereford Cattle conference … we could contact trace 50 new cases a day back then. We hadn’t locked down yet, but the early signs were there.”
She says two new community cases were announced on 23 March 2020, one in Wairarapa with no link to the border.
Within days New Zealand was in a nationwide lockdown, a decision Ardern says was not a hard one.
“We had no other defence, no other way to protect each other. There was no vaccine, no antiviral medicines, there was very little data to tell us which public health restrictions worked and which did not, so we built our own defences and we hunkered down.”
The transition has not been easy but it has worked, she says. New Zealand successfully eliminated the first wave and recorded the lowest number of deaths in the OECD for two years in a row.
She says the response was also the best economic response, but while we’ve been successful “it was also bloody hard … everyone has had to give up something to make this work and some more than others”.
She says she imagines every family will have had a difficult conversation about vaccines, mandates or passes but among the different opinions there is also fatigue.
Ardern says we are now able to keep moving forward safely, but we have to keep in mind that Covid is here to stay.
Ardern says for most people now symptoms are minor and they’ve recovered well at home, but others less able to fight the virus it meant a threat to their lives. Experts believe the case numbers have peaked in Auckland now, and the rest of the country is expected to follow in the next couple of weeks.
She says after the peak we will fall back to a steady rolling baseline of potentially several thousand cases a day, and there are likely to be spikes particularly over winter.
“We need to continue to use tools that can keep our vulnerable community safe, such as those who are immunocompromised and those with disabilities … there are ways we can do that while continuing to move forward.”
Cabinet has been seeking advice on the vaccine mandates, passes, the traffic light system, and all Covid-19 restrictions now that New Zealand appears to be nearing or passing the peak of Omicron cases, and made decisions in their Monday meeting.
Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says there are also 25 people in ICU or HDU and the average age of all hospitalised is 59.
Dr Bloomfield says the latest analysis shows Covid-19 case numbers have passed their peak in Auckland, and are tracking down in all three district health boards.
The seven-day rolling average of cases is 17,020. There were 34 new cases at the border.
The new deaths take the total number of publicly reported Covid-19 related deaths to 199 and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths to 10.
Of the 15 people who had died, nine were from the Auckland region, three from Waikato, and three from the Wellington region. One was in their 50s, three in their 60s, two in their 70s and five in their 80s. Eight were men and seven women.
In the past 24 hours, there have been 2007 PCR tests and 43,768 reported rapid antigen tests.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced 14,463 new community cases.
Today, the MOH said there was “an increase … in case numbers across most regions of New Zealand, however, it’s not unexpected as we generally see lower testing and reporting over weekends”.
As for vaccinations, of the eligible population over 12, 96.3 percent have had their first dose, 95.1 percent have had their second dose and 72.8 percent have had their booster.
The MOH said “Getting boosted continues to be one of the most important ways people can protect themselves from Omicron and severe illness.
“There is a much lower risk of being hospitalised if you are up to date with your vaccinations, which, for Omicron, includes a third or booster dose.”
People are being warned not to collect or eat shellfish from Tongatapu, Ha’apai and ‘Eua coasts due to toxic poisoning risks.
The Ministry of Fisheries said these areas were affected by the ashfall after the volcano eruption on January 15.
It said it received reports of people getting sick after consuming shellfish from these areas. Fish in these coastal areas could also be at risk, it said.
Victims included people who suffered from diarrhoea, vomiting, and having pain in various parts of the body at the same time.
The Ministry said fish from deep sea fishing could be safe for consumption.
The news came after it was reported that 84 percent of the population of Tonga was affected by the ashfall and tsunami that hit the country on January 15.
A New Zealand government minister said at the time there were “high levels of sulphur in the air at the moment and also in the water”. They added that this was a risk to drinking water and fishing, which is vital to the Tongan people, and could lead to a rise in water temperatures.
However, the Minister of Health Saia Piukala later on said drinking water had been tested and it was safe.
