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Source: Radio New Zealand

The man who murdered Gurjit Singh at his Dunedin home will be sentenced on Wednesday.

Singh, 27, was found dead on the lawn of the property in January in 2024 after being stabbed more than 40 times.

His 35-year-old killer, known only as Rajinder, was found guilty of murder following a High Court jury trial last year.

During the trial, the Crown said Rajinder left DNA evidence at the scene and lied to police, while Rajinder’s defence lawyer called the evidence flawed and said his client had no motive for murdering his former employee.

Prosecutor Richard Smith said the case was not “rocket science”, with Rajinder’s blood and hair found at the scene, his hair in Singh’s hands, and evidence he had searched for a route to Singh’s house on the night of the murder despite telling police that he did not know where he lived.

Defence lawyer Anne Stevens KC said Rajinder had volunteered to be medically examined and consistently denied murdering Singh, saying DNA presented a degree of likelihood, not a guarantee.

A complicated love triangle was aired during the trial involving Singh, his widow Kamaljeet Kaur and Rajinder.

Smith said Kaur rejected Rajinder’s marriage proposal through a broker in 2022 before marrying Singh the following year, and Singh had also rejected Rajinder’s plan to marry his sister.

He said both rejections were motive for murder, with the killing happening shortly before Kaur was due to arrive from India to live with Singh.

Stevens called the argument a Crown “fantasy”, saying Rajinder was not upset to find out she had married Singh and it was instead Kaur’s family who approached his family twice to pursue a marriage.

She said he had been happily married since January 2023.

Smith said Rajinder lied to police about how he cut his hand, initially suggesting he had a chainsaw accident before changing his story to a bike crash, despite a doctor suggesting the wound was inconsistent with a fall onto gravel.

Instead, he suggested Singh had tried to defend himself and Rajinder had cut himself during the pursuit.

Smith said Rajinder bought a “murder kit” including gloves from Bunnings and a knife and neck gaiter from Hunting and Fishing the day before the murder but did not tell police about the purchases.

Stevens said it did not make sense for her client to buy the items using his own bank account, suggesting they were bought for his work as a fibre-optic cable technician.

In summing up, Justice Dunningham said there was no dispute that Singh was violently attacked but the jury needed to decide whether Rajinder was responsible.

‘He was living a good life’

After the jury’s guilty verdict Singh’s father Nishan Singh said he hoped Rajinder would be jailed for life after ruining their lives.

Through a translator, he said he believed Rajinder might have been motivated by his son’s wife rejecting an earlier marriage proposal.

“He has ruined not just our lives but his family life as well. I just hope he someday he confesses why he did it and that will give me more peace in life,” he said.

His son was hardworking and had been supporting his family, he said.

“He was living a good life.”

A deadly night

On the night he died, Gurjit Singh was hanging out with friends at a pizza party in Helensburgh.

His friends told the court he was in good spirits because his wife would soon be arriving from India to live with him.

They last saw him alive when he left about 10:30pm.

The next morning Dhruval Aery checked on Singh after receiving panicked messages from a mutual friend, arriving to find his unresponsive and bloodied body on the lawn.

Police videos from the murder scene showed signs of a violent struggle inside, with a large broken window and blood stains on the ground, hand rail, furniture and wall.

Singh’s widow Kamaljeet Kaur was preparing to move to Dunedin when she was told her husband had been murdered.

Almost 80 police staff were involved in the murder investigation.

Wife pleads guilty day before sentencing

On Tuesday Rajinder’s wife Gurpreet Kaur admitted getting rid of evidence in the murder investigation.

Evidence of her involvement was suppressed during the trial until she pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice at the High Court.

She admitted hiding her husband’s shoes in a bathroom bin after police visited her workplace and told her Rajinder was being charged.

Tiny fragments of glass consistent with a shattered window from the murder scene were found on the shoes.

Gurpreet Kaur will be sentenced in July.

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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 Defence Lawyers’ Association does not believe the Crown has the evidence to pursue a retrial of David Tamihere.

Tamihere was convicted in 1990 of killing Swedish tourists Urban Höglin and Heidi Paakkonen on the Coromandel Peninsula.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court quashed the convictions and directed a retrial – a decision that rests with the Crown.

The court found there was a fundamental error in Tamihere’s 1990 trial which made it unfair – and the Crown case had changed so “radically” since then that it had not actually been tested by a jury.

Te Matakahi co-chair and criminal barrister Elizabeth Hall did not believe there was public appetite for a retrial.

“Will the Crown retry Mr Tamihere? I’m willing to bet if there was a public vote on whether that should happen the answer would be a resounding ‘no’.

“Mr Tamihere has paid a very high price, personal price, for our justice system getting something wrong.”

She said the Crown was obliged, however, to consider whether it should try the case again.

“That involves a thorough consideration of the available evidence, the prospects of the prosecution being successful but also really strong consideration of … public interest.

“So, is it in the public interest that a retrial be brought after all of this time? And there are very strong arguments that could be made that the evidence that the Crown would have available to them simply isn’t enough to even get over that first hurdle, nevermind considering whether there are … public interest considerations.”

Hall said if the Crown decided against a retrial, Tamihere had a strong claim to compensation – however, his chance of success was remote.

“Most people who are wrongfully convicted – certainly my clients who come to me and say, ‘Now what? What about compensation?’.

“The reality is you tell them that compensation is almost impossible to achieve in New Zealand.”

Hall said she could count on one had the number of people who had had successful compensation claims.

“Obviously Mr Tamihere would have very strong grounds and … if there is no retrial and he has essentilly been acquitted, and paid that very high price of being wrongfully convicted following an unfair trial – it would be difficult I think to see how he could not be compensated.

“But don’t forget compensation is money, it does not bring back the life he has spent behind bars.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Hospital admissions for sepsis have risen steeply in the past 20 years, with new research showing infants, people over 70, Māori and Pacific peoples and those living in areas of high deprivation more at risk.

Sepsis is an acute, life-threatening condition that happens when the body’s immune system has an extreme response to an infection, damaging the tissues and organs.

Globally it was estimated to be responsible for one in three deaths, with more than 166 million cases reported in 2021, and in New Zealand, it was responsible for almost five percent of all deaths – nearly four times as many as car accidents.

The research from the University of Otago, Wellington, titled “Temporal trends in sepsis hospitalisations and mortality in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2000-2019” and published in The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific, found hospitalisation rates increased by 78 percent between 2000 and 2019.

There were 217 admissions per 100,000 people in 2000, which increased to 386 admissions per 100,000 people in 2019.

Māori and Pacific peoples were 1.7 and 2.3 times respectively more likely to be hospitalised with sepsis than those of non-Māori, Pacific or Asian descent, and more than one-and-a-half times more likely to die of the condition.

Patients living in areas of high socioeconomic deprivation were twice as likely to die from it than those in the areas of least deprivation.

Lead author Sharla McTavish, a Tangata Tiriti PhD student from the Department of Public Health, said the study was the first to report long-term epidemiological trends for all public hospital admissions for sepsis in Aotearoa.

Sepsis had a large impact on health and wellbeing, she said – in total, it caused about 260,000 hospitalisations and 27,400 deaths over the two decades.

The number of hospitalisations had increased significantly year-on-year, but the number of deaths had remained comparatively stable, with survival rates improving markedly, particularly for those aged over 70, she said.

But she said cases were likely to continue to rise as the population aged and the number of people living with chronic conditions, such as diabetes, increased.

“People living with multiple long-term health conditions are at higher risk of developing sepsis, and where this is combined with inequalities, such as household overcrowding, the risk increases even more.”

Otago public health Professor Michael Baker, another of the study’s authors, said taking action to prevent the condition should be high on the government’s list of priorities.

“Many cases and deaths from sepsis are preventable, but we need to use all the public health measures we have to combat the toll it is taking on New Zealand families.”

Health NZ has been approached for comment.

Sepsis Trust NZ founding trustee Dr Paul Huggan said sepsis created a significant burden for the healthcare system.

“Around one in five sepsis patients require intensive or high dependency care, yet only half receive treatment within the recommended three-hour window, which is well below global best practice, and is putting lives at risk,” he said.

“We have strong international evidence which shows investing in early recognition and prevention will reduce hospital stays, ease pressure and costs on ICU and our ACC system, and deliver strong economic returns.”

HNZ’s national chief quality and patient safety officer, Dr Sarah Jackson, said the agency would read this study with interest and welcomed the opportunity to explore its findings further with Dr Huggan.

The agency recognised that sepsis was a life-threatening condition that could appear suddenly, with signs that were subtle and often under recognised. “New Zealanders can be assured we treat it with the seriousness it demands.”

Sepsis Trust NZ chief executive Ally Hossain said progress was being held back by a lack of coordinated action, and a national sepsis action plan was needed.

“This plan must address sepsis prevention, early recognition and treatment, the careful use of antibiotics and wider public health surveillance, as well as providing equitable and effective wraparound support for sepsis survivors, particularly in the first 12 months following hospital discharge,” she said.

She said New Zealand was already falling behind comparable countries, and it was costing lives.

“We know that millions of dollars would be saved within even the first 12 to 24 months of the action plan’s implementation, let alone the number of deaths it would prevent.”

Cancer and surgical patients were most at risk, she said, so improving their outcomes could reduce hospital stays and lessen pressures on ICUs.

In 2017, the 70th World Health Assembly asked countries to adopt prevention, diagnosis and management of sepsis a priority, and develop a national action plan by 2030. “Comparable countries”, including Australia, Switzerland, parts of Canada, the UK, Belgium, Ireland, and the USA, had already adopted them.

The trust had created resources for use in hospitals to help staff recognise sepsis early, and choose the right treatment. “But as it stands at the moment, this has not been implemented nationwide.”

Hossain said after meeting with the health minister Simeon Brown late last year, he had sent a letter saying he had passed on the trust’s requests to HNZ for consideration, and Hossain said frontline clinicians had been very supportive.

A spokesperson for Simeon Brown’s office said the government was focused on prevention and improving health outcomes for all New Zealanders, including for conditions like sepsis, and encouraged health agencies and stakeholders to work together to strengthen coordination.

HNZ’s Dr Sarah Jackson said consideration of a national sepsis action plan was ongoing.

She said the agency endorsed sepsis pathways and e-learning developed by the Health Quality and Safety Commission and Safety New Zealand, and was developing a national empiric antimicrobial guideline to improve the efficiency and consistency of the use of antimicrobials, which are used to treat sepsis.

“The implementation of e-vitals across hospitals will also help with early recognition of sepsis and response to acute deterioration. This system identifies patients whose condition worsens due to severe infections and sepsis, which triggers a clinical graded response, to bring urgent care quickly to the sickest patients.”

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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 West Coast polytechnic Tai Poutini will become a campus of the Open Polytechnic next year.

The institute is among the last four polytechnics remaining in super-institute Te Pūkenga.

Vocational Education Minister Penny Simmonds said the other three, Northtec in Northland, the Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki and the joint Wellington region institute Weltec and Whitireia, would become stand-alone institutes from 1 January.

However, they would be placed in a federation with the Open Polytechnic aimed at supporting institutes that were relatively weak financially.

Simmonds said the changes were aimed at creating a strong network of regional-led polytechnics.

“This is a major milestone in rebuilding a vocational education system that is locally led, financially sustainable, and focused on delivering the skills New Zealand’s regions need,” she said.

“It means training can better reflect the needs of local employers, support key industries, and ensure vocational education delivery aligns with workforce demand.”

Open Polytechnic chief executive Sharon Cooke said Tai Poutini would become a regional campus within the polytechnic.

She said it would provide face-to-face learning with the Open Polytechnic’s online and blended-delivery courses.

“This model allows us to bring the best of both worlds – local delivery where it matters most, supported by national scale and expertise,” she said.

She said the change would ensure polytechnic courses continued on the South Island’s West Coast.

Ten other polytechnics became independent institutions at the start of this year.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A grand old dame who survived World War I and emigrated from Europe to New Zealand with a Kiwi solider has made a surprise visit to Te Papa to see an exhibition which tells her story.

Torty the tortoise is well over a hundred years old and had been taken care of by three generations of the same family.

She was brought to New Zealand by Stewart Little, a stretcher bearer who cared for her in Greece after she was run over by a French gun cart. He shipped her home in his rucksack in 1916.

After Stewart Little died, Torty was cared for by his son and daughter-in-law. After their deaths, Little’s late grandson and his wife Christine Little took on caring duties.

On Monday, Christine Little took Torty on an impromptu visit to see Te Papa’s Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War exhibition, which featured a replica of the tortoise.

“We thought we would just pop into Te Papa and see if we could grab a photo with her replica. But she caused quite a sensation, and the next thing we had many staff and lots of members of the public very interested to meet her.”

Torty’s story began when Stewart Little spotted her run over on a road. Christine Little said he was not expecting the animal to survive, so was surprised to see this resilient little tortoise had stood up and was carrying on trying to walk, despite her quite serious injuries.

“And given that obviously he was a man of kindness and compassion, being part of the medical corps, he picked her up and looked after her. I mean, she was, after all, wounded in the war.”

Christine Little’s husband was one of Stewart Little’s grandchildren and she said Torty once lived with Christine Little’s mother-in-law in her rest home.

“It is a complete family affair.”

If Torty could talk, Christine Little thinks she might want to thank Stewart Little for the kindness he showed lifting her out of the mud that day in Greece.

“And I guess that she would have some pretty horrible stories about what she saw during that time in the war. She’s also had a number of adventures along the way, like being stolen in the 1930s and turning up in a circus in Dunedin!”

Now well into older age, Torty still makes school visits and had her Te Papa outing but mostly her days were spent with a regular routine of waking about 8am, eating and sleeping and then bed at 5pm.

“She’ll wander out onto my lawn. She lives out just in my backyard, which I’ve let grow, and it’s grown into a bit of a meadow. And she’ll graze. Just eat until she feels tired and ready for a nap, and then she’ll have a nap. And then she might wake up and have some more to eat, and that’s sort of how her day goes.”

In the next couple of weeks Torty would go into brumation and wake up in September. It’s not known how long she could live for, but the family had a plan for when she passes on.

“A number of years ago we had a discussion about this as a family. It has been decided that when it’s her time, she will come back to the Manawatū and she will be buried with Stewart and his wife, Maud.

“So that’s all been organised with the cemetery and it’s all good and that is what will happen.”

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