Category: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Man who defrauded $1.8 million of Covid-response funding jailed
• Fraudster says he wants to serve community as a priest
• First, he’ll serve two years and eight months behind bars
• Judge says offending a serious breach of trust

A former district health board employee who says he wanted to be priest is instead off to jail for fraudulently obtaining just more than $1.8 million of government Covid-19-response funding.

Alister Thorby said he gave some of the money to Māori wardens, but he also bought a property, vehicles, a motorhome and overseas travel.

The 28-year-old was arrested in July 2022 at Auckland Airport as he was about to leave New Zealand.

He said that was funded by a Lotto win, but his fraud was real as he double dipped on the taxpayer.

In the Palmerston North District Court today he was sentenced to two years and eight months in jail, as Judge Bruce Northwood declined defence lawyer Ron Mansfield KC’s plea for a sentence of home detention.

Thorby had previously admitted and was convicted on one charge of obtaining by deception.

Invoices for made up companies

The offending happened between March and June 2022.

Thorby was employed by the Capital and Coast and Hutt Valley district health boards between October 2021 and June 2022 to provide services, such as security and logistics, at MIQ sites.

Among the invoices he submitted were false ones under his company Moutoa Māori Wardens for security he never provided.

He also submitted invoices under the names of two made-up companies, Te Awahou Cleaning and Horowhenua Motorhome Rental, again for work he did not provide.

When he was arrested, he was heading to Brisbane, and claimed to be travelling with district health board staff.

Judge Northwood said Thorby had a long history of community work, including with Māori wardens, and was well thought of.

He aspired to be a Rātana and Catholic priest and to service his community through the priesthood.

However, there were inconsistencies raised in Thorby’s pre-sentence report from probation, although Mansfield said the probation officer was working from an old version of the summary of facts.

“You said you understood that the dishonestly obtained money had been repaid, but this of course is contradicted by a reparation report from the Crown,” the judge told Thorby.

Judge Northwood made a reparation order for the full defrauded amount.

Mansfield said about half of that had been frozen so would soon be released back to Health New Zealand.

Archbishop pleads for slap on hand

Judge Northwood gave Thorby discounts on his sentence for his guilty plea, remorse, previous good character and prospects of rehabilitation.

The judge said he read through impressive references.

“I’ve read of an interesting and varied carer both in the aviation and other areas. Clearly you’re a man of skill. Clearly you’re well thought of … It seems to me you’re well placed to put this offending behind you,” the judge told Thorby.

Among those references was one from an arch bishop, who urged the judge to give Thorby a slap on the hand and not limit his potential.

However, Judge Northwood said during the Covid-19 pandemic there was chaos and the government built a system to quickly get funds into the community that relied on trust.

Thorby betrayed that and swiftly came up with a plan to make money.

Mansfield had said the money didn’t go on a lavish lifestyle, but Judge Northwood disagreed.

The judge also said there was no proof he’d given money to the Māori wardens.

‘A sad day’

Mansfield noted the support Thorby had in court, and his great promise. However, he was presented with an opportunity he had exploited.

“This is a very sad day for Mr Thorby,” Mansfield said.

“It’s a significant fall from grace from a young man who was seen and treated as a leader in the community.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Children’s Ministry has signalled it may run another boot camp for young offenders before a law change kicks in next year.

Legislation is before Parliament to give judges the sentencing option of a military-style academy for the first time for repeat serious offenders.

The first pilot boot camp last year was with volunteers.

Reviews have found it had some success, but could have been better.

The academies occupied a large part of Oranga Tamariki’s appearance at a scrutiny week committee hearing at Parliament on Tuesday.

The ministry’s national operations manager, Janet Mays, told MPs they were planning now so they could run the next one “as soon as practical” because the camps were an important therapeutic option.

“We are giving some thought to perhaps another programme in advance of the legislation next year, if that timing were to fall into place,” Mays said.

Training was now going on with that in mind.

Earlier, when asked by Labour MP Willow-Jean Prime if March was when the next camp would run, Children’s Minister Karen Chhour said no date had been set.

Chief social worker Nicolette Dickson said it was possible they would run another programme in a youth justice residence ahead of and to prepare for the legislative changes. That related not just to military-style academies, but allowed the likes of extended residential orders and extended supervision orders in the community.

“This is more than just testing the single order in the proposed legislation, it’s testing our entire approach to some of the different orders in front of us as well.”

Prime said she would use the word “experimenting” in place of “testing”, and asked if the next one would need volunteers if the law had not been changed, and if this was the best use of $30 million in Budget 2025.

Dickson said the pilot review had led to wider changes such as more programmes in all residences, more therapeutic work and a current review of healthcare in them all.

“They haven’t been in place and we have to build them,” she said

Mays said they were learning from the pilot to make the next camp a “more tailored” response, and in addition a new whānau programme would run alongside the camp.

Earlier, Chhour said six young people from the first boot camp, some of whom reoffended, were now out in the community and had not reoffended.

It also made a difference to the boys’ whānau.

“There were 29 siblings of these young people. And we’ve got in front of those 29 siblings, their whānau, their parents, and supported them in what they need so they don’t go down that same pathway, because there is that risk,” Chhour told the Social Services and Community committee.

Greens MP Kahurangi Carter asked if the ministry had analysed if boot camps had better outcomes than community initiatives, such as one that was cut at a marae that lost a million dollars of OT funding.

Earlier, she had questioned whether cuts in community funding by the ministry of $160m last year were linked to a 44 percent rise in ‘reports of concern’ to OT. Chhour rejected this, saying it reflected other government agencies making more reports than before to OT about children.

Chief executive Andrew Bridgman responded to Carter that there was a whole range of programmes and it was difficult to make comparisons.

Dickson said it was not a case of either/or but of “and and and”. The military-style academies worked for “some” young people but were only a part of offerings.

Mays said she would not work in any programme that abused young people.

“The term boot camp is extremely emotive… the programme we are offering these young people could not be further removed from things that we read about in the Royal Commission into abuse in care.”

Thebig rise in reports of concern to almost 100,000 in 2024-25 sparked questions from Labour MP Helen White about whether the goalposts had been moved, and concern that a target of intervening in urgent cases within 24 hours was not being met.

White said a constituent had told her about reporting on a girl hung out of a window by her mother that was not treated as urgent, and that there was way less transparency around less urgent case numbers.

Chhour said there was no evidence of reports being put into non-urgent categories when they should not be.

She added a trial was running for non-urgent cases to be sent to community partners for follow-up rather than by the ministry.

“It might not be high need now but if it’s ignored it will be high need.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The man accused of murdering Dunedin’s Gurjit Singh lied to police and left DNA evidence at the scene, the Crown has alleged.

The man, known only as Rajinder, is on trial at the High Court for murdering Singh, who was found dead on the lawn of his home in January last year after being stabbed more than 40 times.

Rajinder’s defence lawyer maintained his client had no reason to kill Singh and there was no animosity between the men.

In closing arguments, prosecutor Richard Smith said the jury could not be left with any uncertainty about his guilt.

He said a forensic expert had testified that blood samples taken in and around Singh’s home were 500,000 million times more likely to be Rajinder’s than a random person.

“His blood and hair in the scene. His hair in the victim’s hands, his injury and the thumb of the glove left at the scene. Him buying a murder kit. Him saying he didn’t even know where the victim lived yet here he is searching out a route to the victim’s house on the night of the murder,” he said.

“Apply your common sense, it’s not rocket science.”

Rajinder lied to police about how he cut his hand, changing his story from a chainsaw accident to a bike crash, Smith said.

Smith said the wound was instead consistent with a sharp object like a knife or glass, not the sharp rock Rajinder claimed was to blame when he tried to pop a wheelie on his bike and the front tyre came off.

A doctor had raised serious doubts about the wound, saying there was no grazing, no bruising and no abrasions from an apparent fall onto gravel, he said.

Smith said Rajinder again lied to the police when he was asked about other injuries and did not refer to “impressive bruising” on his abdomen and bruising on his hip.

The violent attack happened shortly before Singh’s wife was due to arrive from India to live with him – the same woman who rejected a proposal from Rajinder.

Smith said that rejection, as well as Singh rejecting Rajinder’s plan to marry his sister, was motive for murder.

Smith described the attack as brutal and violent, saying the person who committed the murder knew him and was determined to kill him, chasing him out of his own home.

Rajinder bought gloves from Bunnings and a knife and neck gaiter from Hunting and Fishing the day before the murder but did not tell police during his interview, he said.

Smith said the thumb of the glove was found at the scene, where it appeared to have been detached during the attack.

He said Rajinder also lied when he told police that he did not know when Singh lived, despite searching multiple times for the man’s address on his phone about a month before the attack and again that night.

The search included plotting out directions to Singh’s house that went along back roads where he would be less likely to be seen, he said.

Rajinder told police that he always took his wife to Mosgiel for driving lessons but Smith said her phone only showed her going there on the day before and on the day of Singh’s death.

Instead of a late driving lesson, the Crown suggested he went there to create an alibi or dispose of evidence after murdering Gurjit Singh.

The defence would deliver its closing remarks on Tuesday afternoon.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The principal of a school which served up a contaminated meal from the government’s free school lunches programmes says she’s hurt by David Seymour’s comments against her.

The School Lunch Collective told RNZ it was investigating a “food quality issue” after mouldy mince was served up to students at Haeata Community Campus on Monday.

The Collective represents Compass Group, which was contracted to provide government-funded lunches for the Christchurch school.

David Seymour, who is the Associate Education Minister, spoke to First Up about the lunches on Tuesday morning, and accused the school’s principal Peggy Burrows, of being a “media frequent flyer”.

“It will be investigated but I also note this particular principal is a frequent flyer in the media complaining about quite a range of government policies… I think people need that context.”

