Category: Public Media

Source: Radio New Zealand

A child has died following a three vehicle crash in East Tāmaki.

Emergency services were called to the scene on Smales Road at the intersection with Te Irirangi Drive just after 8pm on Sunday.

A child found there in a critical condition was taken to hospital, and has since died.

Four other people received minor to moderate injuries.

Enquiries into the circumstances of the crash are continuing.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Two mothers say their teenagers were part of a group of four who went missing for a week, and spent nights gambling at mahjong venues in Auckland.

The popular Chinese game, which involves four players and 144 tiles, can involve gambling.

The mothers say mahjong venues fall outside existing gambling regulations and changes are needed to protect young people – such as banning people under the age of 18 from entering.

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) said whether a mahjong venue required a gambling license depended on how the activity was run, and the amount of money involved – however it said all gambling was prohibited to those under the age of 18.

Mahjong venues told RNZ they are entertainment venues and that they are not breaking any laws.

Do you know more? Contact Lucy.Xia@rnz.co.nz or WeChat:lifeprayas1990

RNZ visited five mahjong venues across Auckland. Some feature private rooms with automatic mahjong tables, and provide snacks, instant noodles and soft drinks for customers who can play into the early hours of the morning.

For between $40 and $80, customers can have unlimited game-time.

One mother, whose daughter was 14 when she started to frequent mahjong halls last year, said she found out what her teenager had been up to when she came home at about 3am and told her she’d won $40.

The mother, who RNZ has agreed not to name, said the habit has taken a toll on her child – including affecting her attendance at school, which had fallen to 40 percent at one point.

“This is pretty addictive, during that time she would be going there almost every day, she would play until very late at night and can’t get up to go to school the next day. This thing has numbed her energy and spirit,” she said.

The mother said her daughter went missing for seven days early last year, hopping between mahjong venues with three friends.

She reported her missing daughter to the police and also went looking for her teenager every night.

“I would go wait outside the mahjong houses around seven or eight in the evening, I’ll wait for half-an-hour at one place, if they don’t turn up, I’ll go to the next place and wait for another half-an-hour to an hour,” she said.

“When I recall this, it’s all tears, I was very worried at the time. I was feeling like I was about to have a heart attack,” she added.

The police confirmed they searched for the missing teenager in March last year, and made enquiries at five mahjong venues.

The mother said her daughter was receiving counselling, and now played less than before. She said her teenager still visited mahjong halls on weekends, occasionally playing for money, and usually returned home before 11pm.

The mother said she felt hopeless and continued to worry about the risks of her daughter developing a gambling habit as an adult.

She is concerned New Zealand authorities don’t understand what they’re grappling with.

“Mahjong hasn’t been in New Zealand for that long, [the venues] are more targeted towards Asians, maybe New Zealand doesn’t have too much experience dealing with this problem, or they don’t understand Mahjong.

“For instance, in China, under 18s are not allowed to enter mahjong places, so I strongly advocate for New Zealand to consider laws in this area, to clarify whether these places require licenses, and secondly, even if you have a licence, whether under 18s can enter,” she said.

The mother said even if mahjong isn’t classified officially as gambling, she still doesn’t think those under 18 should be allowed in.

“Mahjong, perhaps we understand more about this as Chinese, the gambling aspect is part of the game itself and its purpose,” she said.

The mother said this is a wider issue affecting youths, and she’s heard about other students at her daughter’s school playing mahjong and playing poker, and that in some cases big money would be involved.

The DIA’s director of gambling Vicki Scott said the department is aware of illegal mahjong gambling in Auckland.

“Several venues visited by the Department last year targeting illegal poker had mahjong tables set up. These were seized as evidence of illegal gambling. So far, charges have been filed against one individual and four companies for operating illegal poker, and other investigations are still ongoing,” she said in a statement.

However, Scott said they were re not aware of anyone under 18 playing mahjong at these particular locations.

Scott said there were no licensed mahjong operators in New Zealand, with the exception of casinos.

RNZ spoke to another mother who said her 16-year-old son was another of the teens who went missing for a week playing mahjong last year.

She said he’d sneak out of the house at night to go to the mahjong halls, and she had since been told by a friend of her son that her teenager lost about $1000 playing poker.

“That time he would be very tired during the day, and get very excited at night, but when I drive him to school in the morning, he would just fall asleep in the car,” she said.

RNZ has seen a photo of the boy asleep at a mahjong table.

The mother said the mahjong businesses were taking advantage of the regulatory loopholes.

“They see themselves as entertainment places, and they don’t care whether there is gambling happening inside, it’s like they’re trying to free themselves of any responsibility,” she said.

“When I asked them, can underaged people come in, they said: ‘They look like they’re already quite big’, but I think they’re just finding an excuse for themselves,” she added.

The mother said she sees mahjong as a form of gambling, and wants New Zealand to ban under 18s from entering Mahjong venues.

“In my view, they shouldn’t [exist]. If their existence is reasonable, they should be like casinos, where there is a rule stopping underaged kids from entering, and they need to have security,” she said.

RNZ approached four mahjong venues that the mothers said their teenagers visited last year and asked how they see the nature of their business, whether they’d allowed people under 18 inside, and whether teens had engaged in mahjong gambling at their venues.

RNZ has agreed not to name the mahjong venues, at the request of the two mothers.

Three of the businesses described themselves as entertainment venues.

None of those businesses said they check identification for ages, but one said following RNZ’s query about underage gambling, they would tighten checks in the future.

One of the businesses said they would be happy to comply with any DIA rules requiring them to check for age, but they were not aware of any.

“If they ask us to check, we will definitely check, but they haven’t forced us to check, we don’t have the right to check,” said a manager at a Mahjong venue.

When asked whether money was involved in the mahjong games, one business said they don’t allow cash to appear on the mahjong table, but have no control over whether customers are doing transactions outside of the venue. Another said they don’t allow gambling, and a third said whether money is changing hands between customers is none of their business.

One mahjong venue co-owner, whose business declined to respond, commented in his personal capacity: “Whether or not you are playing money in mahjong, mahjong doesn’t have anything to do with gambling. To us Chinese people, it is an entertainment, it represents pursuit of and passion for a happy life, it is an indispensable part of Chinese culture”.

An organisation providing counselling and assistance for problem gambling, Asian Family Services, has been assisting the affected mothers and their teens.

Its CEO Kelly Feng said she’d like to see the DIA review the grey area of mahjong operations to provide more protection for young people.

“If they claim [it is] purely entertainment, they have to make sure there’s no cash involved when they play. And if there is money involved, according to current regulation – depends on amount – they need to get their license and they need to comply with all those regulations as well,” she said.

Feng supports the banning of people under 18 from entering mahjong halls in New Zealand as she believed the exposure could be normalising gambling for young people.

“We’re seeing the trend of a lot of young people, not only [playing] mahjong, there’s tonnes of gamification and normalising of gambling online as well. Research says it increases the risk of adulthood gambling,” said Feng.

According to the DIA, gambling is classified by the value of prizes, and whether anyone running the gambling is making a profit.

Class 1 gambling covers activity where prizes total $500 or less, Class 2 covers prizes between $500 and $5000 – anything above $5000 in prizes is classed as Class 3 and requires a gambling license, and only not-for-profit societies can hold these licenses.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Firefighters battled a fire in a townhouse in the Auckland suburb of Albany Heights on Monday.

Fire and Emergency received multiple calls about the blaze about 5.10am.

There were no reports of injuries or anyone missing.

Fire crews put out the fire and were leaving the area.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A 99-year-old dementia patient died after being assaulted in his rest home bedroom by another resident suffering from dementia, a coroner has found.

Leonard Ralph Hewgill suffered a head injury in the attack at the Ryman Healthcare-run Hilda Ross Retirement Village in Hamilton and died in hospital three days later.

Coroner Louella Dunn’s report into Hewgill’s death in October 2018 was released to RNZ.

Coroner Dunn said Hewgill was a resident at Hilda Ross Special Care Unit, a 40-bedroom unit offering specialist dementia care.

He had lived there since 2017 and was well loved and regularly visited by his family, she said.

On the evening of 3 October 2018 Hewgill was attacked in his bedroom by another resident, Ike Cowley, who was then 71 years of age and was suffering from Parkinson related dementia.

Cowley entered Hewgill’s room around 8pm and Hewgill was heard telling him to leave, Coroner Dunn said.

“Subsequent to that, the emergency alarm in Leonard’s room was activated by a staff member who attended. Leonard was observed by the care worker lying on his bed in his bedroom and bleeding from his ear. Mr Cowley was found in Leonard’s bedroom standing over Leonard and he was visibly agitated,” she said.

“Mr Cowley refused to comply with care workers’ instructions and continued to be agitated and angry. He made a number of threats to Leonard including ‘I’m going to kill him’ and ‘let him die, let him die’. Leonard appeared to be unconscious but responded to assistance from care workers and told the care workers ‘he’s hitting me’.

Coroner Dunn said staff intervened in the assault and Cowley left Hewgill’s bedroom, however he remained agitated.

Despite his demeanour, care workers and staff at the unit did not take any steps to keep Cowley under their control or restrain him, and Cowley went on to assault another resident down the corridor, she said.

Hewgill was taken to Waikato Hospital and died of his injuries on 6 October.

Police investigated the assault and subsequently charged Cowley with the manslaughter of Hewgill and wounding with intent to injure, which related to the assault of the other resident the same night.

Due to Cowley’s dementia, he was found unfit to stand trial and was dealt with under the Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act 2003.

Coroner Dunn said Cowley was released and the criminal charges were stayed.

She said an inquiry was opened as Hewgill’s family advised her of their concerns regarding the care management of residents with dementia and in particular residents suffering from dementia assaulting other residents in the facility.

As part of the Coroner’s inquiry she received reports from Hilda Ross, the Health and Disability Commissioner, and independent reports from Ruth Thomas (DHB Regional Dementia Nurse Advisor) and Dr Jane Casey (Consultant Psychiatrist and Psychogeriatrician).

Coroner Dunn said Cowley was admitted to the Hilda Ross Special Care Unit in 2016. His transfer notes stated he was at risk of falls, wandering, exit seeking and absconding.

As his mental health deteriorated he had become aggressive and demanding, behaviour that was foreign to him prior to his illness, she said.

During Cowley’s time at Hilda Ross there were 54 reported incidents of challenging behaviour noted for him, including exhibited agitation and physical aggression.

A significant proportion of the incidents were targeting other residents while others targeted staff.

Coroner Dunn said Hewgill’s death revealed deficits in Hilda Ross’ processes managing residents with challenging behaviours.

This included a lack of meaningful documentation to identify a resident’s challenging behaviour in a manner where staff could readily recognise that behaviour and its triggers. She said staff were also not provided adequate information as to how to deescalate that behaviour.

“It is disappointing that Mr Cowley’s repeated acts of aggression while a resident in the SCU were not properly identified and addressed by Hilda Ross,” Coroner Dunn said.

“It seems evident from the two independent reports and the evidence provided to me that Mr Cowley was a potential risk to both residents and staff. He required a clear and comprehensive plan to ensure challenging acts could be avoided or if occurred that they could be quickly deescalated.

“I acknowledge that care of residents suffering from dementia can be challenging for organisations and their staff. However, the rates of dementia are on the rise within the aged New Zealand population. The care provided by Hilda Ross is paid care, residents are often vulnerable, and families place their trust in the residential care provider.”

Coroner Dunn’s recommendations to Ryman Healthcare included strengthening documentation processes and training programmes for team members to help them recognise and respond to resident distress.

She said the company submitted they had learnt from what happened and had improved their processes.

Ryman Healthcare chief operating officer Marsha Cadman said Ryman remained deeply saddened by Hewgill’s death.

​”After the passing of Mr Hewgill, we expressed our sincere condolences to his family and provided ongoing support to them, and to all involved, staying in close contact throughout our internal review and the subsequent Police process. Following the incident, we immediately launched an investigation, with two independent experts,” she said.

​”This resulted in changes across all our dementia care units, reinforcing our commitment to providing safe, respectful, high-quality care. All of the changes and coroner’s recommendations were implemented by 2019.

“Our commitment to upholding the safety and dignity of every resident remains unwavering.”

Coroner Dunn said Hewgill’s family were seeking a national legally enforceable policy regarding care management of aggressive residents with dementia.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand