Category: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Ten people have been issued firearms licences despite being disqualified from holding one because of criminal convictions, a review has revealed.

Police say the mistake, which related to licences issued between December 2020 and October 2025, is “regretted and should not have happened”.

In 2019, following the Christchurch terror attack, police introduced a Quality Assurance Investigations Framework (QAIF) to provide oversight of the decisions taken after a firearms licence had been issued.

Then in 2020, the amended Arms Act expanded the reasons a person may be disqualified from holding a firearms licence. This included that individuals convicted for specified offences such as serious violence or drug offences, were disqualified from holding firearms licences for 10 years.

Do you know more? Email sam.sherwood@rnz.co.nz

A briefing to Minister of Police Mark Mitchell by police, in November, released to RNZ under the Official Information Act, revealed that in September last year the QAIF process identified a licence application had been accepted and processed despite the applicant having a conviction of a “disqualifying offence”.

“The licence was issued ten years after the applicant had been convicted but was 12 days short of the ten years from which the applicant had been granted parole. Technically this application should not have been accepted but given the proximity to completion of the ten-year period, the licence was issued.”

The Firearms Safety Authority (FSA) then looked at all firearms licence applications accepted and progressed between December 2020 and October 2025.

Of the 92,000 applications, 10 were incorrectly accepted and a licence issued while the applicant was disqualified.

“The offences that these 10 people were convicted of included cultivation of cannabis (four people), drug dealing (two people), multiple drug offences (one person), assault (one person), unlawful sexual connection (two people).”

Director of service delivery Matthew Boddy said in a statement to RNZ three of the people were now eligible to keep their licences because their convictions were more than 10 years old by the time the matter was identified.

“We immediately contacted the seven others, cancelling their licences, and ensured we received their physical licence cards. We required their firearms to be immediately transferred to lawful licence holders, and we verified this was done.

“Refunds were offered for the licence fee they had each paid and we apologised to them that a licence had been issued when they were ineligible. This error is regretted and should not have happened.”

Boddy said none of the licence holders came to the attention of police, or the firearms regulator, while holding incorrectly issued licences.

“Since this issue was identified, the Firearms Safety Authority have required all staff involved in the licensing process to undergo refresher training. Meanwhile, operational and policy documents have been updated with more explicit detail around identifying disqualifying offences.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

An Auckland woman says it felt like ‘winning the lottery’ when she learned her partner has been granted a visa to be at the birth of their baby.

Shantelle Neyra and Gurjeet Singh were desperate to be reunited in time for their baby girl to be born in three weeks’ time.

They applied before Christmas for his visitor visa, but found they were still being asked for more documents four months later.

Neyra got the good news in a call from her lawyer, two days after RNZ asked Immigration New Zealand what was causing the hold-up.

“It had been like the darkness before the dawn,” she said. “I just was profusely crying, like just joy, but in relief and in disbelief, like it’s actually happened. I’m about to have a baby and he can be here to see his baby born.”

Singh is also stepdad to Neyra’s children, and has spent months video calling them as she went through pregnancy alone.

“I’m just so happy. He’s happy. He cried. His mother cried. We’re just all crying. The kids were crying. It’s just like, you know, I’d equate it to winning the lottery. Like for me, this is like winning the jackpot. It’s honestly the best feeling I could think of.”

They met online and have met up in India and Bali over the last two years. Their daughter, Mira, is due to be induced two weeks after he arrives.

Neyra said her children had also been waiting for news, asking ‘when’s Dad coming?’

“They call him dad, he acts like a father, he functions like a father, he’s talking to them daily. He’s interacting with them, with their schooling, with everything. He’s missed the whole pregnancy. He’s missed the ultrasounds. He’s missed being there to support me when I’m sick.”

The uncertainty about his visitor visa had taken its toll, she added.

“It has definitely been a difficult time, particularly with my pregnancy and being diagnosed with gestational diabetes. The anxiety and high-risk nature of the pregnancy has been significantly impacted by the ongoing immigration situation.

“I understand the scrutiny that needs to be done in these instances, especially from particular countries. Like, that’s 100 per cent understandable, but there has to be some level of compassion when it comes to the evidence proving that we’ve had an ongoing relationship for a long time. We’ve known each other for a long time. We’ve met in person multiple times. We’ve been able to keep a long distance relationship going.”

Immigration New Zealand acknowledged how difficult the process could be.

“We appreciate that waiting on visa applications to be processed can be stressful, especially at this important and emotional time for the family,” said a spokeswoman. “It can take longer to assess a visa application based on the volume of applications we receive, whether we need more information or if it is complex.

“We have contacted the family’s representative, and the application has been approved.”

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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 Coroner has ruled a man was acting in self-defence, during a fracas that left one person dead in Northland five years ago.

Trevor Ruatoto, 28, was taken to Bay of Islands hospital in July 2021 with injuries to his left arm and the side of head.

He was left with security at the entrance, unresponsive, before being flown to Auckland Hospital where he died an hour later.

A Coroner’s finding has revealed details of what happened to him, and why no one was charged following his violent death.

Coroner Rachael Schmidt-McCleave said Ruatoto had been living in Northland at the time with his partner and three children.

He had recently move back to live with his mother.

Ruatoto and two others had visited a property to smoke cannabis on the afternoon of 9 July before leaving.

The trio went and visited friends, travelling to an address on Te Tii Road between 2.30am and 3am on the next morning.

