NUKU’ALOFA: A suspected drug dealer was freed on bail after a 30kg package of illicit drug was found in a shipping container in New Zealand.
Kama Norman Manulevu. Photo/Facebook
The food container was transported from Tonga before it arrived in New Zealand in July.
Norman Kama Manulevu is expected to reappear in court in December 13 after he has been charged with exporting illicit drugs after a joint operation between New Zealand and Tonga police intercepted the suspicious parcel in Auckland.
Meanwhile, New Zealand authorities have arrested five suspects and charged them with importation of methamphetamines from Tonga as part of the investigations.
Last week, the king opened a two-day National Symposium aimed to develop a way forward in Tonga’s fight against illicit drugs.
The king previously criticised the parliament for what he says is a failure by the government to combat the country’s problems with drug addiction, in a move that has been welcomed by politicians and civil society groups.
In August an estimated 14kgs of cocaine washed up on beaches in Vava’u.
Tongan police seized the haul and an ongoing investigation has seen 21 people charged so far including three foreigners.ga
The recent arrests included a 49-year-old man and his 23-year-old wife from Ta’anea, Vava’u on August 23.
The couple are in police custody charged with engaging with others in the supply of illicit drugs.
Former NRL bad boy Jamil Hopoate has narrowly avoided being sent to jail for domestic violence offences after the court heard he had been forced to give up on his footy dreams to follow in the footsteps of his famous family.
There was a fresh twist when Hopoate was due to appear at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Friday, with his barrister revealing the 26-year-old had contracted Covid-19.
Hopoate was due in court to be sentenced for the assault of his partner, which occurred in front of a child, at the Panthers Port Macquarie club in December last year.
The former Brisbane Bronco spent three months in custody for unrelated charges earlier this year and was only recently released on bail, the court heard.
He was facing being sent back to jail but Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson instead sentenced him to a 12-month sentence to be served in the community by way of an intensive corrections order.
Hopoate appeared via videolink from his parents’ northern beaches home in Sydney, where he sat in front of a wall of boxing posters, including one of his infamous father John holding a title belt.
Jamil had hoped to follow in the path of his dad, and his brother Will, who both played rugby league for their state and country.
He played 12 games for the Broncos, however was not offered a new deal by the Queensland club when his contract expired in November 2020.
A month later, he assaulted his partner outside the club during a drunken incident.
“His family are a particularly well known rugby league family who played at the highest level,” his barrister Evan James said.
“It’s a hard thing to be told he will not play and not achieve the same level as his father and his brother. This caused issues and he responded inappropriately.”
The court heard Hopoate had accepted responsibility for his actions, with Mr James describing them as “disgraceful” while emphasising Jamil was not seeking to shift the blame.
Mr James said Hopoate’s offending was a result of his depression and alcohol issues.
He pleaded guilty to seven offences, including two counts of common assault – domestic violence related, one count of common assault, two counts of stalking/intimidation, driving without a license and mid-range drinking driving.
Hopoate was arrested after he was thrown out of Panthers Port Macquarie on December 28.
He admitting to assaulting his partner Shae Beathe in the club parking lot, in front of a young child, before he sped off.
According to a statement of agreed facts, the pair was having dinner at the club before Hopoate went to the pokies room where he continued drinking.
When Ms Beathe came to ask him to take their family home, he became argumentative, snatching her bank card, bending it and throwing it on the ground, prompting security to step in.
CCTV caught the moment Hopoate spat at Ms Beathe, which hit both his partner and the security guard.
He was thrown out, but the altercation continued in the parking lot, where he unleashed a verbal tirade and slapped Ms Beathe.
Ms Beathe was escorted to her car by security and when Hopoate saw her approaching, he let loose with a verbal threat at the guards.
“What are they going to do? I will bash them,” Hopoate said, according to a statement of agreed facts.
Hopoate struck Ms Beathe on the face with an open palm, knocking her to the ground.
Ms Beathe told police she did not want to make a statement, however the incident was captured on CCTV.
She was taken to hospital as a precaution and Hopoate’s car was seen driving slowly past the entrance.
He was eventually pulled over on the Oxley Highway at Port Macquarie and recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.095, nearly two times the legal limit.
The court heard he had apologised to his victims in a letter which was tendered to the court.
Mr James argued Hopoate should not be sentenced to a full-time custodial sentence.
He proposed a lengthy community corrections order, including strict conditions that he abstain from alcohol, undergo psychological treatment, relationship counselling and anger management therapy.
“He’s very much under his father’s thumb, if he steps out of line, his father’s wrath will be far greater than anything the court could impose,” Mr James said.
“I doubt that,” Ms Atkinson quipped back.
The prosecution argued that his crimes were deserving of a full-time jail sentence, noting that Hopoate was in 2014 jailed for an unprovoked attack outside a Manly hotel.
Ms Atkinson described his spitting offence as “disgusting” and said domestic violence must be denounced.
“We must always say it’s wrong,” she said.
But she took into account his early guilty plea and expressions of remorse.
Hopoate was sentenced to a 12-month intensive corrections order, including performing 250 hours of community service and abstaining from alcohol.
He was also fined $2100, suspended from driving and ordered to have an interlock device fitted on his car.
‘Inoke Silongo F. Tonga, 27, escaped death penalty Monday when Lord Chief Justice Whitten QC, convicted and sentenced him after a murder at a beach in Tatakamotonga.
‘Inoke Silongo F. Tonga (L), Polikalepo Kefu
The court was told Tonga admitted to police he had killed Polikalepo Kefu, 47, after they went to buy a bottle of spirits, Matangi Tonga reported.
Kefu instead drove to the beach where he allegedly made sexual advances towards Tonga, a claim the judge said were “impossible to accept” after he considered the scale of the attack and Kefu’s injuries.
“The defendant became angry and in a prolonged attack he twice attempted to strangle Poli, for about 12 minutes, before slamming him on the road, then strangled him for about 5 more minutes, before bashing him with a rock more than 30 times,” the paper said.
“The defendant then rested for a couple of minutes before dragging Poli’s body to the water line, hoping it would be washed out to sea. He admitted that he intended to beat Poli to death”.
Tonga was a meth addict, brought up in a broken family and had been sniffing benzene, the court heard.
None of the evidence brought up in court was enough for Tonga to get the toughest punishment allowed under Tonga law: the death penalty which is hanging by the neck.
The defendant’s early guilty plea and had no previous convictions and his family making an apology with customary reparations to Kefu’s family were considered by Mr Whitten before sentencing him to life imprisonment.
A 34-year-old man has been charged following the search for a man and his children in Marokopa last month.
Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
The man and his three young children were not seen from Saturday 11 September until 30 September when they reappeared after camping in dense bush, living in a tent inland from Kiritehere Beach.
During that time a large team led by police searched land, sea and air for 12 days.
The 34-year-old man will appear in the Te Kuiti District Court on 5 November on a charge of causing wasteful deployment of police personnel and resources.
There are 43 new cases of Covid-19 in the community today – 40 in Auckland, three in Waikato.
Figures supplied by the Ministry of Health show 58 percent of people infected with Covid-19 in the latest outbreak had not been vaccinated.
Only 4 percent had received the full dose more than 14 days before being reported as a case.
Of those who ended up in hospital, 21 percent were children under 12 who are not eligible to be vaccinated; 124 people over 12 out of a total of 158 individuals had not had any vaccination.
By John Donne Potter, Graham Le Gros and Rod Jackson of
This story appears on RNZ.co.nz. Kaniva News republished RNZ stories with permission.
Opinion – As New Zealand switches from elimination to suppression, those who argue that Covid-19 will become endemic and part of our lives either do not understand or ignore what this would actually mean.
Elimination has always been a tricky word because it implies eradication. But we have only ever eradicated one human disease – smallpox – and are close with several others.
For some, the end of elimination now means we should let the virus spread. But semantics matter less than policy. If we don’t eliminate, we must still aim to contain, mop up, reduce close to zero and thwart this pandemic.
Because we certainly cannot live with endemic SARS-CoV-2.
The Delta variant spreads ominously and without controls, every infected person, on average, would infect six more, then 36, 216, 1296, 7776, 46,656 – we would get to more than twice New Zealand’s five million with three more cycles.
We must continue to either stamp out the virus or keep case numbers very low. To contain case numbers, we need to keep up border protection, mask wearing, distancing, bubbles, contact tracing, testing of people and waste water, and vaccination.
In the current Delta outbreak, more than 95 percent of those infected were either unvaccinated or had received only their first dose.
Our most common endemic infections include the common cold (caused by hundreds of different viruses that circulate freely) and the flu (caused by a group of influenza viruses).
Those who dismiss a mild case of Covid-19 as being “no worse than the flu” have forgotten how appalling a case of flu really is. They might also have forgotten that, even with effective vaccination, influenza has a case fatality risk of about 0.1 percent – it kills about 500 people in New Zealand each year.
Yet some seem to expect that Covid-19 will learn to behave and become endemic. Some even seem to welcome this, claiming a “disease becomes endemic when it is manageable”.
This is not true. Being manageable is not part of the definition of endemic disease. A disease becomes endemic when it is more or less always present in a population. It does not care whether it is manageable.
Seasonal influenza has a basic reproduction number (R0) of about 1.5, meaning one infected person spreads the disease to fewer than two other people, on average. This is why it takes very little to break the chain of transmission. The annual flu epidemic declines because we have effective vaccines and because seasonal conditions during summer are less favourable to the survival of the virus.
However, as we already mentioned, the Delta variant has an R0 of at least six. This will be as low as it gets from here onward. If a new variant supplants Delta, it will do so because it is even more transmissible.
There will be no season for Covid-19, no breaks in transmission, no declines in infectiousness. We have been struggling worldwide with this virus for 18 months, with spikes everywhere in every season.
School and business closures part of new normal
If Covid-19 becomes endemic, there will not be one or two people sick in a workplace or a home. We will have waves and clusters and multiple local outbreaks. Schools and businesses will close for days, even weeks, because too many people are sick. It will cost the world trillions – consider what it has already done to global supply chains.
If Covid-19 becomes endemic, the burden on our healthcare system will be immense. It will not involve a predictable, modest increase in hospital admissions. Waves and clusters will characterise endemic Covid-19 in the same way they have characterised pandemic Covid-19, overwhelming local healthcare without warning.
If Covid-19 becomes endemic, Merck’s new antiviral drug Molnupiravir will be an important addition to the toolkit because it will be much cheaper than monoclonal antibodies, easy to store, easy to transport and people can take it at home.
The as yet unpublished trials suggest the treatment could cut hospitalisations in half, markedly improving outcomes for those already infected. But it will not reduce the number of cases by even one.
Molnupiravir is the first oral antiviral treatment for Covid to report clinical trial results. Photo: Merck
Treatment never does – only prevention, public health measures and vaccination reduce case numbers. Those who are less sick and treated at home could spread the virus even more.
If Covid-19 becomes endemic, when the healthcare system fails to accommodate the latest wave, more people will die.
Long-term costs to health and economy
Even if we managed to get Covid-19 down to the severity of influenza (for an individual), endemic Delta – with an R0 about five times that of flu and the fully vaccinated still able to become infected and spread – would still mean thousands of hospitalisations and deaths each year.
Just four cycles of Delta infection could result in more than 250 times as many cases as four cycles of flu.
If Covid-19 becomes endemic, every year, many of us will know someone who dies.
If Covid-19 becomes endemic, more than a third of unvaccinated cases, even the asymptomatic, will have symptoms months later. Flu leaves little lasting damage. Long Covid damages the lungs, heart, brain, hearing and vision as well as the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas, causing diabetes.
The cost of Covid-19 is so much higher than that of the flu, not just because of higher case numbers, hospitalisations and deaths, but more long-term damage and disability.
If Covid-19 becomes endemic, we will live with a stressed, often overwhelmed healthcare system, with schools subject to unpredictable closures, with unsafe workplaces, with a disrupted economy, with our children under threat, with death and disability at a persistently higher level than we have known – probably for decades.
