About 300 people turned out in Timaru this evening for a candlelight vigil in honour of the three South African children who died there a week ago today.
Photo: RNZ / Conan Young
Lauren Dickason is charged with the murder of her daughters: two-year-old twins Maya and Karla, and their six-year-old sister Liane.
Reverend Alan Cummins who has been supporting the girl’s father, Graham Dickason, read a letter from him to the people of Timaru.
He said the support he had received had restored his faith in humanity.
The vigil was timed to happen at the same time as one in the family’s home town of Pretoria.
He was also the first New Zealand politician to be found guilty of corruption and bribery charges.
“I do want to acknowledge Taito Phillip Field’s passing,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at today’s press conference. She noted his career had been controversial.
“Everyone will be familiar with the latter part of his political career, but ultimately today his family have lost him, and the first Pacific MP in New Zealand. And so I do want to acknowledge that.”
Field was a minister outside Cabinet in a Labour-led government from 2003 to 2005.
He left the Labour Party in 2007 after efforts to formally expel him were undertaken, and returned to Parliament as an independent.
The charges were laid after he had work done by Thai people he helped with immigration matters. He then tried to cover that up during an official inquiry.
Auckland City Police have launched a homicide investigation following the death of a woman in Mt Albert yesterday.
Lena Harrap went missing from her Mount Albert home after not returning from a walk early on Wednesday, she was later found dead.
The body of a female was located deceased yesterday afternoon in an area of bush off a walkway between Grande Ave and Summit Drive.
While formal identification is yet to be completed at this time, Police believe the deceased is local woman Lena Zhang, also known as Lena Zhang Harrap, who was reported missing yesterday after going for a morning walk.
Lena’s family are understandably distraught at this development and request privacy and ask for media not to contact them.
Media are invited to attend a press conference at the Mt Roskill Police Station, 142 Stoddard Road, at 4.30pm where Detective Inspector Aaron Pascoe will provide further details about the homicide investigation.
Reno Mahe sued the manufacturer in 2018 after his 3-year-old daughter died in 2016.
(Courtesy Steve Tate) Steve and Savanna Tate, left, and Sunny and Reno Mahe pose for a photo at the Miracles From Elsie Foundation fundraiser in July 2018. Elsie Mahe died in 2016.
The family of a 3-year-old girl who died in 2016 after she got tangled in blinds cords and suffered brain damage was awarded $25 million by a jury this week in a wrongful death trial against the blinds manufacturer.
Former BYU football player Reno Mahe and former BYU volleyball player Sunny Tonga Mahe had sued several window blinds companies in 3rd District Court for allegedly manufacturing and installing a faulty product that led to the death of their daughter Elsie Mahe in 2016.
The Mahes had sought punitive damages in addition to the $25 million in compensatory damages that a jury awarded them Tuesday. On Wednesday, Century Blinds Inc. decided to settle for a confidential amount in the punitive phase of the trial, said Alan Mortensen, an attorney for the Mahes. It’s unclear whether that settlement will affect the previous judgment.
Attempts to reach Century Blinds on Wednesday were not immediately successful. The initial complaint named several other defendants, but they were dismissed before the trial, Mortensen said.
The Mahes plan to release a statement Wednesday afternoon, Mortensen said.
Elsie got tangled in blinds cords in the family’s Lehi home on Nov. 22, 2016. Her mother found her with the cords wrapped around her neck and performed CPR until paramedics arrived.
The child was flown to Primary Children’s Hospital, where tests showed she had suffered extensive brain damage. After being placed on a ventilator and clinging to life for a week, Elsie died on Nov. 29, 2016. Her organs were donated.
“Our Elsie girl has officially been released to heaven — at least from a worldly, paperwork standpoint,” Sunny Tonga Mahe wrote at the time. “We feel peace and we are again so grateful for the privilege of being Elsie’s parents. She continues to sprinkle love and hope across the world.”
The Mahes filed suit in 2018, claiming that the blinds were faulty in that the manufacturers failed to install a safety mechanism to ensure the cords couldn’t strangle a child. They sought medical and funeral expenses and an undetermined amount for emotional trauma.
Brighton High graduate Reno Mahe was a running back for the Cougars in 1998, 2001 and 2002. He spent five years in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles and returned to BYU as a running backs coach in 2016 and 2017.
Sunny Tonga Mahe was an All-America member of the BYU volleyball team.
— This story will be updated. Tribune reporter Scott D. Pierce contributed to this report.
A family who had lined up for a long awaited KFC takeaway this morning was devastated when their meal didn’t make it into the car and hit the ground instead.
A family who had lined up for a long awaited KFC takeaway this morning in Takanini was devastated when their meal didn’t make it into the car and hit the ground instead. Photo/Supplied
They were just one of many carloads of people who have been waiting in line for hours in Auckland to buy takeaway food since the city went to Level 3 at midnight last night.
