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Weekly Media Roundup

October 06, 2017 at 8:24 AM

Moko inquest: 'First 1000 Days' target needed to save lives

A leading children's doctor wants a "First 1000 Days" target for welfare agencies to improve New Zealand's horrendous child abuse record.

To achieve this, Dr Johan Morreau advocated for midwives to be working closer with social workers to help find warm housing, healthcare and financial support for families.

This support needs to be in place during pregnancy until the child reaches school, said Morreau.

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Moko inquest: How the 'red flags' of two young mothers struggling to cope were missed

Just before rising from the judge's bench, Coroner Wallace Bain paused.

"To Moko's mum at the back of the court, our sympathies to you again.

"I hope this is...I know you've lost your little boy but as a result of this inquest I hope it will help other little children being lost."

The closing remarks were a touch of humanity after three days of dark, sometimes detached evidence, as lawyers and professionals analysed the life and death of Moko Rangitoheriri from every angle.

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Moko inquest: Children's Commissioner on the 'dark side' of New Zealand

The Children's Commissioner said Moko Rangitoheriri's "abhorrent death" was preventable but agencies missed the "red flags" to investigate further.

Judge Andrew Becroft is giving evidence in the Rotorua District Court as an expert witness for the inquest of Moko Rangitoheriri.

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Nothing's changed since Nia, Moko inquest told

A woman who has worked with abused women and children has told an inquest nothing has improved in the years between two preschoolers' violent deaths.

Three-year-old Moko Rangitoheriri was abused and beaten to death by his caregivers Tania Shailer and David Haerewa in Taupō in 2015.

The pair were sentenced to 17 years in prison for his manslaughter.

An inquest into his death has re-opened in Rotorua today. The first part of the inquest was held in August.

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Moko inquest: 94 kids killed since Nia Glassie's horrific murder

The most senior detective in the Bay of Plenty says police have overhauled how child abuse cases are handled in the 10 years since Nia Glassie died.

Detective Inspector Mark Loper is giving evidence in the Rotorua District Court as an expert witness for the inquest of Moko Rangitoheriri.

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David Slack: Think of the children

OPINION: Right at the point in the 2014 election where John Key really seemed backed into a corner, just before he fired Judith Collins, right at the point where you'd imagine he might be lying awake at night worrying about all the Dirty Politics problems, I got to sit in the TV3 green room with him for 10 minutes.

What I learned that morning was: problems that might keep me or you awake at night didn't seem to worry him all that much.

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'We have blood on our hands': Duncan Garner's passionate message about child abuse record

Duncan Garner has slammed the "sickening" level of child abuse in New Zealand, saying there is "blood on our hands". 

He said on The AM Show this morning the cycle of intergenerational child abuse needs to be broken and people who see abuse happening in their families need to speak out.

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Childcare lessons for boys encouraged

Encouraging infant-nurturing skills among at-risk boys could help to reduce family violence, a Waikato public health nurse says.

Judy Barnett says life-threatening injuries suffered by babies and infants frequently came by a male member of the household, and often not the child's father.

"It made me wonder how big the gaps are in our community's knowledge around infant care," she told the Public Health Association's conference in Christchurch.

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David McLean: New Zealand workplaces can do more to address family violence

Westpac NZ CEO David McLean writes why family violence is a workplace issue all employers need to address. The bank is the first organisation to earn a DVFREE Tick - an accreditation that recognises the bank's comprehensive domestic violence programme. Helplines can be found at the bottom of this article.

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Violent boyfriend cost an Auckland woman three jobs in a year

An Auckland woman whose abusive boyfriend cost her three jobs in one year is calling for workplace awareness of domestic violence.

Nobody noticed that the flat tyres and stomach bugs seeming to plague Rebecca* were cover-ups for a far more sinister reality. Much like the make-up hiding her bruises.

Her bosses saw her as a flake: always late, taking excessive breaks, and forever on her phone. She said she didn't blame them for letting her go; they had no idea her boyfriend was prone to confiscating her car keys, holding a knife to her throat, or abducting her at lunch.

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‘Before you teach me, you have to reach me’: The case for better alternative education

With more than a decade’s experience as an educator, Ngā Rangatahi Toa founder Sarah Longbottom argues that those in alternative education deserve the same standards of teachers and classrooms as their mainstream peers. This is the first of a series of columns following her experiences in the field.

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Smack your kids and they'll do worse at school - study

Smacking children makes them do worse at school and decreases their cognitive abilities, new research has found.

Two US scientists looked at 650 children and their caregivers, mapping the type of punishments they received and their "cognitive outcomes, school engagement, and peer isolation".

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Girl relentlessly bullied before death

A 15-year-old girl who took her own life was the victim of relentless and "vicious" cyber-bullying in the lead up to her death, a coroner has found.

Coroner Peter Ryan has released his findings into the 2013 death of Alatauai Sasa, a student at St Catherine's College in Wellington.

He found she was also distressed about being a witness against her father for assault and was worried he would end up in jail.

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Violence against girls 'accepted': report

From girls being coerced to have sex in exchange for school books to being forced into marriage, violence against girls is seen as an accepted part of being female, a report says.

The study by UK based children's charity, Plan International, interviewed 301 teenage girls and boys in Colombia, Uganda and Spain about gender roles and stereotypes.

"The horrifying testimonies of girls reveal that almost every single experience for them - be it at home, school, in public transport, or on social media - is a reminder that they are judged to be inferior to boys," said Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen, head of Plan International in a statement.

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Hurt & Hope: Post-quake addiction and domestic abuse bring Cantabrians down

Since the February 2011 earthquake, charities and police have been forced to respond creatively with limited resources to the steep increase in addiction and domestic violence problems. 

Eve Jones* didn't think she and her three children needed support – her ex-husband was the sick one.

He would hide bottles of vodka, pour water into the ones he'd secretly emptied and drink in his car.

In their 15 years together, he'd always liked a drink. But it became worse a couple of years after the February 2011 earthquake with the stress of living in a broken city. He had also lost a family member in the tremor.

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Specialist sexual assault team investigating Jay-Jay Harvey taxi complaint

Police are investigating the alleged sexual assault of radio host Jay-Jay Harvey in a taxi at the weekend.

On Sunday Harvey alleged in a Facebook post that she was assaulted by an Auckland taxi driver after leaving a bar in Ponsonby.

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Revealed: Famed artist guilty of raping teens worked at the Louvre

A well-known artist who raped teenagers at an Auckland studio had worked at the Louvre and had a personal exhibition at one of New Zealand's largest museums, the Herald can reveal.

Chao-Li Tseng, 50, was sentenced today by Judge Brooke Gibson to 16 years' imprisonment, with a minimum non-parole period of eight years.

Tseng was found guilty by a jury of 17 sex charges against four women after a nearly three-week trial during August and September in the Auckland District Court.

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Caregiver jailed 16 years for multiple charges of rape, violating vulnerable youth in his care

A male caregiver found guilty of a host of sex charges against the disabled in his care has been sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment.

The man, who cannot be named, stood trial in the Napier District Court in August to defend charges alleging he sexually abused children and youth with significant impairments who were placed in his care.

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The country that ended homelessness

While New Zealand struggles with a lack of affordable houses, one Nordic country has come up with a permanent solution.

In the last ten years, Finland has provided 16,300 permanent low-cost flats to homeless people.

A recent report by European Union housing organisation FEANTSA found every country in the EU is in the midst of a crisis of homelessness and housing exclusion, with one exception – Finland.

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Category: News Media