18 years’ jail for sex abuse of five girls
Still staunchly defiant, a 51-year-old man has been jailed for 18 years for the sexual abuse of five girls when they were aged between four and fourteen years. Just before his Christchurch District...
View ArticleDisabled residents were ‘victims’ of couple’s fraud offending
Disabled residents at the Alpha Support Trust struggled with lack of staff and unsanitary conditions because of the thefts by the couple running the centre in Waltham, says the Serious Fraud Office....
View ArticleScribe released on monitored bail
After two months in custody for breaches, hip-hop artist Scribe has been granted electronically monitored bail at a hearing in the Christchurch District Court. Defence counsel Elizabeth Bulger applied...
View ArticleTeacher on meth-for-supply charge
A Christchurch teacher has been charged with possession of 1.5g of methamphetamine for supply – an offence that carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The man, in his 50s, was granted interim...
View ArticleJudges worried by violence in prisons
Judges were worried by the level of violence in prisons, said a Christchurch judge as she imposed a 15-year term on a sex offender who has already had one serious beating, and is expecting another....
View ArticleSuppression continues for shooting accused
Name suppression continues for a 24-year-old man charged with the murder of Luke Spears in an alleged shooting at Charing Cross, in rural Canterbury, last month. The order was continued in the High...
View ArticleMen told to ‘step away’ from gang
Three men have been urged to stay clear of the Mongrel Mob or face a difficult future and likely jail time, at their sentencing for what began as a gang stand-over incident. All three were given...
View ArticleCourts shut as staff walk out
Courts all over New Zealand were shut for the afternoon after another walk-out by staff in support of a pay claim. The latest walk-out came after about seven weeks of court stoppages caused by...
View ArticleVideo-link ban increases pressure on courts
Court staff have cranked up their industrial action – expensively – with a ban on video-link court appearances. They will also ban all pre-arranged sentencings, though people who plead guilty may still...
View ArticleCharges mount against businessman
Twelve more charges, including allegations of causing a church to act on forged documents, have been laid against a Christchurch businessman who has been facing a mounting list of charges over the last...
View ArticleMAFS contestant on drink-driving charge
Married At First Sight contestant Ottie Schwartz, 32, has been charged with drink-driving at the Christchurch District Court. She was granted a registrar’s remand without having to appear before the...
View ArticleDrink-driver accepts responsibility for fatal crash
A drink-driver has accepted he killed his 21-year-old passenger when he crashed into a concrete fence post and tree stump on a rural Canterbury road. Tyler Croll-Davis, 24, pleaded guilty to the crash...
View ArticleWoman admits lighting hospital fire
A patient who lit a fire in a room at Princess Margaret Hospital’s Seager Clinic has admitted a charge of arson. A psychiatric report will be prepared ahead of the March sentencing of Angela Maree...
View Article‘Frenzied’ knife attack in street killed wife
A frenzied knife attack in Ilam Road by 52-year-old Shiu Prasad killed his wife and injured the man she had left him for, a week after the marriage separation. People tried to help at the scene of the...
View ArticleOpen-ended jail term for repeat sex offender
Thirty years of sexual offending against women and children has led the court to impose an open-ended preventive detention sentence on a 52-year-old man. The man’s criminal history lists sex charges...
View ArticleHome detention allowed for dairy robbery
Home detention was allowed for a 21-year-old who admitted being in a group that used a knife to rob the dairy at Springston. Harrison Blackburn, a sales person, will serve 10 months’ home detention at...
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Community work for mother’s prison smuggling bid
File image. © Andrew Bardwell A Tuahiwi mother-of-three will spend months doing her community work after her failed attempt to smuggle contraband into Christchurch Men’s Prison inside her underwear....
View ArticleMultiple voting charge admitted
A man with intellectual limitations has been given a suspended sentence after admitting voting 11 times in last year’s General Election. The police’s details on the case do not disclose which party...
View ArticleHigh speed ride alleged
A motorcyclist who allegedly posted a video of himself driving at 200kmh and overtaking on a narrow hill road on the Port Hills was remanded to appear in the Christchurch District Court on December 1....
View ArticleMAFS bride admits drink-driving
Reality tv contestant Ottie Schwartz resisted any extra publicity when she was fined and disqualified for a drink-driving charge in the Christchurch District Court today. Through her lawyer Linda...
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