Coroner Schmidt-McCleave said police were unable to determine why the three men went to the Te Tii property, but suspected it was related to buying drugs, a debt owed or a planned confrontation with another man living at the address.

Shortly after they arrived, there was a fight between Ruatoto and a man at the property, Ash Rankin, the Coroner said.

Ruatoto was tackled by Rankin, sending him falling into a glass sliding door.

He was injured, and driven to hospital by the two men he had spent the previous afternoon with.

“Medical staff immediately attended to Mr Ruatoto as he did not have a pulse,” Schmidt-McCleave said.

“CPR was commenced and Mr Ruatoto was subsequently resuscitated, and air lifted to Auckland Hospital.”

Staff at Auckland Hospital performed CPR once again, but Ruatoto had suffered cardiac arrest and could not be revived.

He was pronounced dead just before 10am.

A post-mortem found the cause of his death was penetrating, sharp force injuries to the medial left arm near his elbow.

Methamphetamine and cannabis were also found in his blood.

Forensic pathologist Dr Charley Glenn concluded Ruatoto’s injuries were “very consistent with an accidental fall into a glass door”.

Police investigated Ruatoto’s death, determining Rankin was not criminally liable for what happened.

They said Rankin had acted in self-defence.

“Police found there was no evidence to suggest Mr Rankin intentionally acted to cause harm to Mr Ruatoto, or that the incident was premeditated,” the Coroner said.

“I am satisfied that the evidence before me establishes that Mr Ruatoto was involved in an altercation with Mr Rankin, which resulted in Mr Ruatoto accidentally falling through a glass sliding door and sustaining a fatal injury to his arm.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Just days after they were rounded up off the North Island’s central plateau, Kaimanawa horses are in training for their new homes and are warming up to human contact.

Every year a muster takes place to keep the number of wild horses, on Defence Force land near Waiouru, in check.

This year 58 are being rehomed from two musters late last month, and further homes are now being sought ahead of another muster next month.

Horses ‘engaged and connecting’

Kaimanawa Legacy Foundation founding board member Kelly Wilson has 16 of the 58 horses at her Taupō property.

Tuesday is their eighth day of training since they were rounded up in April’s musters.

“Fourteen of those have initiated first contact [with humans],” Wilson said.

“Several of them are already following us and crossing obstacles at liberty… They’re engaged and they’re connecting with us.

“Several have been touched and all across the country trainers have halted and leaded, and they are wearing rugs and having their first baths.”

This was a good sign ahead of June’s muster, which would focus on the same area of the central plateau.

The horses were high quality, with a good temperament, Wilson said.

“Quite a few of them will be here long term, because they’re either for myself or the trainers that base themselves here.

“Then 11 will move on to their clients. Their clients will come for a week of training at the end of May and then at the conclusion of that training they’ll take them home with them.”

The foundation and the Kaimanawa Heritage Horses Welfare Society are also trying to find homes for horses rounded up in June. It’s hoped another 91 horses can be moved into new homes.

Wilson said cost-of-living pressures and the Iran war put a dampener on interest ahead of the April musters, but there were positive signs ahead of the next one.

“The degree of stress isn’t there as much. From the initial announcing of the rehoming in June, there has been more interest than I would have expected – definitely more interest than what we were getting for the April muster.

“Hopefully we can get a decent number of horses out of the mountains.”

‘Not like mustering cattle’

In the April musters, 97 mares were also given doses of a contraceptive vaccine, first trailed in 2022. More of these will be given in the June muster.

Department of Conservation project lead Sarah Tunnicliffe said the musters involved intricate work.

“It’s quite an operation to see and be part of because there’s lots of moving parts,” she said.

“We usually have three helicopters that are mustering the horses from out in the ranges.

“It’s not like mustering cattle. You can’t put them in one big herd and bring them all in together. They come in in dribs and drabs.”

The horses were directed to yards.

“Once they’re in the yards, then it’s the stockmen’s responsibility to push them through the yards, allowing the stockmen and the vet to draft them up into their age and sex group.”

From there some are loaded on to transport so they can begin training, while others are given the contraceptive vaccine.

Herd size manageable – DOC

The horses trace their origin back to the 1870s.

DOC says they would ideally number about 300, to maintain their genetic diversity and minimise the effect on sensitive ecosystems.

But that was more of a “magic” figure and the herd’s current size was manageable, Tunnicliffe said.

“[It’s] about 520, so we’re above what we aim for, but this year, with the double muster we’ve just done and then another muster coming up in June, we’re trying to get those numbers back down to a more sustainable level.

“Plus, we’re using immunocontraception as a tool to do that.”

That would happen armed with new knowledge.

“There’s been new studies come out which have shown that you can give the vaccine in a short turnaround, so that’s why we’re able to give the horses that have had their first dose just last week their second dose in June, which is really helpful.”

Wilson said the horses were perfect for rehoming.

“They’re better trained than most domestic horses of the same age, so they are catching in a paddock. They travel on trucks and floats.

“They’ll drive half an hour to the National Equestrian Centre and go for a two-hour adventure through the forest and the water jumps and crossing obstacles.

“They walk and drop beside the shoulder and they’re just really well-rounded, brave, confident horses that genuinely like people.”

There was originally some doubt about this year’s musters due to funding concerns.

Each muster cost between $80,000 and $130,000.

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