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Source: Radio New Zealand

St Bede’s College is carrying out an investigation following revelations it was told of allegations of sexual offending by a priest nearly 20 years before he was convicted of abuse at the school.

The rector says he would be “appalled” if there was inaction and any failure to respond appropriately.

RNZ earlier revealed Rowan Donoghue had admitted six charges including indecent assault on a boy aged 12-16, indecent assault on a boy 16 and over and sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection. He is awaiting sentencing.

The offending related to four boys who were boarding at St Bede’s College in Christchurch between 1996 and 2000.

Since then, RNZ has revealed that Donoghue admitted sexual abuse to leaders of his religious order, the Society of Mary, in 2007. However, he was unable to identify the anonymous complainant and instead of notifying police, the order sent him to Australia for a six month-programme that provided “professional risk assessment and therapy” for people accused of sexual abuse.

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

In a statement to RNZ, St Bede’s College rector Jon McDowall said it was brought to his attention by police in recent weeks that the college had previously been notified of concerns relating to Donoghue.

“On learning this, I immediately took steps to establish clearly what was known by the school, when it was known, and how it was handled. I was not in this role at the time, and records from that period are limited. This work is ongoing; I am committed to gaining as much clarity as possible and doing so with care and integrity.

“I will say again, if there was inaction, and any failure to respond appropriately, then I am appalled. My thoughts remain with the victims and survivors who continue to live with the impact of this harm.”

In response to questions from RNZ earlier this week, McDowall confirmed the school had been notified nearly 20 years ago of allegations involving Donoghue.

“As Rector, I have been made aware in recent weeks of further historical information indicating that, in the mid-2000s, College leadership was advised that an anonymous complaint of a sexual nature relating to Fr Donoghue had been made to the Society of Mary, and that he was subsequently withdrawn from ministry.

“Fr Donoghue had not worked at the College since 2000. The information conveyed to the College at that time was informal and verbal, there is no written record held by the College, and the matter was understood to be managed by the Society of Mary.”

McDowall said the details of the case were “deeply distressing”.

“My thoughts are with the victims and survivors who continue to live with the impact of that harm. Abuse has no place at St Bede’s – past, present, or future – and I continue to invite anyone who is impacted by this matter, or who has concerns, to contact me directly.”

He said that after being formally notified by police of allegations relating to Donoghue, the College took “immediate steps” to locate any relevant information it might still hold and had worked openly with police throughout.

A Society of Mary spokesperson has also confirmed that while Donoghue could not identify the complainant in 2007, he was “certain” they were from St Bede’s College.

“No year was specified, but he was at St Bede’s from 1993-2000, The Society of Mary leader at the time advised schools with which Donoghue had been associated that he had been withdrawn from ministry.”

The spokesperson said two schools were told of the allegations.

“Our records show that the schools were told that Donoghue was withdrawn from ministry immediately. To the best of our knowledge, and cognisant of the policy and practice of the SM leadership at the time, we are confident the reason would have been made very clear.”

The spokesperson said the Society was not aware of the allegations to which Fr Dongohue pleaded guilty until police laid charges.

“At the time of the initial complaint the Society made strenuous efforts over many months to encourage the complainant to contact the Police.

“As reported by RNZ previously, our first thoughts have always been with Donoghue’s victims and their families. We deeply regret the hurt and harm caused. We extend our sincere apologies to them, and will seek to provide appropriate support when they decide the time is right.”

The anonymous complaint

A Society of Mary spokesperson earlier told RNZ a complaint alleging offending by Donoghue was received by the priest via an anonymous Hotmail account in October 2007.

“He advised Society of Mary administration and in a conversation with leaders of the Society of Mary, Donoghue admitted that he was guilty of abuse but could not identify the complainant.

“He was removed from his ministry as a priest immediately. This permanent removal from ministry and subsequent ongoing monitoring has continued to the present day.”

The spokesperson said the society reached out to the anonymous emailer “encouraging him to identify himself” and make a complaint to the police so the matter might be properly investigated, and so that he might receive appropriate support.

“Donoghue was sent for a six-month programme to Encompass, an institute in Australia that provided professional risk assessment and therapy for those accused of sexual abuse.”

Detective Senior Sergeant Karen Simmons earlier told RNZ police were unable to comment on processes of other organisations and their decision making and whether they decide to call the police but that police encouraged people to do so if they have information they believe could be relevant to any investigation or suspected offending.

In response to earlier questions from RNZ, a Teaching Council spokesperson said in general, the council did not comment on complaints or mandatory reports to the council.

“However, given the level of public interest, we can confirm that we have been working closely with New Zealand Police since early 2025 in support of their investigation into offending by Mr Donoghue.

“The legal requirement for mandatory reporting to the New Zealand Teachers Council (now the Teaching Council) relating to the dismissal, resignation under investigation, serious misconduct, competence concerns, or specified convictions of teachers was first inserted into the Education Act 1989 by the Education Standards Act 2001 to protect the safety of children and young people in our education system.”

Now the criminal process had concluded, the council’s professional disciplinary process would resume.

“This process will include consideration of whether obligations have been met to report conduct or competence concerns to the council that were known at the time, and appropriate action depending on the findings.”

Asked who the disciplinary process would look at, the spokesperson said the council would “into the actions of everyone involved”.

“We are committed to ensuring the safety of children and young people and the quality of teaching in our education system, and we encourage anyone who has concerns about the conduct or competence of a formally registered teacher to reach out to us.”

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Sexual Violence

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Breaker Bay local with a long history of fighting for clean water in Wellington explains why the sewage dump is so catastrophic, for health, history, and the environment.

Ray Ahipene-Mercer keeps a jar of 24-year-old water in his refrigerator, labelled ‘Moa Point Final Effluent’.

“It looks like a glass of water, hasn’t got a single bug in it, no discolouration, nothing,” he says.

It is a memento of the new sewage plant which he battled over for years as the co-leader of the Wellington Clean Water Campaign.

But nearly 30 years after that successful campaign to stop the dumping of raw sewage in the sea, it is happening again.

Since last Wednesday, more than 600 million litres of untreated sewage have poured into the water off the south coast after a catastrophic failure of Moa Point, the city’s main treatment plant.

On a sparkling summer day Ahipene-Mercer looks out from his Breaker Bay home just around the corner from the plant and the bays are empty.

“I’m looking at the water about 50 metres away, it’s beautiful and yet underneath it there is this darkness. There is not a person walking the dog, having a walk, swimming, surfing, nothing,” he tells The Detail.

The former city councillor is angry, not just about the health risks to humans, but the damage to the environment and risks to the kororā, and to historic Māori sites.

“Toilet water is now brushing up against historic sites at Tarakina Bay. One of the reasons this campaign in the 80s was so successful, we married Māori concerns and Pākehā concerns together and that’s why we won that campaign,” Ahipene-Mercer says.

“I’m very angry, because of all this work we did. It’s not in vain however because Wellingtonians have responded magnificently.”

The plant failed early last Wednesday morning during a bout of heavy rain. With the threat of more bad weather this weekend, there are fears the situation could get worse.

‘It’s going to get smellier’

The Post journalist Tom Hunt has been writing about Wellington’s wastewater woes for years and is experiencing first-hand the effects of days of raw sewage flowing into the sea.

“It gets worse the longer it’s there and it’s apparently going to get smellier as well,” he tells The Detail.

“I live not far from the tip and it was a still night last night and I could pick up a faint smell,” he says. “They’ve got these tanker trucks that Wellington’s quite familiar with because in covid time there was another pipe failure and they’d take the wastewater to the tip and they were called ‘turd taxis’. They’re just back and forth ferrying all the stuff out of the olympic-sized swimming pool room and just clearing that out and taking it to the tip.”

Wellington Water chief executive Pat Dougherty broke the news last Wednesday that a room in the plant was three metres deep in sewage, blowing the electrics and badly damaging or destroying equipment.

In the immediate aftermath raw sewage was flowing through a short outfall to five metres off the coast but it is now going through a longer 1.8 kilometre pipe.