Fortunately, staff at the Takanini KFC replace the meal.
A witness to the incident said it may have been a devastating experience if the accident had happened somewhere away from the KFC.
Food outlets opened for contactless takeaways, click and collect and delivery from 11.59pm on Tuesday night.
Take away outlets across Auckland have been inundated today as drivers formed long queues for driveway service and Tongan KFC lovers were among them.
Many take away shops opened at midnight or soon after and there have been long queues in Mangare since last night.
A worker from KFC in Manukau said about half a dozen cars had lined up by 7.30am. One customer had been there since 8pm the night before and had slept in his car.
By late morning staff at one McDonald’s in Māngere had set up traffic cones to direct traffic in its car park, but the line up remained relatively small.
However, earlier this evening it was reported that KFC and McDonalds in Māngere had 100 metre long double lanes of traffic waiting.
Vaccination
Auckland councillor Josephine Bartley has suggested setting up vaccination centres at KFCs.
“People are going to be waiting in line for ages anyway, they might as well get a vaccination while they’re there,” she told the New Zealand Herald.
“I’m more than aware that KFC has a massive customer base in Auckland and notably in areas that are a focus for raising Covid vaccination rates such as Māngere, Ōtara, Manurewa, Papatoetoe.”
Extremes
Tongan’s love of takeaway food has sometimes reached extremes. In 2015 when they were competing in the Rugby World Cup in the UK, the Tongan team made the local Nandos their home. The Samoan team lamented that all they could see was fast food restaurants, but their management banned them from all of them – including McDonalds and KFC.
A 35-year-old woman hadn’t been seen for three weeks in Keysborough, Victoria, Australia.
Lavinia. Photo/Supplied
Police have identified her as Lavinia. She was last seen on Theodore Avenue, Noble Park around 2:35pm on 1 September 2021.
“Lavinia was last seen in a black T-shirt, knee length dress with short black belle sleeves, and black side shoes. She is believed to be in the Dandenong or Casey areas”, Police said.
It is understood Lavinia is Tongan and she was working for the Autograph in Parkmore.
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake has rattled Melbourne this morning with reports of damage in the city and across Victoria.
Geoscience Australia said the earthquake was 10km below the surface about 150km east of the city.
The initial quake was felt 190km away in Melbourne, as well as in regional Victoria, Sydney, regional New South Wales, the ACT, Adelaide and Launceston in Tasmania.
Geoscience Australia said the quake was potentially the largest earthquake in eastern Australia, at least since European settlement.
A magnitude-4 earthquake was recorded by the agency nearby about 15 minutes later.
There are reports emerging of significant damage in some parts of Victoria, the ABC said.
Fire and Rescue NSW said there are no reports of major structural damage in New South Wales.
Follow all the latest developments with RNZ’s live blog:
NZ’s GeoNet said for an earthquake of this depth and magnitude, there would have been strong shaking, particularly close to the epicentre near Mansfield.
“This is the largest on land earthquake in Australia since 1997. Earthquakes in Australia are reasonably uncommon, being far from the active tectonic zones of the Australian plate.”
Geoscience Australia said the quake was detected around Mansfield in Victoria’s north-east and hit at 9.15am local time.
Apartment buildings are being evacuated in inner Melbourne, where damage to streets and roads is being posted to social media.
Windows buckled as quake shook Mansfield
FoodWorks Mansfield assistant manager Karen McGregor said she first thought a truck was coming into town.
“The windows started shaking, the walls, and everything on the desk, it was really quite scary,” she said.
“We ran downstairs to the shop, it was really, really scary down there. The windows were buckling.
“I was very scared. I just thought, oh my God, is this place going to fall down?”
McGregor said she had not heard reports of anyone with any injuries.
Despite the shaking, she said the shop did not sustain too much damage, with only a few unbreakable items off the shelves.
Ross, 60, who lives on the Bellarine Peninsula told ABC Radio Melbourne it was the biggest earthquake he had ever experienced.
“We’ve just moved into a round earth house on a concrete slab and the whole thing just rock and rolled and the water in the swimming pool went sloshing backwards and forwards,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
Margot in Moonee Ponds said at first she thought her daughter was pranking her when her whole house began shaking. “It was quite intense,” she said. “My chair was shaking… everything in the room was rattling and clinking together.”
Photo: Geoscience Australia
Expert says aftershocks could continue for months
Seismology Research Centre head Adam Pascale said the epicentre of the quake was north-east of Aberfeldy and the Thomson Dam in the Alpine National Park.
“We are still refining it, but we think it’s a magnitude 5.8 potentially at this point in Gippsland,” he told ABC Radio Gippsland.
“It shook here in the northern suburbs of Melbourne for about 15-20 seconds so it’s quite a significant earthquake.”
Pascale warned there could be aftershocks to come and they could continue for months.
“There is a small likelihood that there could be a larger event but we’ll see as we go,” he said.
