A girl who was aged 15 at the time of the killing of Pierclaudio Raviola has been charged with his murder.

She is the fourth person to be charged. A youth, 18-year-old Moses Eli Hurrell, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced in the High Court this week to three years six months jail, and a man and a woman await trial on murder charges.

The girl was arrested overnight and appeared in the Youth Court in Christchurch this morning. Reporting is restricted there and she cannot be named.

Youth advocate Ruth Buddicom said the girl had been aged 15 at the time of the alleged incident.

She said no bail application would be made today, and asked for the girl to be remanded to a date in the High Court. In the meantime, a bed was available for her at the Te Puna Wai youth justice facility near Christchurch.

Judge Jane McMeeken remanded the girl in custody to the High Court on October 19.

At the start of the appearance, she asked the girl who was in the Youth Court to support her, and the girl introduced seven people, including her father and her partner.

Before she was led back to the cells, she asked if she could have a hug from her father and her partner, and Judge McMeeken allowed that.

Her father then stepped into the dock and gave her a hug, and her partner gave her a long hug, and a kiss, and wiped the girl’s eyes with a black hat, before she was led away.

The High Court was told this week that 65-year-old Mr Raviola was attacked as part of a plan to rob him of his car at a home in Bromley in March 2017.

After an altercation there in which he was allegedly beaten, punched and kicked, he was dumped in a carpark at Sumner where he was found injured and later died in hospital.

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A judge’s wide knowledge of Christchurch offenders went on show at a district court sentencing in Court 19.

For months, Judge Jane Farish has been working to give Leana Korau, also known as Wylie, a chance at a future.

Supports have been put in place in a series of appearances for the 29-year-old woman who has admitted charges of fraud and several of shoplifting committed while she grappled with a methamphetamine addiction.

But the time came for her sentencing, and she was the third case to be called in the session.

Defence counsel Karen Feltham said Korau was proud that she had not been shoplifting while awaiting sentence, because it was “a huge temptation”.

Korau was apologetic for her “alcohol-related lapses” on remand.

She explained that Korau was not back with the group she had been with before, when she admitted scamming elderly victims out of thousands.

But Judge Farish had been watching the comings and goings at the back of the courtroom.

What, she wanted to know, was Korau doing sitting with Miss R–, who had been another co-offender?

Not one of her own co-offenders, Korau explained.

Yes, but a co-offender with a relative of Korau’s. And not only that, but it was only a month since Miss R– had been released from custody when she was sentenced.

Judge Farish was monitoring her progress, too, and she was not doing particularly well. She would be getting a letter soon telling her she must come to see the judge to talk about her situation.

In August, 28-year-old Miss R–  was released on a year’s intensive supervision after a year in custody on remand. She had admitted 13 charges of dishonestly using a document and shoplifting.

Judge Farish did not bar Korau from seeing her, but she said: “If you are going to associate with Miss R–, do it on the basis that you are supporting each other to remain offence-free, and not to get up to mischief.”

Judge Farish said that during her remand, Korau had gone to an Auckland programme that was able to take her into supported living for mothers with children. Such programmes are not available in Christchurch.

That placement in Auckland came to an end, but not because of any offending or drug taking by Korau. She came back to Christchurch where she did reasonably well, but slipped up because of an alcohol infringement and was now stood down from a residential treatment programme.

There was now a chance she could go back into a programme.

So, Judge Farish sentenced her to 18 months of intensive supervision living at an approved address with an assessment to be made for admittance to the rehabilitation programme.

She will have to pay back $5500, her one-quarter share of the reparation to the latest $22,000 scam victim, and $800 reparations on the shoplifting charges. The money will be paid from Korau’s benefit and the little she makes from some part time work caring for a family member.

There will be random drug screening tests during the sentence, and if there is any reoffending Judge Farish made it clear there would be a term of imprisonment.

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Court sittings in Christchurch came to a sudden stop mid-morning on Friday when PSA members and Court Security Officers walked out in support of their pay claim.

Without registrars and security, courts had to stop and the Justice Precinct was closed for about three hours.

Members protested with placards outside the building.

The staff began their industrial action two weeks ago with a two-hour strike, and have been continuing with effective rolling strikes every day since.

All staff have been working to rule, taking their breaks at the same time so that courts have to stop, and refusing overtime so there have been no sittings past 4.30pm.

The Precinct has been closed every day from 12.30pm to 1.30pm while staff were all away at lunch.

Today, the staff walked off the job before 11am and were to stay out until the Precinct reopened at 1.30pm to deal with the afternoon’s business and possibly try to catch up on some of the morning cases that had been delayed.

The rolling stoppages have been taking place around the country and one day this week the court at Manukau in South Auckland was shut for the day when staff walked out.

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Several harness racing industry figures are denying fraud conspiracy charges alleging race fixing and electing trial by jury.

Not guilty pleas were entered before Judge Raoul Neave at a Christchurch District Court session today where 12 defendants arrested in the Operation Inca investigation made appearances.

Bail conditions were relaxed as well, with the consent of the police prosecutor Barnaby Hawes. Passports can be returned to the defendants and they now only have bail conditions requiring them to live at specified addresses. All are on bail.

Those who pleaded not guilty were remanded to a Crown case review hearing on March 25, but the cases will also be reviewed before then, on December 5.

Several of those charged were refused interim suppression at a session before Judge Neave on September 11 but the order has been continued while they file appeal applications in the High Court.

Those appeals are due to be filed on October 9 and the suppressions will continue until the hearings.

A separate court sitting was arranged today to deal with 12 of the Operation Inca defendants. A 13th is appearing in the North Island.

Three men aged 26, 35, and 71 are still to enter pleas on race fixing charges.

Suppression was granted to one additional defendant today, aged 50, who had been refused earlier but was appealing. He faces one race fixing charge. It means suppression will continue to March 25.

Four new charges – three race fixing and one of possessing ecstasy tablets for supply – were laid against a man, aged 29, who already faced two charges of offering to supply the drug.

Another  man, Andrew Douglas Stewart, 41, of Loburn, pleaded not guilty to three race fixing charges and elected trial by jury. He has never had suppression and although the issue was raised today by defence counsel Chris McVeigh QC, Judge Neave declined to grant it. That decision is not being appealed.

Nigel Raymond McGrath, a 44-year-old horse trainer from Rolleston, facing one race fixing charge, has pleaded not guilty and elected trial. He got the same remand and suppression was also refused. He is not appealing.

Some have been remanded without plea to the review on December 5 on charges which cannot be reported in detail. Charges which can be reported include offering or supplying ecstasy. Pleas are expected to be entered on that date.

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Sainey Marong says his murder trial conviction was an injustice as he had untreated diabetes and was insane at the time of sex worker Renee Duckmanton’s murder.

He told the Court of Appeal – Justice Mark Woolford, Justice David Collins, and Justice Forrest Miller – that the jury was not told that when the police pulled him over in his car he was behaving oddly, but his behaviour was not unusual for a mentally impaired person.

The court has been sitting in Christchurch to hear local cases for two days.

Marong said the Crown had no legal authority to prosecute him according to the Criminal Procedures (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act.

This meant Marong was unable to communicate properly with his lawyer, and the Act said that if he had a communication deficit, knowledge, understanding or comprehension problems for conducting a defence, that amounted to a significant partial impairment, he said.

Marong tested positive and was diagnosed after his arrest, with diabetes, but his medical records were misrepresented at the trial, and his worsening kidney function, and other problems in prison were not disclosed to the jury, he said.

Justice Miller said the Crown had two expert witnesses at Marong’s trial who were both very clear that Marong was not insane. They said that untreated diabetes was capable of causing a disease of the mind but that wasn’t the case for Marong.

Mark Lillico, representing the Crown, said at the trial Justice Cameron Mander had no hesitation in allowing the defence theory that it was an insulin deficiency that led to the murder, but all the expert evidence said it didn’t reach that threshold.

An amicus curiae (a helper to the court), Fiona Guy-Kidd, said there had been as assessment early in the trial where Marong was found fit to stand trial.

She said there was a diagnosis of an adjustment disorder with a depressed mood after he was imprisoned, but it was not relevant to his mental state at the time of the homicide. The evidence at the trial was that Marong was trying to silence Miss Duckmanton.

Marong said the diagnosis after the offending was not relevant, and the jury should have said he was not guilty by reason of insanity.

Justice Miller said they were reserving their decision, which will be delivered within a few weeks.

Marong, an Ilam butcher, was found guilty by a jury of murdering the 22-year-old sex worker in May 2016, in what Justice Mander called a “particularly callous and cruel” way.

He strangled her after they had had sex, and then burned her body which was found on a roadside near Rakaia the next day.

Crown prosecutor at the trial, Pip Currie, said Marong’s internet searches on his computer were about murder, kidnapping, and necrophilia.

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A man described as possibly the longest serving meth addict to be dealt with in the New Zealand court system has been jailed for three years for offending fuelled by his habit.

Defence counsel Tony Garrett said Steven Albert Tavinor took his first methamphetamine 27 years ago, when he was aged 15 and living in Australia.

He has a long record of offending, which eventually led to him being sent back to New Zealand, a country he had never lived in since his family left with him as a one-year-old baby.

He arrived back in New Zealand with no family, no support, and installed himself in a motor camp in Tauranga, with meagre ability to survive.

The offending continued in New Zealand to support the meth habit, and he had admitted house and motel burglaries, receiving stolen property, unlawfully taking two vehicles, and being found unlawfully on a property.

Christchurch District Court Judge Raoul Neave noted at the sentencing that one of the victims was a tourist who would have left New Zealand with “a sour taste” instead of great memories.

The burglaries and receivings included electronic gear which Judge Neave said he regarded as an aggravating feature because the items would have included so much information and memories. Their loss would have caused stress and distress.

Mr Garrett said: “My client is in the unique position of probably having the most long-standing meth addiction that the courts have dealt with.”

In 2016 and 2017, Tavinor and another offender went on a spree of dishonesty offending.

Judge Neave said that being dumped in New Zealand with no support or ability to rebuild his life had proved disastrous.

Tavinor said that he had “found a sense of peace” in prison. It had been a time to reflect, and to do what he could to get rid of the drugs. The judge thought Tavinor was beginning to realise that there was “a positive life away from the drug scene”.

Mr Garrett said Tavinor had been earning $10 a week working in the prison, serving meals. He was using that money to phone his 70-year-old mother in Australia, who was ill. He had written letters of apology to his victims.

Judge Neave jailed Tavinor for three years but expected that he would be seeking release before the Parole Board quite quickly after 19 months in custody on remand.

He said he supported the plan for Tavinor to have an alcohol and drug assessment with a view to release into a residential rehabilitation programme, Odyssey House, if possible.

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Murray James Allan’s criminal career has involved being shot in the face by police and beaten by the Tribesmen gang, but he will now get another chance at rehabilitation.

The 25-year-old has spent most of his adult life in prison, but after spending eight months remanded in custody for his latest offending he should be released soon.

The 15-month jail term imposed by Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish amounts to time served.

He will be released to live under effective supervision for a year, at a specified address with family, and undertaking any rehabilitation programme that is directed.

Judge Farish was keen that Allan arrange his own rehabilitation course, possibly at the Smart Recovery Programme. She said she wanted him to go to a rehabilitation course rather than the taxpayer paying $100,000 to keep him in prison for a year.

But she said the Corrections Department was finding itself “overwhelmed” by the need to find placements for people with high needs. She urged Allan to make his own inquiries and find his own place at a drug and alcohol programme.

She ordered destruction of the firearms, ammunition, and drugs and equipment involved in his latest offending.

That included unlawful possession of a firearm and a restricted weapon, possession of a pipe for using drugs, unlawfully using a stolen car, breach of his release conditions, possession of ammunition, and possession of cannabis and methamphetamine.

Last year, Allan realised he was lucky to be standing in the dock being sentenced, after pulling an imitation pistol on the police and being shot in the face.

He was jailed for 18 months. After his release he tried to “out” himself from the Tribesmen gang.

That led to a gang bashing that put him in hospital for two weeks. Then the gang visited him at home where he was living with family members.

He was frightened by that and went on the run for a week, committing further offences in the process.

Defence counsel Ethan Huda said that even though the first choice for a rehabilitation programme was not available, Allan hoped a place could be found for him somewhere. “His view is that some rehab is better than no rehab.”

Judge Farish told Allan: “I don’t want to see you again in this situation. Let’s see if you can make it work this time around.”

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A Hornby man has admitted stabbing a police dog in the throat in an incident in Kaiapoi on May 31.

Joshua Luke Cooper, 29, pleaded guilty in the Christchurch District Court today to a charge of injuring the four-year-old dog, Kosmo.

Cooper was at his partner’s address in Kaiapoi when the police got a call saying he was armed with a knife.

Kosmo and a police dog handler were sent to the address, but Cooper had already left on foot and had two knives with him.

The dog started tracking him, and located one knife, then found Cooper who ran into a bush area and up a stop-bank. Kosmo was released and bit and held Cooper’s arm.

Cooper stabbed Kosmo in the throat with the knife causing him to release his hold. Kosmo fell to the ground where he remained for around 20 minutes until his handler arrived. He was flown by helicopter to a Christchurch 24-hour veterinary surgery. He suffered significant blood loss during this time and later received a blood transfusion from another police dog. The 4cm cut to his throat narrowly missed his carotid artery.

Meanwhile Cooper returned to the partner’s address and was arrested by police.

Cooper admitted charges of injuring the police dog, and possession of an offensive weapon. He had already pleaded guilty on other charges, including being in an enclosed yard, and unlawfully getting into a car.

Judge Paul Kellar requested a psychological report for the sentencing on all his charges, and remanded Cooper in custody to December 11.

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Tax charges totalling nearly $250,000 have now been laid against a Christchurch businessman who was remanded last week on dishonesty charges.

The 44-year-old has been granted bail again and remanded for another appearance on all charges on November 1.

He was granted bail last Wednesday in spite of police opposition. Since then, Inland Revenue has laid its prosecution – 19 more charges – but did not seek the man’s remand in custody.

The man faces 16 charges of failing to pay various forms of tax to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue, totalling more than $200,000. Three charges of tax evasion allege offending totalling about another $30,000.

Last week the man faced 10 dishonesty related charges including five of using a man’s eftpos card to obtain money, dishonestly using the man’s cell phone to obtain $35,000, and another charge of fraudulently obtaining $12,660.

He was granted bail on these police charges and remanded to today with interim name suppression.

Since then, the IRD charges have been laid though the details of the charges are not yet available.

The man has handed in his passport and is required to abide by a series of bail conditions.

He has also been granted suppression on the tax charges.

No pleas have yet been entered on any charges.

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Franchesca Kororia Borell has admitted the manslaughter of her partner during a Christmas Day argument but the Crown says her actions amounted to murder and her trial is going ahead.

The 24-year-old pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Hardeep Singh at the start of the two-week trial in the High Court at Christchurch.

Defence counsel Olivia Jarvis said Borell was not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter because she did not have murderous intent when she tragically hurt her partner. “She did not think it was a possibility that he could die. The thought that her actions could cause Mr Singh’s death never entered her mind.”

But the murder trial before Justice Cameron Mander and a jury is continuing with the Crown calling evidence from 23 witnesses.

Borell says she threw the knife at Mr Singh but Crown prosecutor Barnaby Hawes said the evidence from the pathologist and a professor of mechanical engineering would be that stabbing was more likely than throwing.

Mr Hawes told the jury: “Even if it was thrown, it would not absolve the defendant because significant force would be required to penetrate (Mr Singh’s) clothing, and his body through to the heart.”

He warned the jury that some of the evidence they would hear would be “challenging” but was necessary – including the recording of the 111 call from the distressed Borell, and post mortem photographs.

Mr Singh died in hospital after the incident on the afternoon of Christmas Day 2016. Emergency services went to the house where the couple were staying in Cashmere Road, and found Mr Singh lying behind the door.

There was no sign of life but medical treatment returned a heart beat briefly. The heart beat was again restored at the hospital’s emergency department but Mr Singh was found to be likely brain dead and died in hospital on December 27.

The pathologist found that he died of massive blood loss from a single stab wound that penetrated his heart. He said the angle of the wound was downwards into the heart at an angle of about 45 degrees.

Borell said in a police interview on the day that she had thrown the knife at him rather than stabbing him.

Mr Singh, 25, had moved to New Zealand from India in 2015. At the time of his death he had been working maintaining irrigation systems.

The couple began a relationship in September. During an outing on the morning of his death, Singh had told a friend that he was not happy with Borell and they had been arguing a lot.

Later that day, Borell’s mother returned a phone call from her. The call was picked up but Borell did not answer it. The mother could hear an argument going on in the background.

Borell called 111 at 2.22pm and ambulance and police arrived a few minutes later. She was initially charged with assault, and interviewed.

She told the police they had argued on Christmas Day and she had begun packing a suitcase, but Mr Singh had blocked the door when she tried to leave. She believed he head-butted her.

She said she became angry and went to the kitchen where she took a knife from a knife block. She said she wanted to hurt him and had then “chucked” the knife at him when he would not get out of the way.

She also said that he had been threatening to hurt himself by “putting the knife in deeper” and she had taken if off him. She said that when he first fell, “I thought I killed him.”

Mr Hawes said Borell’s actions were murder because she either had a murderous intent, or it was a reckless killing.

For a murder finding in a reckless killing, the Crown had to prove that the defendant intended to cause grievous bodily harm, knew that the harm was likely to cause death, and was reckless about whether death occurred.

The trial is continuing.

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A woman charged with possession of synthetic drugs for supply – arrested last week amid police concerns about the toxic effects of the drug – has been refused bail at the Christchurch District Court.

The 21-year-old Phillipstown woman, Lani Hawkins, was remanded in custody to October 11 to enter a plea on the charge, after a bail hearing before Judge Brian Callaghan.

After making three arrests last week, police said they had raided two addresses on Thursday afternoon and evening and were concerned to find unconscious or nearly unconscious in the area, who they believed had used synthetic drugs.

Hawkins is charged with possession of a non-approved psychoactive substance, with intent to supply it, on October 4 – last Thursday.

A second person arrested in the same raids, 25-year-old Tyjhan Hawkins, appeared in court for the first time on Wednesday, charged with possession of a non-approved psychoactive substance and resisting a constable.

He was granted a registrar’s remand, without having to appear before a judge in court, to appear again on October 30. He is on bail.

A third person will make a remand appearance on Thursday on charges of supplying synthetic drugs and failing to assist the police with a search under the Search and Surveillance Act.

That charge usually refers to failing to provide passwords for cell phones or computers the police want to examine.

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Punter Graham Henry Beirne is one of the men facing race-fixing charges as part of the Operation Inca investigation into the harness racing scene.

Beirne, 71, of Fendalton, was refused name suppression at an appearance in the Christchurch District Court last month, but the order was continued to give him a chance to file an appeal against the refusal in the High Court.

Five of the men who were refused suppression had signalled that they were considering appealing.

Four of those filed their appeals before the deadline set by Judge Raoul Neave this week and the High Court is now settling a date for the appeals to be heard.

Beirne faces two charges of race-fixing, but the details contained in the summary of facts remain suppressed.

His defence counsel Chris Shannon confirmed that Beirne had decided he was not going to appeal Judge Neave’s decision refusing suppression, and the order had now lapsed.

Beirne has entered no pleas and is remanded to a review hearing on December 5.

Some of those charged in the Operation Inca investigation have already pleaded not guilty and have been remanded to that review session, and then to a case review hearing on March 25 – the next stage on the way to trial.

Twelve people charged over the investigation have been appearing in the Christchurch courts.

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A 19-year-old has been discharged without conviction after a “confused and drunken” episode at a Lincoln University hall that originally led to a sex attack charge.

The teenager was granted final name suppression by Christchurch District Court Judge Raoul Neave at his sentencing on a charge that had been reduced to an assault.

There was hope that a restorative justice meeting could be arranged between the teenager and the woman involved – which may have led to a personal apology being made – but it did not go ahead.

Defence counsel Jonathan Eaton QC said the incident had been a “drunken, confused act with a sexual overtone”.

The teenager was originally charged with assault with intent to commit sexual violation after the incident on campus in September 2017.

At that time, the university said it was conducting its own investigation and was providing support to the affected students.

The man was living with his family in rural Canterbury while on bail. Mr Eaton told the court earlier that during the remand, the man had been doing alcohol rehabilitation and a Stopping Violence course.

Judge Neave noted there had been remorse, a letter of apology, alcohol treatment and counselling, and an emotional harm reparation payment of $5000.

He granted the discharge without conviction.

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A professor of mechanic engineering says it was “feasible” for Hardeep Singh’s fatal wound to have been inflicted by a stabbing, but a wound from a knife being thrown was “less likely”.

Professor Mark Jermy, of the University of Canterbury, told the fourth day of the murder trial of Franchesca Kororia Borell: “My conclusion about the throwing is that, while feasible, it requires a set of unlikely circumstances to exist together. Both (scenarios) could have occurred, but one is less likely than the other.”

Professor Jermy was called as an expert witness to analyse the two scenarios suggested for the Christmas Day 2016 incident at a house in Cashmere Road, where Mr Singh received a fatal knife wound to the heart.

Borell, 24, has admitted manslaughter of her partner but the Crown says her actions amounted to murder and the trial in the High Court at Christchurch before Justice Cameron Mander and a jury has gone ahead.

Defence counsel Phil Shamy cross-examined Professor Jermy about his conclusions, particularly about him not having been given the recorded interview with Borell in which she demonstrated how she said she threw a knife at Mr Singh during a dispute.

Professor Jermy said he was never offered the video.

Mr Shamy suggested that made his opinion “really nothing more than general observation”.

Professor Jermy said he had been asked to consider “what the physics could tell us” and what sort of circumstances could have existed.

He said it would have had to have been “a hard throw”, with the knife striking with the point forward, and Mr Singh would have had to be standing bent forward, given the 45degree angle at which the knife penetrated.

The force of the knife blow was estimated at 5.7 Kilo-Joules. A woman was capable of using that much force. If it was thrown, the knife would have had to have travelled at 12.6m per second, or 45 km an hour. This was well within the range of speeds that humans could throw at.

Forensic pathologist Dr Martin Sage said Mr Singh had died of irretrievable hypoxic brain damage because his brain was deprived of normal blood flow as a result of massive blood loss from a single stab would to the chest that penetrated the heart.

He had suffered “torrential” blood loss into his chest.

He said a wound from a knife that was held was a “very cogent explanation” for everything we see. “The question is whether you can achieve this end by throwing a knife.”

In her video interview, Borell said: “I was the one who threw the knife at his chest, and he stopped breathing.”

She said she wanted to threaten him to make him get out of the way so she could get out through the door he was blocking. She said she was furious and she “lost it”.

She demonstrated what she called “chucking” the knife, with a back-handed motion. “I thought it would just miss him,” she said. She denied stabbing him.

The defence elected not to call evidence so the trial is continuing today with closing addresses by Crown and defence and then the summing up by Justice Mander before the jury retires to consider its verdict.

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A woman who stabbed an ex-partner in the chest after a break-up and an epic drinking bout has acknowledged that she needs to “fix” herself while she serves a six-year jail term.

Virginia Maria Beerens, 59, had admitted a charge of attempted murder over the January 22 stabbing that missed the man’s heart by 5mm.

He has been left with 20cm scar from the emergency surgery he needed and what Justice Cameron Mander described as “understandable emotional harm”.

Even so, he provided the sentencing session with a victim impact statement that the judge described as “insightful and balanced” in which he hoped that Beerens would take up any options to address the issues that lie behind her offending while serving the sentence.

Her long struggle with an abusive past, mental health issues, and alcohol was detailed at her sentencing in the High Court at Christchurch by Justice Mander.

Before the stabbing, Beerens had been on an 11-day bender, drinking two to three litres of wine a day. She had not slept at all the night before, and she had taken anti-psychotic medication prescribed for insomnia.

Defence counsel Josh Lucas had urged Justice Mander to allow an additional reduction in Beeren’s sentence for her remorse expressed in an apology letter, but Crown prosecutor Sophia Bicknell Young argued that no reduction was warranted.

Justice Mander noted the contents of the letter but said he would allow no reduction for remorse. The pre-sentence report assessed Beerens as being a high risk of reoffending and causing harm to others.

After the stabbing outside the man’s house in Riccarton, where she had set a fire to a pile of precious belongings in his bed to ensure he was called home from work, she had expressed frustration that her attempt to kill him had failed.

Beerens said she was not motivated by jealousy, but by anger and a feeling of betrayal after their break-up. Justice Mander said she had fixated on his relationships and had been unable to regulate her own response to the break-up.

It had not been a spur of the moment attack. She had gone to his home and work, and back to his home, as she sought him out and then stabbed him in the chest with a folding knife.

Justice Mander said she had a long history of alcohol dependence, drinking large amounts over sustained periods since her 20s, with periods of abstinence of up to six months. She had attended rehabilitation programmes four times and had attended AA meetings intermittently since 1999.

She had admitted herself to Hillmorton Hospital twice following an overdose of paracetamol, and after a relationship break-up which had triggered heavy alcohol use.

Beerens said she had been surprised by her behaviour because she had no history of volence, use of weapons, or setting fires.

The judge noted that Beerens said in her letter she was committed to doing rehabilitation courses while serving her sentence because she said she needed to “fix” herself.

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A jury has returned a rapid verdict to find Franchesca Kororia Borell guilty of the Christmas Day murder of her partner Hardeep Singh during a domestic row.

The jury signalled after little more than an hour that it was ready to announce its decision, on the fifth day of the trial before Justice Cameron Mander in the High Court at Christchurch.

It then rejected 24-year-old Borell’s admission that she was guilty of manslaughter. She signalled as the trial began that she was would plead guilty to that charge but Crown prosecutors Barnaby Hawes and Claire Boshier said her actions amounted to murder and the trial continued.

Justice Mander remanded Borell in custody for sentencing on December 12. He asked for a pre-sentence report and victim impact statements from the family of Mr Singh, a Sikh who had come to New Zealand from India in March 2015.

He was working on irrigation systems and sharing an address where they were house-sitting in Cashmere Road with Borell in December 2016 when the incident occurred. They had been in a relationship since September.

Borell described the fatal incident in her video-recorded interview with the police, but she didn’t give evidence at the trial, nor call any defence witnesses.

It was clear from what she said that during the relationship she had been drinking a lot, and she and Mr Singh had been arguing regularly.

On Christmas Day, she wanted to leave the house but she said Mr Singh was blocking the doorway.

In the row that took place, she went to the kitchen and picked up a knife.

She said she wanted “to threaten to hurt him” and threw the knife at him – on the video-recorded she demonstrated a backhand throw, hardly looking at where it went.

The knife went between Mr Singh’s second and third ribs on the left side and pierced his heart. He died in hospital a few days later from brain damage caused by what the pathologist called “torrential” blood loss into his chest.

Borell called 111 and can be seen on the video recording at the police station, when she is left briefly alone in the interview room, saying: “Please don’t let him die. He’s got a family.”

But although he was resuscitated several times and received a massive amount of blood transfusions, Mr Singh never recovered and died soon after his life-support system was turned off on December 27, 2016. He was diagnosed as brain-dead by then.

Defence counsel Olivia Jarvis said as the trial began that Borell had never had the murderous intent required the murder charge to be proved. The possibility that Mr Singh might die had never entered her mind.

However, the Crown case cast doubt on whether the knife had been thrown at Mr Singh, or had been held in her hand with a downward thrust to cause a stab wound. An expert witness said the stabbing was more likely given the force and the angle of the blow.

Prosecutor Mr Hawes also told the jury: “Even if it was thrown, it would not absolve the defendant because significant force would be required to penetrate (Mr Singh’s) clothing, and his body through to the heart.”

After Borell was led to the cells, Justice Mander thanked the jury on behalf of the community for its service and its patience. There had been several stoppages during the trial which began on Tuesday last week.

He told them: “As you can tell, there are no winners in a criminal trial. All we can ask for is that proper and due process take place.”

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After exchanging 1300 instant Facebook messages and 18,000 texts with a 13-year-old girl – including naked photos – a 35-year-old man has admitted meeting and sexually assaulting her.

The man, Lance William Alsop, has admitted sexually grooming the girl before meeting her, indecently assaulting her, and exposing a pre-teen boy to indecent material online.

Christchurch District Court Judge Tom Gilbert remanded him on bail for sentencing on December 14.

He ordered a pre-sentence report to cover Alsop’s suitability for home detention, and referred the case for possible restorative justice meetings with the victims.

He also ordered a psychological report on how Alsop should be dealt with at sentencing.

Alsop has had interim name suppression until his appearance yesterday, but defence counsel Josh Lucas said the order was no longer sought.

Crown prosecutor Ruth Harcourt said the offending had had a significant impact on the girl victim.

Ms Harcourt said the offending began after the girl was a passenger in Alsop’s car and dropped her cellphone in the footwell. He offered to ring it to help her find it, and that meant he had her phone number.

He began texting her daily and quickly “escalated” the messages. He referred to her as his girlfriend, told her he loved her, and offered to buy her gifts. Ms Harcourt said: “The victim did not share these feelings and felt very uncomfortable.”

In less than two months, he exchanged 1300 instant Facebook messages with her and 18,000 texts. He repeatedly asked for intimate photographs and sent naked photos of himself. At Alsop’s request, the girl sent five intimate photographs of herself.

He arranged to meet her four times, saying it would help him play sports. They met at a park, and once at her school. He asked that they be intimate during the meetings and hugged her and tried to kiss her but she turned away.

On their last meeting, he touched her breast and tried to put his hand in her pants but she squatted down to stop him.

Alsop also befriended a pre-teen boy, showing him pornographic images on his laptop and telling him how to access the sites. He showed the boy messages of a sexual nature exchanged with women.

Police executed a search warrant on Alsop’s address in Christchurch and seized several laptops and an iPhone which were analysed by the Police Digital Forensic Unit. Police found the intimate photographs of the girl on his phone.

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Knifepoint Facebook trader Nicali Joseph Stepancic has been jailed for five-and-a-half years.

The 22-year-old labourer from Aranui is still assessed as being a high risk of reoffending and causing harm to others.

After jailing him, Christchurch District Court Judge Tom Gilbert decided not to make reparation orders for his victims because there was no prospect of payment with the long sentence stretching ahead.

Stepancic had admitted five charges of armed robbery, two of unlawfully taking cars, unlawful possession of a .22 rifle and ammunition, perverting the course of justice, and two breaches of his prison release conditions.