“But it is still untreated sewage … and for the foreseeable future we will have effectively raw sewage being pumped off the south coast very near a marine sanctuary not far from a nesting area,” Hunt says.

It could be months before the sea on the south coast is safe for walking, swimming and collecting kaimoana.

It brings back memories for Hunt, who grew up around the south coast of the polluted waters in the 1980s.

“That was a different time when the south coast was not a desirable place to be.”

He says now they’re “back in that for a mystery reason, we still don’t know what caused it.”

Hunt explains the numerous reports of warnings and abatement notices issued to the operator, French-owned Veolia which is paid roughly $17 million a year by Wellington Water to run the plant.

He says it is too soon to say who is at fault and a full inquiry will impel people to give evidence.

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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 mother of a child who died after becoming caught in a window blind cord is asking how many other children have to die before mandatory safety regulations are introduced.

Courtney Cambie said her youngest daughter Tilly was a joy to be around.

“Tilly was your typical three-year-old, adventurous, loved climbing and adored her big sister Lainey. They were best friends. She loved dressing up and putting on different necklaces and bracelets and bangles, and was a very, sparkly, shiny little girl, and very happy.”

It was her then five-year-old sister Lainey who discovered Tilly hanging in the cords in the family’s lounge in Hāwera on 1 January 2023.

Tilly’s father Ryan Cambie began CPR and ambulance officers were able to revive her before she was taken to Waikato Hospital by helicopter, but her condition deteriorated and given her poor prognosis, she was taken off life support and died later that day surrounded by family.

Courtney Cambie said window cords should be designed to break under pressure and come with safety clips – which keep the cords under tension on the window frame.

Tilly – who had a history of playing with the cords – had left Lainey and her father watching a movie in the master bedroom when the accident occurred.

Cambie still wrestled with guilt over the tragedy.

“We were only supplied a YouTube clip to install ours. We were in that situation. If I could go back in time I would’ve done the lounge at the same time as I did her bedroom and it’s just one of those things where I have instant mother guilt that it didn’t happen.”

The couple installed clips for the cords in the bedroom on their own account – they did not come with the blinds – but had yet to do the lounge.

Cambie said the loss of Tilly was too raw for the couple to submit to a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment consultation document on “options to address safety risks of corded window coverings” which closed 31 March 2023.

The consultation followed the death of six New Zealand children due to cords on blinds since 2009.

The government of those times’ preferred option was to introduce mandatory standards.

Cambie said reading Coroner Bruce Hesketh’s report into Tilly’s death – which was released on Thursday – had been tough.

“To read that the coroner feels exactly the same towards the fact that this is something (regulation) that’s been in play in other countries for years and years and we’ve just not adopted it because we haven’t got the number, the cases.

“I agree completely with the coroner that Tilly is that case and it was something that should’ve been changed a long time ago.

“It’s sad that it probably won’t be until it’s someone in their family that is impacted by this that they understand the impact of it and I just feel if they don’t how many more children are they willing to sacrifice if they don’t make that change.”

Hesketh found Tilly’s death had been a tragic accident.

She suffered a non-survivable hypoxic brain injury due to accidental neck compression.

In his findings, Hesketh lent heavily on the previous recommendations of Coroner Mary-Anne Borrowdale and Coroner Heather McKenzie, who had investigated similar deaths.

In 2021, Borrowdale reported on the death of a 19-month-old child from accidental asphyxiation from a roman blind cord.

She noted that New Zealand differed from comparable major jurisdictions in having no product regulation designed to ensure the safe supply and use of corded blinds.

Although efforts to educate consumers about safety were laudable “the incidence of window cord fatalities in this country, and the availability of preventative devices, to my mind readily make the case for mandatory regulation to address the risks”, Borrowdale said.

Hesketh made no new recommendations, but noted the MBIE consulted on the safety risks of corded window coverings in 2023, but little change had been forthcoming.

“Sadly New Zealand still lacks mandatory regulations for corded window coverings, despite the number of deaths increasing. MBIE continues to consider the introduction of standards to prevent child strangulation deaths from the options above and I would encourage MBIE to make progress sooner rather than later.”

There have been two further deaths since the consultation period in ended in March 2023, one of which was Tilly.

MBIE general manager commerce, consumer and business policy Andrew Hume acknowledged the tragic death of Tilly.

“My deepest sympathies are with the family and friends.”

Hume confirmed MBIE had consulted on options to address safety risks of corded window coverings in 2023.

“Our role is to provide advice and options for product safety regulation to the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister. At this stage, the government is not considering introducing regulations for corded window coverings.”

Hume said non-regulatory options to improve safety, such as public information and education campaigns, played an important role in increasing awareness for parents and caregivers and that since Coroner Borrowdale’s report in 2021, MBIE had taken a number of steps to address safety issues with corded window coverings.

“In light of this tragic event, MBIE strongly encourages anyone with corded window blinds to inspect them, review the material on our website and take action where necessary to minimise the risk of corded blinds becoming a danger in the home.”

Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Scott Simpson also offered his thoughts and sympathies to Tilly’s family.

“I will consider the Coroner’s report, however I am not currently looking to introduce regulations.”

Simpson said education campaigns played an important role in increasing awareness about the risks associated with corded blinds and MBIE runs had developed information for businesses to make corded blinds safer.

That was of little comfort to Cambie who wanted New Zealand to adopt similar standards to Australia.

“Option 4a was to adopt exactly as Australia has and make sure the cords break free under pressure. So, the cords we had were metal chains, they should only supply plastic ones that break and that all suppliers must supply the clips.

Education could only go so far, she said.

“As a parent you can’t watch your child every minute of the day, they like to play and how do you explain to a three year old the hazards – in their entirety – of corded blinds.”

Consumer NZ head of research and advocacy Gemma Rasmussen supported the call for regulation.

“If you look at other jurisdictions like Australia, the UK and Canada, they all have standards in place for corded window coverings. This seems like a really straightforward thing to do, particularly when you’re considering what the ramifications are when things go wrong.

“We’re talking about babies, toddlers and children dying. You know, we have a number of product safety standards that are set by regulation under the Fair Trading Act and these standards are created to reduce the chance of accidents.”

Rasmussen said it was relatively straightforward to introduce a new standard compared to legislation.

“We see this as a disappointing example of the minister not prioritising product safety and it’s an example of where we’re really behind the eight ball when you compare ourselves to other jurisdictions.

Rasmussen said Consumer NZ would like to see a product safety standard created so that when blinds with cords were installed, it would be mandatory that there would be a fastening over them so that chains or cords wouldn’t be able to come loose and pose a safety risk.

She said education programmes alone were not enough.

“Often when parents are setting up blinds and other things in their homes, they’re tired, there’s a number of different things they need to do and we can’t be assuming that they’re going to go to a website to be reading safety guidelines.”

MBIE initiatives on corded window blinds safety include:

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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 dead possum in the Roxburgh reservoir has triggered a boil water notice for the area.

The Central Otago District Council (CODC) said the possum was found during an unrelated inspection on Wednesday, and it’s not known how long it’s been in the water.

It has since issued a boil water notice for Roxburgh and the Lake Roxburgh Village, which would remain in place until the network had been flushed.

CODC said three times a week sampling hadn’t indicated degraded water quality, and a full investigation was underway to find out how the possum got inside the reservoir.

It said the reservoir which would remain isolated until it had been fully disinfected and any possum entry points addressed.

CODC’s Julie Muir said the notice could be lifted as early as Thursday.

Two water tankers would be available at Roxburgh School and Lake Roxburgh Village Hall on Wednesday evening.

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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 child is in hospital after being hit by a bus while bike riding in Auckland.

Emergency services were called to the crash on Te Atatu Road around 6.30pm on Wednesday.

Police said officers responded to reports of a vehicle versus a cyclist on Te Atatu Peninsula, while Hato Hone St John dispatched one ambulance and a critical care unit.

A spokesperson for St John said one patient with moderate injuries was taken to hospital.

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