In response, Burrows said she refused to get involved in a public stoush but added: “I am an educationist, not a politician. I am here to advocate for this community”.

“I must admit I was a little bit hurt to be described in that matter from a person who holds a significant portfolio in education and is, at the moment, the deputy prime minister,” she said.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met Mr Seymour personally or had a conversation with him.”

MPI involved

The Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI), confirmed it would carry out checks of lunches at the school on Tuesday.

Food safety said it was working with the Ministry of Education and the National Public Health Service to establish the facts.

It said there was no evidence of any wider food safety issue at this stage.

Child unwell

The mother of a girl who ate one of the mouldy lunches said shew as “appalled” by the situation and her daughter was now unwell.

Rebecca Mckenzie, told Morning Report, her 12-year-old daughter Aurora, ate one of the meals on Monday and was now unwell.

“She is not looking good at the moment. She has a very queasy tummy and a temperature of 39, looking really quite sick, I’ll be ringing my doctor once it’s open.”

Mckenzie said her daughter had eaten just over half of the meal before throwing it out.

“She said her one didn’t look mouldy but it tasted very disgusting. She said it looked very undercooked which is quite normal with what they get served there.

“We rely on these meals and to have this is absolutely appalling, but unfortunately David Seymour wanted to cut the budget back and give us these not so nice meals.”

Earlier this year, the principal of the Christchurch school asked to get out of a contract with Compass Group following several weeks of problems and “disappointing” service, but this was denied by the government.

Compass Group was not included on a list of providers chosen by the government to provide school lunches in 2026.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police will be auditing internet usage of the most senior police officers in the country over the last 12 months, starting with the Police Commissioner, RNZ can reveal.

It comes as Commissioner Richard Chambers says he’s asked for a “closer look” at the Independent Police Conduct Authority’s (IPCA) scathing report released last month to see whether there’s anything from a “criminal liability perspective”.

Chambers sat down with RNZ on Tuesday to discuss his first-year in the job.

RNZ recently reported that 17 staff are under investigation in relation to “misuse and inappropriate content”. Three of the staff are facing criminal investigations.

It follows an audit of staff internet usage sparked by the resignation of former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming, who recently pleaded guilty to possessing objectionable publications, including child sexual exploitation and bestiality over a four-year period.

Asked about the number of staff under investigation, Chambers said it was “disappointing, and it falls well short of expectations”.

“We have a code of conduct for a reason. If any of that behaviour is found to be criminal, we’ll take action. But those audits came about because I decided that we needed to put in place systems and processes and audits to ensure that we identified any inappropriate behaviour.”

Chambers referenced one of the recommendations in the IPCA report, which was to “sustain the good progress” on implementing recommendations from the rapid review into police information security controls and implement a practice of auditing the systems’ use by those officers being considered for promotion to the ranks of, at least, superintendent and above as well as staff with security clearances.

Chambers said he was going “one step further”.

“As an executive leadership team recently, we decided that actually we’re going to step beyond the people that are applying for promotional opportunities, and we’re going to have a look anyway.

“So, one of the things that we have decided to do, and I’ve communicated this out, is that for Deputy Commissioner, Assistant Commissioner, District Commanders and Directors, we are going to have a look at internet access over the last 12 months, because that’s the right thing to do. We have to be confident that at the senior levels of the organisation, Superintendent and above that, there’s nothing to see here, nothing untoward.”

Chambers said police were prioritising the checks.

“So, I’ve said you can start with me, and then those that are in the process to apply for other leadership roles, which we’ve had recently, Assistant Commissioner and also District Commander roles advertise so applicants for those senior roles.

“We are running checks now and then I’m hopeful, probably after Christmas, we will get the capacity to run the rest through whether they are sworn superintendent or civilian equivalents, and above. We will run them all through as quickly as we can.”

The IPCA concluded that once a decision was made in October 2024 to launch a proper investigation into allegations of sexual offending by McSkimming ,senior officers, including former Commissioner Andrew Coster, “attempted to shape its approach so as to bring it to a rapid and premature conclusion”.

They did not find any “collusion”, rather a “consistent pattern of behaviour driven by a common mindset and perspective”.

This, the IPCA said, were concerns that it could end with “unjustified victimisation of the Deputy Commissioner”.

Asked whether there needed to be further investigations into the conduct of the senior staff members, Chambers said he had asked a Detective Superintendent to take a “close look” at the IPCA report and provide advice on whether or not there there was any matter “that needs to be looked at from a criminal liability perspective”.

“Anything that’s remotely appears to be criminal offending is serious, but it may or may not be the case, but I need to let some of my most senior investigators who are very, very good at what they do, let them do their job and provide advice to me, which I will then take on board,” he said.

“It’s how close is some of that activity that we know through the investigations and the IPCA report, how close is some of that activity potential judicial processes that’s what we’ll look at and I’ll let my investigators do their job and then provide guidance to me.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand