A valuable health sector worker will get a shot at keeping her job after being convicted of benefit frauds totalling $208,945.

At the time of her sentencing in the Christchurch District Court, the South Island woman was already showing signs of the medical treatment she needed from the latest assault in the “difficult and dangerous” sector where she works.

The assault by a patient had aggravated an earlier injury, putting her off work for at least two weeks, Judge Jane Farish noted as she spoke about the sentencing difficulties and the unusual circumstances.

She said that it had become clear that if she imposed anything more than community work, the 50-year-old would lose her job.

Ministry of Social Development prosecutor Chris Hunt had called for a more punitive sentence on the 20 charges of dishonestly using a document and obtaining money by deception. He pointed out that at current repayment arrangements, the woman was paying back only 1.3 percent of the money each year.

But defence counsel Josh Lucas urged a conviction and discharge because it was clear that community detention was not going to work, and he asked for final name suppression.

Judge Farish said that over seven years six months the woman had failed to tell the Ministry about a relationship which was seen as supportive even if it did not continue as a romantic relationship. She had also failed to tell the Ministry about her work.

She had trained and taken up work in a highly specialised field where there was lack of staff and dangers posed by the people involved.

The woman had to cope with family health difficulties and had to support a relative who was a victim in a court case which had taken nearly four years to be completed because of the earthquakes, counsel’s illness, and delays with the jury system.

“I can understand you being so distracted that you put notifying the Ministry about your income on the go-slow,” Judge Farish told the woman.

If the overpayments – which eventually totalled $208,945 – had been over a shorter period, she might have considered a discharge without conviction.

Instead, she decided to convict and discharge the woman, but made no reparation order because a repayment arrangement was already in place.

The conviction meant that meant there would still be a professional review, and she might be stood down while that was considered. However, the woman was well sought after in a system that was wanting to retain specialist staff.

“Imposing community detention would mean she would lose her job, and the state will not get its money, and it will lose someone who is well qualified and well regarded, and needed,” the judge said.

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A driver who led police on a low-speed cross-town chase last year has been disqualified for two years at his sentencing after spending 11 months in custody on remand.

Dawson Reihana, 38, will also spend 18 months on intensive supervision and be monitored by Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish who will get regular reports on his progress.

Reihana caused rush-hour chaos after the car he was driving was pursued through the CBD, Mairehau, and went onto Cranford Street at 30 to 40kmh in very heavy traffic.

He hit three patrol cars as they tried to block him in, and when he did stop police tasered him when they saw him reach into the back seat.

When he appeared in court next day, spectators were heard gasping at his appearance with facial injuries, plasters, and probably a black eye.

Reihana was remanded in custody but eventually pleaded guilty to charges of driving while forbidden, failing to stop for the police – at least his third instance of this charge – reckless driving, using the car as a weapon to assault two officers who were trying to stop him, failing to stop and ascertain injury, resisting arrest, unlawful possession of shotgun cartridges and an offensive weapon (a knuckleduster).

Judge Farish said there had been a “great” pre-sentence report on Reihana and defence counsel Nick Rout said he had already received a punitive sentence with his long remand in custody.

Judge Farish said it had been fairly spectacular offending, but after his 11 months in custody she said a rehabilitative sentence was in the best interests of Reihana and the community.

Since being released on bail at the beginning of July, Reihana had done very well, she said.

She ordered Reihana to undergo assessment, treatment, and counselling as directed as part of the intensive supervision sentence, and she ordered the destruction of the cartridges and knuckledusters.

Two years is the minimum disqualification period for a third offence of failing to stop for the police.

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A 27-year-old Hornby man has been arrested overnight after allegedly cutting off his electronic bail bracelet and absconding ahead of his manslaughter trial.

The trial in the High Court this month for Richard Robert Tranter had to be abandoned because he could not be found. His disappearance featured on the Police 10-7 television programme.

Tranter appeared by video-link before Justice Nation in the High Court today and was remanded to next week for a new bail application to be heard. Justice Nation declined to hear the application today.

Tranter, a garage attendant, has been charged over a crash on Russley Road, which killed Jack Keith Munro, 23, of Christchurch, on January 2. He denies the charge.

Justice Nation remanded him in custody after his arrest on Thursday night, saying that a considerable amount of court time had to be vacated because he had abconded, and “he was very difficult to locate”.

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A Uber driver wept all through the Christchurch District Court sentencing where he was jailed for six years six months for the rape of an intoxicated girl he was driving home.

Crown prosecutor Mitchell McClenaghan said: “In New Zealand’s drinking culture, young people rely so heavily on Ubers and taxis for safe passage home, we need to ensure the message is sent out that this is simply not acceptable.”

He said that Moses Gengo-Yon Ravanes “took advantage of a drunk girl in an Uber”.

“She was entitled to safe passage home. She didn’t receive that. She was raped,” he told Judge Paul Kellar who had presided over the four-day trial in March at which a jury found Ravanes guilty.

Ravanes, who had a Tagalog interpreter to assist him if necessary, stood downcast, upset, and wiping his eyes in the dock throughout the sentencing.

Defence counsel Andrew McKenzie said Ravanes continued to deny the rape, and said the sex was consensual. He plans to appeal the conviction.

He said that although he denied the offending, at the end of the recorded police interview Ravanes had shown genuine concern for the welfare of the woman.

The woman was not at court, but she had filed a victim impact statement. The judge said he found the statement “moving”, showing that Ravanes’ actions had had a profound psychological effect.

“Her self-esteem and feelings of self-worth have suffered significantly as a result of this – quite wrongly. She is not to blame for this, in any way whatsoever,” said the judge.

Mr McClenaghan said Ravanes had been aware when he picked the girl up from outside a bar on The Strip in central Christchurch early on May 13, 2018, that she did not have a working cellphone. A friend had called the Uber to take her home.

“He was aware that she had vomited on the side of the road (during the journey home) and he then took this opportunity to prey upon her,” he said.

Judge Kellar said that after the vomiting, as the journey continued “the sociable young woman had shared some aspects of her life” with Ravanes.

In an unlit, rural area of Yaldhurst Road, Ravanes pulled the Uber over and then climbed over the central console where he forcefully kissed her and then raped her in the passenger seat.

He said: “I accept the Crown submission as to the need for a deterrent sentence. Young people in particular are entitled to have an expectation of being safe when they are driven home by taxi drivers.”

He said Ravanes was a carpenter in the Philippines, who had taken up Uber driving as a second job to supplement the family income when he came to New Zealand. The money was also used to help pay for his wife’s father’s medical bills in the Philippines. Ravanes was a regular church-goer.

He accepted that prison would be hard for Ravanes to cope with because of his nationality and family circumstances. The sentence would have a significant impact on his family, who would now have to return to the Philippines.

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A 25-year-old man’s six-month crime spree left a trail of his fingerpints, DNA, and surveillance video images.

The amount of damage and loss is still being totalled but is expected to be available for Jamie Nigel Ian Peters’ Christchurch District Court sentencing.

A date for that sentencing is still to be set after he admitted 31 charges. Judge Simon Menzies remanded him in custody for a pre-sentence report, possible restorative justice meetings with his many victims, and an alcohol and drug assessment.

Peters admitted the theft of three cars, being unlawfully in a yard, unlawfully taking vehicles, stealing from cars, 11 burglaries, dishonestly using bank or credit cards, theft, and receiving stolen property.

In January 2018, Peters was with a group that smashed a stolen Toyota Hilux through the front gates at a property at McLeans Island. It was followed by a second vehicle with a trailer. The group was disturbed by someone at the property and drove away.

The vehicles were seen at McLeans Island later, with two people moving property out of the Hilux and into the other vehicle’s trailer before they drove off. The Hilux was found burnt out an hour later.

Ten days later, Peters took a Nissan ute from a Wairakei Road property. His fingerprints were found inside it when it was found on a tree stump behind Burwood Hospital. More than $1000 worth of work equipment had been taken from the car.

Peters broke into another vehicle in Kotuku Crescent and took a wallet, licence, debit card and work equipment worth thousands of dollars. He left behind a set a set of pliers that had his DNA on them.

His thumb print was found on a vehicle stolen from Christchurch, and found damaged in Governors Bay. It was written off. Another print was in a Land Cruiser taken from Tinwald and found partly submerged in the Waimakariri River.

The offending continued to mid-2018, with burglaries, thefts from cars, and use of stolen bank or credit cards.

Security cameras recorded Peters using a stolen credit card taken from a house burglary at Westmorland where he left a glove inside the house. ESR found his DNA on the glove.

In one burglary, a Porsche Carrera sports car worth $250,000 was taken. The car was involved in a police pursuit which the police abandoned because of the risk to the public. The car was found abandoned in Lismore Street, with Peters’ fingerprint inside.

The crime spree came to an end early on June 7, 2018, when Peters and another person were disturbed breaking into a car in Shirley. They ran off and left in a Nissan Primera which had been stolen two weeks earlier in Redwood.

Police found the Nissan in Banks Avenue, with Peters and the other person still inside.

The police summary does not quite explain what happened next: “This vehicle needed to be moved, due to its location. Police noticed that the ignition of the vehicle was damaged and suspected it was stolen. Further analysis showed the number plates were incorrect, and the vehicle was stolen.”

They then found items in the car that had been reported stolen from another vehicle.

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A Tai Tapu man whose neglect turned an elderly horse into “a bag of bones” has been banned from owning horses for three years and must pay thousands in fines and reparations.

Judge Kevin Phillips said: “I have seen photographs of the horse. I look at them and I wonder how any person could have an animal in their care, in that condition.”

He repeatedly questioned the attitude of Rufus Culliford, as the case was called for its sentencing, more than two years after the horse “Tubby” was put down.

Culliford had originally pleaded not guilty to the charge of neglecting the horse by failing to provide enough food. He then pleaded guilty in January, but disputed the facts, and then wanted to withdraw his guilty plea.

He then abandoned that withdrawal application and the case was sent for sentencing, but Culliford told the probation officer who interviewed him that the old horse was doing to die and the SPCA’s intervention had been a waste of time.

In fact, the horse initially recovered in the SPCA’s care and was assessed as being malnourised. It had a good appetite and no other signs of disease.

Judge Phillips said the case was “of high concern to the court and the community – while taking care of a elderly horse he treated it in such a manner that the horse was a bag of bones”.

The judge decided not to jail Culliford because he cared for his elderly mother on a remote property and her deteriorating eyesight meant she could not drive. Electronic monitoring was not possible at the remote location.

But he imposed 300 hours of community work on Culliford, a fine of $1500, reparations for the SPCA’s veterinary costs of $3935, plus $750 for the SPCA’s prosecution costs.

Culliford will also have to forfeit any horses he owns and the judge banned him from being in charge of any horses for three years.

SPCA prosecutor Emma Pairman said she believed imprisonment was the only option because a combination of intensive supervision and community work was not appropriate. Culliford had starved the horse a second time, after it had recovered and been returned to him.

Defence counsel Shawn McManus urged that community work and community detention be imposed. She said it was not a case where there had been violence towards the horse, but it had been neglected in not providing food and veterinary treatment.

The summary of facts said an SPCA inspector visited a Tai Tapu farm in December 2015 and found Tubby in light body condition with ribs, backbone, and hip bones clearly visible.

Culliford said the horse was on the decline and he was considering euthanasia. He agreed to take the horse for a veterinary health assessment.

On May 6, 2016, the horse had not been taken to the vet and Culliford was given a written notice to either have her checked or euthanised by May 9.

On May 11 an SPCA vet was sent to assess the horse and found her in very thin body condition, with access to very short grass with heavy faecal contamination. She also had a large amount of soil in her teeth and an ulcerated mouth. The vet took her into SPCA possession.

The horse was returned to Culliford when she had a healthy body condition, and he was given a feed plan and a follow up appointment with the dentist.

Culliford cancelled the dental appointment and at an inspection in November the horse could not be located.

On February 2017 another inspection found the horse in bad condition again and she was taken back into SPCA possession.

While in their care she became unwell with a large intestinal impaction in April, and due to her age and body condition she was euthanised.

Judge Phillips said Tubby had been treated “cruelly” by Culliford who had said she had no teeth and was going to die anyway. “That was just wrong,” he said.

The offending was a considerable breach of trust, which had left a horse in considerable pain and distress, he said.

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A Halswell farmer has begun an “inevitable” jail sentence minutes after admitting child sex offending.

Matthew Robert Milne, 44, pleaded guilty to six charges involving three victims in the Christchurch District Court.

Judge Brian Callaghan said the offending was “far too serious” to allow him to be on bail while he awaits sentencing on September 25.

He asked for a pre-sentence report and victim impact statements to be prepared for the sentencing.

Defence counsel James Rapley QC had sought bail for Milne saying that he had previously been remanded on bail without any issues, and he had already begun sex offender treatment, which he was paying for himself. Bail would allow him to do two or three more sessions before he began his jail term.

But Judge Callaghan said jail was inevitable because of the serious nature of the offences, and he was not prepared to grant bail. He read Milne the warning that applies heavier penalties to serious offenders who commit further crimes.

Milne admitted two charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection involving both a boy and a girl, and rape of the girl. He also admitted indecent communication with a young person under 16 years, involving another boy.

The police summary of facts describes sex attacks on the two children, and tells of the third victim, aged 14, being sent an indecent image on Facebook Messenger.

Milne told police he had been under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time of the offending and could not remember most of what happened.

The children were aged as young as 11 and 12 when some offending took place.

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A broken-hearted widow has told a court she has become “isolated and withdrawn from this world” after the loss of her husband of 30 years, Anthony Mark Moore, in a workplace accident.

Forty-eight-year-old Lisa Moore told Christchurch District Court Judge Raoul Neave: “His loss has left me vulnerable, and afraid to face life without him by my side. I don’t even recognise the person I am today.”

Mr Moore was killed in February 2017 at the Waterloo Drive, Sockburn, yard of Peter Fletcher Transport Ltd, when heavy steel pipes being prepared for shipping slipped and cascaded onto him.

Mr Moore, 52, was the company’s workshop manager, driver trainer, and mechanic. Judge Neave says it seemed likely he died immediately of severe crush injuries to his face, neck, chest, and abdomen.

The company pleaded guilty last year, to a charge of failing to ensure the health and safety of a worker, under the Health and Safety at Work Act. After delays, its sentencing went ahead today.

Counsel for the company, Joseph Lill, said the current manager of the company was in court. The company offered its apology again to Mr Moore’s family, for their loss.

Judge Neave imposed a fine of $393,750, after reducing the amount for the company’s otherwise good safety record, its remorse, its reparation payments to the family, its co-operation with Worksafe investigators, the safety measures it put in place after the accident, and its guilty plea.

The judge said no reparation order was needed because the company had already paid a total of $152,000 to members of Mr Moore’s family.

He said the company had not developed safe working methods for handling the pipes. There was a failure to provide adequate training and supervision, when there was a well-known hazard if things were not properly managed.

Mrs Moore told the court she was physically and emotionally exhausted after the loss of her husband. “It feels like everyone else has carried with with their lives and mine has come to a complete standstill. I have become isolated and withdrawn from the world.”

She said she had the “honour and privilege” of being Anthony Moore’s partner and wife for 30 years. He had been a wonderful husband, kind, loving, genuine, sentimental, and with a wonderful sense of humour. The grand plan was to retire and grow old together.

“He was the hardest-working person I know,” she said. “My husband should have come home from work that day.”

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Twenty-year-old Darrin Ray Stewart has given his apologies repeatedly in court at the tearful sentencing for the boyracer crash in which teenager Alexia Noble-Hazelwood was killed.

Stewart himself was crying along with family members in the Christchurch High Court’s public gallery as victim impact statements were read.

Justice Rachel Dunningham jailed Stewart – a scaffolder from Hornby – for three-and-a-half years and disqualified from driving for five years.

Stewart had admitted manslaughter, three charges of reckless driving causing injury, failing to stop or ascertain injury, and failing to stop for a police officer.

Family spokeman Denis Gempton read several of the statements relating to the “terrible loss” of the 18-year-old, killed when Stewart lost control of a car and it crashed through a metal fence and hit the side of a building at Christchurch East School, about two minutes and two kilometres after he had fled from police on November 16, 2018.

He said: “Will you or anyone really learn from this loss, about the dangers of drugs, alcohol and dangerous driving? We hope so. Take your punishment for this like a man.”

A passenger who was injured in the back of the car, Angel Livingstone, Miss Noble-Hazelwood’s cousin, told of being out that night – the first time she had gone out “on the town”.

She said directly to Stewart: “You were drinking and driving, even after Alexia told you to stop, but you didn’t listen. You started showing off, thinking you were cool.”

Mr Gempton said he had never heard one word of remorse from Stewart until the day of the sentencing.

The session began with Stewart being put in the court’s witness box to read his apology statement to the family. Defence counsel Anselm Williams said Stewart had always expressed his sorrow and remorse, but there had been no opportunity to give his apology until the family until then.

Stewart was crying as he said he was “deeply sorry” to the family for what happened. “It hurts me every day,” he said. “I wasn’t in a fit state to drive. I think of ways I could have changed it – doing the right thing.”

Mr Gempton spoke again later in the sentencing, telling Stewart that Miss Noble-Hazelwood’s mother had accepted his apology.

He said it had been a foolish and truly cowardly act to run away from the crash scene, leaving his friends to their fate. “How did you become such a horrible person?” he asked.

Justice Dunningham thanked the family for their statements, and for behaving with dignity as they helped her to understand their loss.

She said Stewart had been drinking and smoking cannabis during the evening of the crash. Police pursued him when he sped off after an attempted police stop. Police abandoned the pursuit, because he was travelling at between 100 and 160kmh.

He refused to stop when passengers told him to stop, went through a red light at high speed, lost control and crashed into the school. Two unrestrained passengers were thrown out of the car. One of them was Miss Noble-Hazelwood had died instantly from her injuries.

A witness saw Stewart climb over a fence and run off through the school grounds. Police found a seat belt in the car had been cut out to make a dog lead.

She told Stewart that his actions had “devastated” whole families of those killed and injured.

He had admitted drinking 11 bottles of bourbon mixer before the crash, and said he was really drunk. A psychological report indicated a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

She noted he had previous convictions for driving while disqualified, dangerous driving, refusing a blood test, and driving with excess blood alcohol as an under-20 driver.

But she said his genuine remorse shone through in the pre-sentence reports, and she commented on his courage in standing and reading his apology to the families in court.

She imposed a three-and-a-half year jail term, and disqualified him from driving for five years. His car was confiscated, and he received a three-strikes warning.

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Fraudsters drained more than $250,000 out of a finance company that allows loan applications online and over the phone.

One of those fraudsters, repeat scam offender Brendon Karl Dean Harris, today admitted 13 charges and has been remanded in custody for sentencing in the Christchurch District Court on August 28.

Harris, 24, is a serving prisoner due to be considered for release by the Parole Board in October. He is serving a two-year nine-month jail term imposed in March for scamming elderly victims during 2015 and 2016.

Harris’ part in that offending totalled $82,000 but the total known losses from the scamming ring were $600,000. He was not sentenced with the other members of the scamming ring because of his poor health. He needs surgery to reduce his weight.

The frauds against the finance company and a car yard date back to 2017 and early 2018.

Harris today admitted six charges of causing loss by deception, two of accessing a computer system for dishonest purposes, three of dishonestly using a document, obtaining by deception, and driving to court while his licence was suspended.

The finance company operates in New Zealand but is Australian-owned. The Crown said that it allowed electronic applications from potential customers, and it had been defrauded of more than $250,000 through a series of frauds involving Harris and his associates.

Typically, someone would contact a person looking for rental accommodation, or to sell a vehicle. They would request identifying details, often including a drivers’ licence and bank account details, so that a deposit could be paid.

Those details were then used in applications to the finance company for loans in the name of the person who had been contacted.

The company paid out a series of loans ranging from $8000 to $35,000. The money was paid into the bank accounts of Harris’ associates or family members.

Twice, Harris logged into the IRD computer system, getting into a secure area to get documents and information on people who had been contacted, to support the loan applications. The Crown said that once Harris got onto the IRD website with the inadvertent assistance of the call-taker.

Harris also admitted obtaining a Range Rover by deception. He had got details off someone advertising a vehicle for sale on Facebook and Trade Me. He then used that information in a phone call to a Christchurch car dealership to buy a $30,000 2006 Range Rover, with a story that a finance company had pre-approved the loan.

He arranged for a woman to pick up the vehicle, but the scheme came unstuck when the person whose details were used received a letter congratulating him on the purchase. The vehicle was found parked across from Harris’ address in Hornby. It had Harris’ fingerprints on the mirror and a cup inside the vehicle.

The Crown said Harris had two previous convictions for driving while disqualified. On July 6, 2018, he was suspended for having too many demerit points. A month ater, he was seen driving out of a carpark building on Lichfield Street after a court appearance.

The Crown said no reparation was sought from Harris because the police intended to seek reparations from those who received the fraudulent loans into their bank accounts.

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The Crown says a woman was asleep when a teenager got into bed with her at her university accommodation, and began sexual activity.

The woman says she awoke in the early hours after a big night out to find someone in her bed, sexually violating her and hurting her.

The man, Henry Hamish Millar, who will turn 20 during the trial, told police he believed he had consent. Crown prosecutor Claire Boshier said: “He told police he thought she invited him into her bed, after he asked to stay. He said that he thought she was consenting to the sexual activity that followed.”

The issue of consent is at the centre of the four-day jury trial that has begun in the Christchurch District Court, before Judge Jane Farish and a jury of 11. Millar denies the charge of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection.

Miss Boshier: “[The complainant] will tell you she was completely unaware of him being in her room. The first she knew of it was waking up to find a person in her bed, and fingers in her vagina, hurting her.”

The woman ran into the lounge at the accommodation, crying, and people then went into her room to find Millar lying in her bed.

“The Crown says she was not able to consent because she was asleep,” Miss Boshier told the jury. “He told police he believed she did consent, so that is going to be for you to determine.”

The test for the jury to consider was whether a reasonable person would believe they had consent, she said.

The incident took place in the early hours of July 22, 2018, a Sunday morning. On the Saturday, the woman had been playing netball and had gone to a movie with her girl friends. The group then went out to a hotel for the evening, where they watched some of a super rugby match on television.

Security camera footage at the hotel showed her circulating widely and she was affectionate to her friends and having a good night, the Crown said. At one point, she went to the bathroom and vomited because she had had been drinking and had not had dinner.

Shortly before midnight, the video showed she came into contact with Millar, who was not a student but was friends with students. They spoke as part of a group, and one-on-one. Millar is seen to put his arm around her and kiss her on the lips, but she wipes her mouth afterwards.

They are not seen together after that.

The woman went back to her university accommodation at 12.35pm, made herself some food, and went to her room where she fell asleep holding a bowl of pasta.

Millar arrived about an hour later, and was let into the accommodation by one of the residents.

A group of four – men and women – went into the woman’s room from the lounge about 2am and she woke up disoriented and groggy. They soon left the room, and took the bowl of pasta from her, but Millar went back into the room a few minutes later.

The Crown will call evidence from 16 witnesses at the trial where Millar is represented by James Rapley QC.

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Allegations of long-term abuse by a 40-year-old are false – made up by a woman and three children to get the man out of their lives – the defence has alleged at a trial in the High Court at Christchurch.

The defence is calling witnesses as the trial enters its third week. Today is the 10th day before Justice Gerald Nation and a jury, after Friday’s court time was lost because witnesses were unable to fly to Christchurch because of the fog that day.

Witnesses have told of never seeing any violence towards the woman and children who gave evidence as part of the Crown case, nor seeing signs of bruising or injuries. The man and woman appeared to be “getting on well”, one relative said.

Another relative, who visited several times a week, said he had never witnessed any violence at all.

In the defence opening address to the jury, Shawn McManus said the defence case was that the allegations were false and had been motivated by the woman’s unhappiness with the man who had gone on trial. As a result, she and three children had made false allegations against him “to see him removed from their lives”.

She told jurors they did not need to like the man on trial, but the question was whether they could be sure that the things alleged had happened.

She said the defence would call several witnesses including family members and professionals including police who would give evidence of what they saw, heard, and did about the group.

She told the jury: “The defence says that when you have heard all the evidence you will be left in the position where the only proper verdicts will be not guilty of each of the charges.”

At the end of the Crown case, Justice Nation discharged the man on one sexual violation charge and combined three rape charges into one representative charge.

The man has admitted one charge of assault with a weapon. He denies six charges of intentionally injuring, three of assaulting a female, seven of assault with a weapon, four of assault with intent to injure, 9 of sexual violation, three of rape, six of indecent assault on a child, one of indecent assault on a young person, one assault with intent to commit sexual violation, and kidnapping. The man has interim name suppression.

The trial, which concerns allegations spanning 13 years, is expected to end this week.

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Name suppression has lifted on a Hokitika man charged with murdering a child three weeks ago.

The interim suppression order put in place at his first appearance on July 10, was lifted on David Grant Sinclair at a Greymouth High Court session held in Christchurch today.

Sinclair denies the charge of murdering 10-month-old C J Bodhi Brian White-Sinclair at Hokitika on July 9.

Justice Gerald Nation scheduled a trial for June 15, 2020, and remanded Sinclair in custody for a case review hearing on September 25.

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A judge says he is expecting a public backlash after releasing a violent offender on intensive supervision for an attempt to kidnap a woman jogger in the street.

“No doubt there will be letters to the editor demanding my resignation,” said Christchurch District Court Judge Raoul Neave. “It won’t be the first time and it won’t be the last.”

After spending 10 months in custody on remand, Marcel Sydney Geros would have been eligible to apply for release soon if a prison term had been imposed. The intensive supervision sentence will enable him to be closely monitored for the next two years.

Geros, a 27-year-old Avonhead fisherman, had admitted charges of attempted kidnapping and assault with intent to injure.

One of his supervision conditions will restrict the area he can go to and keep him away from the woman he attacked and injured in Ilam on September 21, when he had a box-cutter knife. At an earlier hearing, Judge Neave said: “The victim displayed considerable fortitude and strength of character and effectively fought him off.”

The woman was out jogging at the time of the attack.

Prosecutor Pip Norman said the Crown was concerned by Geros minimising the seriousness of earlier offending, and denying his involvement in the latest incident even though he had pleaded guilty. The victim had been left very traumatised but had shown “remarkable resilience”.

Defence counsel April Kelland said Geros wanted to move away from his former gang lifestyle, to a life with work, and a good relationship with his supportive partner and her children. It was very much in the public interest for him to received a therapeutic sentence.

Geros was jailed in November 2009 for seven years three months for the bashing of a 73-year-old man who woke while Geros was burgling his room. The man was so badly injured that the court was told he still needed almost full time care nearly three years later. Geros also stole a medical equipment and a bag from the ambulance that came to save the victim.

Geros, who has striking facial tattoos including “BPNZ” across his whole forehead, has been in custody since his arrest in September last year.

Judge Neave began the sentencing by saying, “I don’t know what to do, to be honest.” A cultural report showed Geros had come from an unforunate background and had had to “deal with more things than most people could even contemplate”.

He said: “He has got some incredibly complex needs and unless and until they are dealt with he is going to be a significant problem to the community. If I send him to prison, absolutely zip will happen, quite apart from the fact that he will be out before we know it. I am not prepared to contemplate that.”

He said imprisonment and post-release conditions would do nothing to address community safety issues.

Instead, the judge will judically monitor Geros with regular reports from Community Corrections while he is on intensive supervision for two years.

Special conditions include restrictions on his movements around Christchurch, and attending medical assessments and treatments as directed. That includes treatment for post traumatic stress disorder and mental issues.

He said he was impressed with Geros’ efforts to distance himself from gang associates and the progress he had made while in custody. He was now willing to address his complex and difficult issues.

Nothing had been achieved in the past, but Geros had to accept that was partly his fault. He was going to have to learn to trust people who were providing him with treatment.

Judge Neave warned: “You are going to have to make some changes and accept that there are sometimes people who know better than you.”

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An Aranui man has admitted a series of drive-off petrol thefts and police pursuits that ended with innocent road users injured.

Steven Jeffery Charles Walshe, a 24-year-old roofer, has admitted a list of charges relating to driving incidents in Canterbury and Christchurch during May.

Judge Kevin Phillips remanded him in custody for a pre-sentence report and sentencing in the Christchurch District Court on August 7.

Walshe admitted charges of failing to stop for police using their lights and sirens, reckless driving causing injury, thefts, possession of cannabis, possession of a knife in a public place, dangerous driving, and breach of a supervision sentence.

Police prosecutor Nicola Stratton told the court of drive-off petrol thefts in Timaru and the Ashburton area, and Christchurch, and a series of police chases which were repeatedly abandoned by the police because of his manner of driving.

Motorists had to take evasive action during a chase on Pages Road and Buckleys Road on May 22, which included driving along the cycle lane.

Road spikes were used in a chase on Ferry Raod, Opawa Road, Ensors Road, and Brougham Street the next day, including an incident where he drove the wrong way past a traffic island. He crashed into a vehicle with three occupants, and two had to be admitted to hospital.

Police found a meat cleaver in the car.

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A Spreydon man has denied fatally stabbing a dog and has been remanded in custody for a month for a case review hearing in the Christchurch District Court.

Neil Harrison, 54, elected a judge-alone trial on the charge laid under the Animal Welfare Act, at an appearance before Judge Kevin Phillips.

He also denies charges of frightening a woman by threatening the dog, threatening to kill the woman, possession of a methamphetamine pipe and a cannabis pipe, and possession of cannabis.

Bail was refused when Harrison first appeared on the charges on July 17. A case review hearing is the next stage in the trial process.

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A judge says he is confident the Muslim community will accept a supervision sentence imposed on a man with psychological issues who yelled abuse outside the Al Noor Mosque a month after the March shootings.

Christchurch District Court Judge Tony Couch said the Muslim community “embraces forgiveness and compassion”, as he announced the 10-month supervision sentence for 34-year-old labourer Daniel Nicholas Tuapawa.

Tuapawa says he has no recollection of the incident in Deans Avenue on April 10 when he yelled abuse, calling Muslims “terrorists” and said “they need to leave”. He was wearing a t-shirt with a message supporting Donald Trump.

He was initially allowed to leave by police outside the mosque but was later located after images of his rant were published in the media.

Tuapawa was charged with “behaving in an insulting manner that was likely to cause violence to start.” He pleaded guilty at his first appearance on April 12 and was remanded on bail for sentencing.

Defence counsel Natalie Wham provided Judge Couch with a memorandum ahead of the sentencing, and said a medical practitioner had confirmed the issues referred to in the document.

Judge Couch said Tuapawa had been in an aggressive and agitated state when he yelled abuse towards members of the public and the Muslim community.

He said: “Your conduct would have been offensive and distressing at any time but in the context of it being less than a month after the tragic events at the mosque, that made the situation much worse.

“Given the strength of public feeling about the murders which occurred there, your conduct could easily have provoked a violent reaction.”

He noted reports showing that Tuapawa had “long standing psychological issues and intellectual challenges”.

He noted the Tuapawa had taken the initiative to get help and support for the issues that affected him. He said a supervision sentence would ensure that he followed through with the counselling and other assistance he had already started on.

That sentence seemed to have the best prospects of ensuring that there was no more behaviour of this type, said the judge.

As part of the 10-month supervision sentence, Tuapawa will be required to attend assessment, counselling, and treatment as directed by his probation officer.

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The Crown has downgraded charges against men charged over the Christchurch mosque shooting video, and one has pleaded guilty.

Three others are maintaining their not guilty pleas and have been remanded to a pre-trial call-over in November.

The fifth person before the court today, a 42-year-old from Burnside, has been remanded on bail for a further hearing on September 25.

Interim suppression continues for all five who came before Christchurch District Court Judge Stephen O’Driscoll at a Crown case review session today.

Prosecutor Shivani Dayal said charges of distributing the live-streaming video showing the murder of 51 people at the mosque and the shooting of another 40 were being amended to charges of possession of the video knowing that it was objectionable.

One 22-year-old fisherman pleaded guilty immediately to the amended charge. He had already admitted possession of the alleged mosque shooter’s “manifesto” which he had downloaded and saved onto his phone.

Police said the document “was published online with the aim of inciting and inspiring vulnerable people to commit acts of violence” and was considered objectionable.

The man had been sent a copy of the massacre video and three days after the March 15 shooting he shared the video to an associate over Facebook.

The man told police: “I do not agree with the Government’s censorship. I believe that under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act, I have the right to have [the material] on me and to review it and make my own decision on the content of it.”

He was remanded in custody until Thursday when he may be sentenced immediately or remanded for a pre-sentence report. Defence counsel Clare Yardley said she believed that after four-and-a-half months in custody, the man had effectively served any jail time that would be imposed.

Judge O’Driscoll said he wanted the Crown to present to the session an estimate of how many people had viewed the material online. He had seen figures indicating up to 1.5 million had viewed it.

The man remains in custody overnight, but if he is remanded for sentence on Thursday the Crown has indicated it will no longer oppose bail.

A 22-year-old Lyttelton man, a 17-year-old Opawa man, and an 19-year-old from Yaldhurst, were all remanded to a pre-trial call-over on November 22 after defence counsel said they maintained their not guilty pleas. All are on bail or electronically monitored bail.

The 19-year-old now faces charges of possession of the video and making an objectionable publication which was a photograph of the mosque in Deans Avenue with the words, “Target acquired”.

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November 27 has been set for the sentencing of three people convicted of dealing in synthetic drugs, after the police’s Operation Sin investigation in 2016.

The three pleaded guilty during a Christchurch District Court jury trial in June, with the Crown alleging the drugs ring had been found with 173kg of the synthetic drugs, with a street value of between $3 million and $4 million.

The three admitted selling non-approved psychoactive substances. They are Fei He, 48, who had been running a Sockburn dairy which was seen as part of the drugs ring, Sui Jun Zhou, 34, and Xiwen Miao, a 30-year-old chef. Zhou also admitted weapons charges.

A fourth person charged with selling or supplying synthetic drugs has been remanded separately to a date next week.

All had been remanded on bail after the trial ended early, for a sentencing date to be set.

At today’s appearance, He issued a statement to the media present saying that she had only pleaded guilty under duress and making allegations against the police and a local body official.

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A 20-year-old says a woman accepted his request to get into her bed before an incident that has led to him being put on trial for sexual violation.

Henry Hamish Millar told police and security staff that after encounters with the woman at a hotel and at her university accommodation during the evening, he had gone into her room and asked if he could sleep there.

Millar said the woman said yes and moved over so that he could get into bed beside her.

The Crown said in the Christchurch District Court trial that the woman had been asleep when Millar got into the bed and she woke to find him with his finger in her genitals, hurting her.

Defence counsel James Rapley QC delivered his closing address to the jury on Wednesday, on the third day of the trial before Judge Jane Farish. Millar denies the charge of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection.

Mr Rapley pointed out he had questioned the woman about whether it was possible Millar had made the request, and she had moved over, but could not remember it.

He said she had replied in her evidence: “I suppose it is possible, but I have no memory of it.”

The Crown said the incident at university accommodation had occurred early on July 22, 2018, after the woman had had a night out with friends, including drinking at a hotel, and then returning to her accommodation and falling asleep in her room while she was eating a bowl of pasta.

Other residents and visitors – including Millar – went into her room and woke her and took the bowl of pasta off her bed, before leaving soon after. A few minutes later, Millar went back to the room.

Mr Rapley told the jury they would be left with a “reasonable uncertainty” about whether the woman had consented. There was also uncertainty about whether Millar thought she was consenting.

“I suggest to you that you will be troubled by her memory because it is flawed on specific events – those events that don’t fit with her narrative,” he said.

He pointed to varying assessments of her intoxication, and her comment in the police interview that she had not seen Millar and did not speak to him nor kiss him at the hotel earlier in the evening. The encounter was recorded on security camera at the hotel, showing them talking and kissing.

Mr Rapley asked: “Are you worried that she has misled the police to try to achieve her outcome?”

Judge Farish will sum up on Thursday before the jury retires to consider its verdict.

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