We do not care what the current strategy is called as long as we persist with border protection and public health measures until we achieve close to universal vaccination. Otherwise, many thousands of New Zealanders will be hospitalised, die or experience long Covid.
Ultimately, we will need a sterilising vaccine (one that protects people from getting infected) because we cannot live with endemic Covid-19.
John Donne Potter is Professor, Research Centre for Hauora and Health at Massey University; Graham Le Gros is Director and Group Leader, Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of New Zealand; Rod Jackson is Professor of Epidemiology at University of Auckland.
Disclosure: Graham Le Gros receives funding from MBIE to support Vaccine Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand, Ohu Kaupare Huaketo for the development and manufacture of a Covid-19 vaccine for Aotearoa NZ.
LEA FAKATONGA
‘Oku ki’i fihi e lea ko ē ‘oku toutou ‘asi mai ‘o pehē faka’auha ke ‘osi pe ‘eliminineisoni (elimination) he lea ‘Ingilisi’ he ‘oku hangē ia ‘oku ‘uhinga mai ‘e mole ‘aupito’. Ka ko e vailasi pe ‘e taha kuo puke ai ‘a e tangata’ kuo lava ‘o mole ‘aupito’ ‘a ia ko e simolopōkisi (smallpox) – pea ko e toenga’ ‘oku te’eki ai. Ko ‘etau fetakai ko ‘eni mo e Vailasi Teletaa’ ‘oku mahino e vave ‘ene mafola’ he ‘oku mei liunga ono ‘ene mofele ‘ana taimi ‘oku tū’uta ai ha feitu’u pea ka fakavaivai ‘a e ngaahi feinga ‘oku fai ‘e Nu’u Sila ni’ ‘e fakatu’utāmaki fau ‘ene māfihunga’ ‘ana ki he ofi he toko 5 miliona’ kakai ‘o e fonua’ ni. Ko e me’a pe kuopau ke fai’ ko e muimui mo talangofua ki he ngaahi tu’utu’uni kuo tuku mai’ hangē ko e malau’i ‘o e kau’āfonua’, tui e masikī, tauhi e vā mama’o’, taki taha nofo pe ‘i hono pāpolo, fakahā e fa’ahinga ne fetu’utaki mo ha taha kuo puke he vailasi’, sivi e kakai’ mo e vai inu’ pea mo huhu malu’i foki. Ko ‘ene tō ko ‘eni ‘a e Teletaa’ ‘oku mahino ai ko e pēseti ia ‘e 95 ‘o kinautolu ne ma’u ai’ ne te’eki ke nau huhu pe ne tu’otaha pe te’eki lava ‘o hoani honau huhu’. Kuo ma’u foki ‘eni mo e fo’i’akau ki hono faito’o ‘o e Koviti’ pea kuo ‘osi fakatau ‘e Nu’u Sila ai ‘a e fo’i ‘akau ‘e ono mano. Ka ko e fo’i ‘akau’ ‘e toki ngāue’aki pe ia kia kinautolu ‘e puke’. Pea kuo ‘osi fakahā foki ‘oku to’omotafi ‘a e ngāue ‘a e fo’i ‘akau ko ‘eni’ ‘i hono fakafolo ‘aki kinautolu ne ‘asi ai ‘a e vailasi’ ‘o nau sai kinautolu.
The Tongan and army communities in Tukwila, Washington, along with relatives and loved ones, held a funeral for Sika Tapueluelu over the weekend.
Specialist Sika Tapueluelu, 26, was a cannon crewmember from Tukwila, Washington. Photo/Supplied
Tapueluelu, 26, was among the three troops of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division who died in a 48-hour period at Fort Drum, New York.
Tapueluelu died on September 16 before Tyler Thomas, 21, and Angel Green, 24, died the following day.
“10th Mountain is still investigating the deaths, but spokesman Lt. Col. Josh Jacques said all three are believed to have been caused by self-harm and unconnected to one another”, the military.com reported.
Tapueluelu was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, it said.
“The three deaths in rapid succession underscore the difficulty the military has had trying to reduce the rates and risk of suicide among service members and veterans. Earlier this year, a Brown University study found that more than four times as many troops and veterans who had served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had died by suicide as were directly killed in the conflicts”.
Tapueluelu’s devastated family, friends and kāinga have released video clips of his burial services showing his casket being carried in a horse-drawn wagon while a platoon of soldiers marching behind it.
“Only God knows how I feel right now 😔💔 Rest In Heavenly Love my dear Brother Sika Manuao Tapueluelu,” a tribute on Facebook said.
“Rest in peace and love nephew sergeant Sika Manu’ao Tapueluelu till we meet again. He’s the son of Toa and ‘Alifeleti Tapueluelu”.
A Sydney garbage truck driver who fatally reversed over a student before hiding the body and driving away has been jailed.
Tuiniua Fine, of Lakemba, was sentenced to a maximum of five years and six months in jail by the NSW District Court on Friday.
He must serve at least three years and eight months before becoming eligible for parole.
George Yuhan Lin, 21, was studying a double degree in law and economics after graduating with an HSC score of 99.85.
After Fine killed Mr Lin on February 12, 2020, he hid the body in an alcove and fled.
George Yuhan Lin died at the age of 21 after he was hit by a garbage truck. Credit: Supplied
Mr Lin’s body was discovered about 1.30am on Central Street in Sydney’s CBD and Fine was identified as the driver through CCTV footage.
Mr Lin’s mother previously told the court she visited his grave every day and would do so for the rest of her life.
Fine pleaded guilty to dangerous driving occasioning death, doing an act to pervert the course of justice, and failing to stop and assist after a fatal collision.
School staff who work with children and students must be fully vaccinated by 1 January 2022.
Cabinet has also moved to mandate the vaccination of high-risk workers in the health and disability sector by the earlier date of 1 December 2021.
Those high-risk workers include general practitioners, pharmacists, community health nurses, midwives, paramedics, and all healthcare workers in sites where vulnerable patients are treated.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says the new requirements also cover people who work at aged residential care, home and community support services, kaupapa Māori health providers and Non-Government Organisations who provide health services.
These workers need to receive their first dose by 30 October, Hipkins said.
The Covid-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order 2021 will be updated to enforce the vaccine requirement.
Vaccine rules for education sector
All school staff, including home-based educators, teacher-aides, administration and maintenance staff and contractors, who come into contact with children and students must be vaccinated by the start of 2022.
Schools and early learning services will need to maintain a register of vaccinated staff from 1 January.
These employees need to have their first dose by 15 November 2021, Hipkins said.
All school staff in Auckland and other regions at alert level three will also be required to return a negative Covid-19 test before returning to work onsite.
Schools in Auckland were due to return on 18 October, however, Cabinet has decided schools in the region will remain closed after the school holidays finish at the end of this week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced this afternoon.
Staff who are not fully vaccinated before 1 January 2022 will also be required to get a weekly Covid-19 test.
Work is continuing on whether mandatary vaccinations will be required in the tertiary education sector, Hipkins added.
Cabinet has also decided secondary schools and kura will be required to keep a vaccine register for students.
Students who do not produce evidence of vaccination will be considered unvaccinated, Hipkins said.
Under certain circumstances exemptions may be possible.
‘Not an easy decision’ – Hipkins
Hipkins said most people who work in these sectors are already fully or partially vaccinated but nothing can be left to chance.
“It’s not an easy decision, but we need the people who work with vulnerable communities who haven’t yet been vaccinated to take this extra step.
“Vaccinations for children aged 5 to 11 are not yet approved and the health and disability sector includes a range of high risk occupations.
“People have a reasonable expectation that our work forces are taking all reasonable precautions to prevent the spread of disease, and government agencies have been working with them to ensure they are as protected as possible.”
Mandatory vaccinations have been introduced for health and education workers as 35 new community cases are reported and the government confirms there will be no immediate changes to alert levels.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield held a press conference this afternoon after Cabinet met to review alert levels.