“The main things for people to remember is if they do start to feel some shaking. There’s usually a primary and a secondary wave.
“The primary wave will give you a few seconds to get under a table and hold on.”
Breaching Covid-19 restrictions will now mean an increased infringement fee of up to $12,000 for individuals when imposed by a court, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced.
Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Speaking at the daily Covid-19 briefing this afternoon, Ardern said fines for breaches of the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act were being increased because of the view that the infringement regime did not reflect the severity of breaches.
“Our success has been really based on the fact that people by and large have been really compliant … however, there has been the odd person that has broken the rules and put others at risk. Specifically we’ve had some people break out of MIQ including in a handful of cases, with Covid, who have pose a threat to the community.”
She said there were some issues very early on, but they had reduced when the government introduced fines for those who breach the rules, such as alert levels or breaking the rules of MIQ.
“It’s Cabinet’s view that these fees don’t properly reflect the significant social and economic impacts of a single case of Covid-19 getting out into the community, and nor do they act as a sufficient incentive to play by the rules,” Ardern said.
Like with a traffic ticket, people can be issued an infringement notice for breaking the rules. If the infringement fee is not paid in full by the due date it is referred to the Ministry of Justice for enforcement, when it becomes a “fine”.
On-the-spot infringement notice fees were initially set at $300, with fines of up to $1000 when imposed by a court, but Ardern today said they would increase.
Infringement notices would increase to $4000 for individuals, and $12,000 for companies, while fines imposed by courts would increase to a maximum of $12,000 for individuals and $15,000 for companies.
People convicted for criminal offences – such as intentionally failing to comply with an order, or intentionally threatening, assaulting, or hindering an enforcement officer – may also face fines and prison.
The fine for criminal offending would increase from $4000 to $12,000 or six months imprisonment, with an additional fee of up to $15,000 introduced for companies.
Ardern said those were maximums subject to the court’s discretion, and would take effect from November 2021 subject to the passing of the Covid-19 Public Health Response amendment bill.
These fines are for people who do something specified as an infringement offence in a Covid-19 order.
She said there was a balance between making sure people understood the rules, but also the consequences of breaking those rules.
“I think the sheer magnitude of having someone with Covid-19 who breaks those rules, the impact on the community, we need to make sure that the fines really do reflect the gravity of the situation.”
The prosecutions were not made by politicians, she said.
“The prosecution decisions aren’t ultimately made by us. We need to set up the framework and the infringements that are available should those prosecutions be taken and I think actually from the general public there would probably be a bit of a view that when you are putting people at risk you need to have an infringement regime that reflects the seriousness of some of that rule breaking.
“Where they’re used and how they’re used, what fines are awarded, that sits out of our hands.”
In a statement, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said examples of infringement offences would include failure to wear a face covering in places where it is mandatory.
Criminal offences could include travelling without permission, or travelling for a purpose other than what was permitted, from an alert level 4 or 3 area to alert level 2.
Twenty Tongans stranded in Fiji since March this year have been told their repatriation has been suspended because the risk of importing the delta variant is too high.
Tongan nationals have been stranded in Fiji since March this year after the Kingdom closed its borders because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Supplied
Fiji is battling an outbreak that began in April, with over 12,000 active cases in isolation and the death toll at 575.
Tonga’s Government said the group in Fiji were among 2608 Tongans stranded overseas.
Tonga’s National Emergency Management Committee is allowing people to return from Covid-19-free countries such as Vanuatu, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Nauru on direct flights.
But it is not allowing repariation from countries like Fiji, Australia and New Zealand who are struggling with outbreaks of the Covid-19 delta variant.
The committee said Tongans stuck in Fiji included people in transit as well as students.
It said the Tongans were supported with living allowances from the Tongan government.
The committee said the suspension also applied to Tongans trying to get home from New Zealand and Australia.
“The Government of Tonga’s National Emergency Management Committee (NEMC) continues to assess and review the situation in Fiji whilst aiming for the vaccination coverage in Tonga to attain around 70 percent by the end of the year,” the committee said in a statement.
“The Air Vanuatu flight, which arrived in Tonga on 26th August 2021, brought in 14 Chinese nationals who were based in Vanuatu since June 2021 and they were approved by the Government of Tonga to implement a development project having fulfilled the strict requirements dictated by health criteria.”
The statement said those who had lived for more than 14 days in a Covid-19 free country such as Vanuatu, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu or Nauru could enter Tonga on direct flights.
But for those arriving from Covid-19 transmission locations such as Fiji, New Zealand and Australia, the government said they would have to wait as these flights had been postponed based on assessments by the NEMC.
“Tonga has a strong desire to repatriate all 2608 Tongan nationals and residents who are currently stranded overseas.
“The Tongan government also takes this opportunity to extend sincerest gratitude to the Fijian government, and the people of Fiji, for the tremendous support rendered, and assistance received, during this difficult time.”