Police arrested Stepancic in November after a series of allegations that a man had arranged to buy cell phones through a Facebook page, and lured the sellers to a meeting on Shortland Street, Aranui, where he pulled a knife and fled with the phones without paying.

Judge Gilbert noted Stepancic’s prior convictions included several assaults. Drugs and alcohol had driven the offending.

He said Stepancic had now indicated he wanted to turn his life around and was being considered for an intensive treatment programme while in custody. Judge Gilbert gave him a first strike warning.

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Two men have admitted poaching a wild stag and a goat from a Canterbury safari park.

The red stag the men shot would have been worth $2000 as a trophy at the Coal Creek Estate game park at Oxford, and the goat would have been worth $1300.

The pair have been remanded on bail for sentencing in the Christchurch District Court on January 24.

Judge Stephen O’Driscoll asked for pre-sentence reports to assess their suitability for home or community detention, and a report on their ability to pay reparations to the game park.

He also referred the case for a possible restorative justice meeting between the game park and the hunters, where apologies could be offered.

Tamati John Nelson, 30, of Oxford, and McKenzie Temuera Priest, 23, both admitted charges of killing two animals on the Coal Creek Estate without the authority of the owner of the land.

A third man, aged 18, who was allegedly part of the group of hunters on the June 24 excursion has also been charged. He is due to make his first appearance in the Invercargill District Court on October 30.

Police prosecutor Aja Trinder said the group went for a hunt on the Department of Conservation land at the end of Trig Road, Oxford.

“They walked the DOC land up to a clearing where it borders a neighbouring private safari park, Coal Creek Estate.”

From the DOC land, they could see a red stag in a paddock on the estate and decided to shoot it. After killing it, they entered the private property through a hole in a 2m deer fence to recover the trophy head and some of the meat.

They then saw a goat in a neighbouring paddock with 25cm horns. Priest used another hunter’s rifle to shoot and kill it.

They took the goat’s head and the stag’s head and meat before leaving the estate.

After the incident, the police said social media and word of mouth had led to the arrests.

Priest admitted being on the estate and told police he was “super sorry for being a complete idiot”, and claimed that he would not have done it if he had known the land was a game park.

Nelson admitted his part in the offending but initially claimed that he did not realise he had walked on to private property.

The police are asking for reparation totalling $3300 for the trophy value of the two animals.

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A man described as a “rough sleeper” when he assaulted a woman staff member at an inner city pharmacy in June has admitted 15 charges and is in custody pending sentencing.

Forty-three-year-old Minahera Patrick Morgan was involved in a series of bizarre and drunken incidents before being arrested for the assault in which the pharmacy’s retail manager Nikki Denley received a broken finger.

Morgan has been held in custody since then. While he awaits sentence, Community Probation will prepare a pre-sentence report and he may get a chance to apologise to his victims at a restorative justice meeting.

He has admitted a charge of injuring with reckless disregard for safety, two charges of threatening to kill, three of assault, two of assaulting the police and one of resisting arrest, theft, two trespass charges, two of disorderly behaviour, and one of failing to come to court while on bail.

On June 14, Morgan went to Northlands Mall in breach of a trespass order. He yelled abuse at the police when they found him outside fast food takeaways on the Main North Road. He was warned, ignored the warning, and was arrested. He was too drunk to make any comment.

Two days later, he was back on the Main North Road, very drunk and abusing people. He walked onto the road, bringing several vehicles to a halt.

He asked motorists for money, gave them the finger sign, and thrust his pelvis towards them. He then began throwing punches into the air before walking into a service station and abused customers. He was arrested for disorderly behaviour.

The next day, he went into the Cosmo Pharmacy in the central city and asked staff if they sold any spray. They said they didn’t, but Morgan became enraged and pointed out some spray in the skincare section.

When Nikki Denley asked Morgan to leave he threatened to kill her and head-butted her. He pushed her backwards and tackled her to the ground, and then stood over her trying to punch her but the other woman shop worker pulled him back. Denley’s finger was broken when she was tackled, and she had a sore chest from being pushed.

He threatened to kill the second worker before he left the store.

Morgan went into a supermarket at Bishopdale on June 20, in breach of a trespass notice. He put two bottles of wine and two packets of chips into a shopping basket and left the store.

When shop staff stopped him outside, he struck one of them with the basket, tried to punch others, and ran off when police tried to arrest him. He threw the basket at police, and resisted arrest. No-one was injured.

After his arrest that day, he claimed that he had been assaulted in the pharmacy and had reacted in self-defence. The police are seeking reparations for the medical costs.

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