Ardern announced that Auckland would remain at its current setting until 11.59pm next Monday, 18 October, while Waikato and Northland would stay in level 3 until 11.59pm on Thursday. Settings for Auckland will be reviewed next Monday, while Cabinet will meet on Wednesday to discuss Waikato and Northland.
“New Zealand is at one of the trickiest and most challenging moments in the Covid-19 pandemic so far,” Ardern said.
“However, there is a clear path forward in the coming months in which New Zealanders should be able to move to living with fewer restrictions and more freedoms as a result of higher levels of vaccination.”
Ardern says restrictions are extremely important in controlling the virus while we get the population vaccinated.
“These measures, when followed, make all the difference.”
She said the r-value has crept up to between 1.2 and 1.3, and this meant cases are likely to grow in the coming days.
“If followed, our alert level restrictions can help control that spread.”
Mandatory vaccinations for education sector workers
Public health officials say robust safety measures need to be in place before schools reopen.
Hipkins said the government would be assessing the possibility of reopening schools week by week. He told Checkpoint there was a “good chance” they might open before the end of the year, and not opening until term 1 next year would be a “worst case scenario”.
All staff, including teachers and support staff, will be required to receive their first dose by 15 November 2021 and be fully vaccinated by 1 January 2022.
If schools resume before the end of year and teachers are not fully vaccinated, those staff will be tested for Covid-19 every week.
All teachers will need to be tested before returning to work, he said.
Those high-risk workers include general practitioners, pharmacists, community health nurses, midwives, paramedics, and all healthcare workers in sites where vulnerable patients are treated.
Hipkins said the new requirements also cover people who work at aged residential care, home and community support services, kaupapa Māori health providers and non-government organisation which provide health services.
These workers need to receive their first dose by 30 October, Hipkins said.
Epidemiologist Michael Baker said there are still holes in the plan for the mandatory vaccination of health workers and the government needs to plug them quickly. Baker said all visitors should undergo rapid anti-gen testing.
There are 16 epidemiologically linked sub clusters and 14 epidemiologically unlinked sub clusters.
There were no new cases at the border and no new cases to report in Waikato.
Thirty-three people are in hospital, including seven in ICU
There are a total of 1622 cases in this outbreak
There are 2310 active contacts being managed
There were 15,349 tests processed in the last 24 hours.
Yesterday, there were 42,226 vaccines administered
In total, 5,832,277 vaccines have been administered
Earlier today, Ardern revealed the positive case identified in Katikati in Bay of Plenty over the weekend has been retested, as have their family, and results have come back negative.
Bloomfield said the locations of interest relating to the case are being removed from the Ministry of Health’s website.
Meanwhile, two staff members at North Shore Hospital have returned positive results as has a fully vaccinated person working at Auckland Hospital. It was also revealed tonight a patient at Middlemore Hospital has tested positive, and 40 patients are considered close contacts.
Speaking at the press conference, Ardern said the “easiest” thing for the person in Northland who travelled with a positive case, is to come forward and get tested.
Ardern said officials were using every tools and means they had to locate the person, and she has asked health authorities and police to consider naming her.
Genomic sequencing of the positive case she travelled with has confirmed they are linked to the Auckland outbreak. She remains in an Auckland quarantine facility, while 21 close contacts have been linked to her.
Because the woman has been uncooperative, health officials do not clear information on where she travelled to, so they are relying on high testing rates in the region to give the confidence needed that there aren’t undetected cases, Ardern said.
Bloomfield said testing rates in the region needed to increase. He urged anyone who was in contact with the positive case and her companion to get tested, whether they are symptomatic or not. He also urged anyone else in the region who is symptomatic to get tested.
Te Pāti Māori calls for tougher restrictions
Ardern said she disagreed with Te Pāti Māori, which is describing the low vaccination rate of Māori as a modern form of genocide.
Te Pāti Māori is calling for Auckland to be returned to level 4 until Māori are 95 percent vaccinated.
It also wants the rest of the country returned to alert level 3.
The party’s co-leader Rawiri Waititi said the government’s Covid response has failed to deliver for Māori.
A Flourish data visualization
