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Weekly Media Roundup

March 26, 2021 at 1:30 PM

Stuff: 'They can't win': How an old idea about women puts children in danger

Many parents arguing over the custody of their children will bad-mouth one another to their kids. But if a judge decides a vindictive or hostile parent is inventing allegations of violence, or “coaching” the child, the consequences can be devastating. Kirsty Johnston reports.

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Stuff: He had a QC, she couldn't afford a lawyer. Is that justice?

When the money runs out for women fighting for their children in the Family Court, a growing number represent themselves. An arduous process for often traumatised women quickly becomes near impossible. Kirsty Johnston reports.

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Stuff: Uplift of newborn babies falls to lowest point in five years

The number of babies being taken into Oranga Tamariki care aged less than one month old is dropping, with the move being credited to earlier intervention with whānau.

As of November 2020, 119 babies less than one month old were taken into care by Oranga Tamariki.

While figures for December were unavailable, it put 2020 on track to be the lowest the number has been in five years.

The highest was in 2017, when 256 babies were taken into care.

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Stuff: Husband and wife killed in Epsom double stabbing named as Herman and Elizabeth Bangera

The couple who were killed in a stabbing in Epsom, Auckland, on Friday were 60-year-old Herman Bangera and his wife, 55-year-old Elizabeth Bangera.

Formal identification and postmortems have been completed, Detective Inspector Scott Beard told a press conference on Sunday.

A man who is related to them remains in hospital in a critical but stable condition. He is under police guard. At an appropriate time police will formally interview him.

No charges have been laid at this stage.

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NZ Herald: Epsom double murders: Stabbed husband and wife 'lived for their son'

A "staunch God-fearing Christian" couple killed in a stabbing in Epsom had expressed unhappiness that their 25-year-old only son wanted to move out of their family home, the Herald has learned.

Police on Sunday named the two deceased as Herman Bangera, 60, and his wife Elizabeth Bangera, 55.

They died on Friday after being discovered in the house with critical injuries.

A man who is related to the couple remains in hospital in a critical but stable condition under police guard. Police will formally interview him at an appropriate time.

Police have launched a homicide investigation and describe the tragedy as a family harm incident.

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RNZ: Husband and wife killed in 'family harm related incident' - police

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Stuff: Pukekohe suspected murder suicide: culprit said he wouldn't comply with bail conditions

The man police believe killed his estranged partner before taking his own life in Pukekohe previously said he had no intention of complying with bail conditions or protection orders, Stuff understands.

Viliami Latu had a long history of violence towards Toakase Finau, the mother of his four children, and of disregarding protection and police safety orders.

In the months before their deaths in a suspected murder suicide on March 10, Latu amassed a series of charges including assaulting Finau and two children, assaulting a witness, bail breaches and escaping police custody.

Despite police opposition in court he was repeatedly released on bail, subject to electronic monitoring via an ankle bracelet.

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NZ Herald: Toakase Finau and Viliami Latu buried together after suspected murder-suicide in Pukekohe

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NZ Herald: From taxi driver to top NZ cop: Indian woman's incredible story

Mandeep Kaur cried a lot in the six years she was separated from her two children.

She had to leave them in India with her parents when she came to New Zealand - "the saddest years of my life", the 52-year-old police officer recalls.

This month, Mandeep became the first India-born woman to reach the rank of senior sergeant in the New Zealand Police. A poster child for ethnic and gender diversity in the public service, her children have grown up and she is a proud grandmother of two.

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1 News: 'Bashing' eight-year-old daughter the turning point for man behind programme helping violent men

One of the men behind a programme working to turn around violent men says his rock bottom was “bashing up” his eight-year daughter with the heel of a platform shoe.

In a confronting interview on Breakfast, Vic Tamati from Safe Men Safe Family said he was like many other violent men, having grown up with violence, and without love or forgiveness.

“The turning point was having bashed up everybody and sundry, thinking that’s normal,” he said.

“I ended up bashing up my eight-year-old daughter, just because she was having an argument about turning a light off, bashed her with a platform shoe.

“Then when she stood up to me, I turned the shoe around and bashed her with the heel of the shoe, when that happened I knew there was something seriously wrong with me, who was doing that to men in the community but then also doing it to my eight-year-old baby.”

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Newshub: Family leaves Gloriavale after being made to feel like 'troublemakers' for reporting attempted molestation of their sons

The Children's Commissioner says he has "serious concerns" about the safety of the 400 children living at the Gloriavale Christian community on the West Coast.

Last month Newshub reported claims that Gloriavale leaders repeatedly refused to involve police in allegations of child sex abuse.

Now more former residents have come forward, saying such abuse was considered "no worse than stealing an apple".

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RNZ: Catholic Church formally apologises to survivors of abuse

The Catholic Church has for the first time formally apologised to survivors of abuse within the church.

Cardinal John Dew made the apology at the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care on behalf of the bishops and congregational leaders in New Zealand.

He said the church can offer no excuses for the actions of the church that caused harm.

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NZ Herald: Dilworth School: Former scout master Ian Wilson sorry for abusing students

A former Dilworth School housemaster who sexually abused students over two decades says he's remorseful for his actions, but his lawyer says he was introduced to "degenerate" behaviour at the school.

Ian Robert Wilson was today sentenced to three years and seven months in prison for indecently assaulting five students between 1975 and 1992 - some of them more than once and over a period of several years.

His lawyer Steve Cullen said Wilson was a predator and he accepts that and took responsibility.

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Stuff: Israel Adesanya social media post claiming he would rape a rival UFC fighter is deleted

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya’s social media post in which he claimed he would "rape” a rival fighter has been deleted.

“Bro, I will f....n rape you,” Adesanya had posted in a video to his Instagram story directed at fellow UFC middleweight Kevin Holland, who criticised Adesanya in an offensive manner last week. The post was no longer visible on Wednesday morning.

With more than 4.6 million Instagram followers and in excess of 860,000 on Twitter, Adesanya has a huge social media following who would have been exposed to the comment.

Executive director of Rape Prevention Education (RPE), Debbi Tohill, said social media comments such as Adesanya’s can normalise threats of sexual violence.

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Stuff: Principals' Federation wants better support for violent youth

The group representing school principals is calling on the Government to better support troubled youth in the wake of an attack on a teacher by a Mackenzie College student.

New Zealand Principals' Federation (NZPF) president Perry Rush said the recent attack at the Fairlie high school, in which a teacher came just centimetres from being paralysed in the arm after a student repeatedly slashed him with a saw, was “not an isolated incident”.

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1 News: 'This is a bloke problem' - Senior Australian government minister speaks out against sexual violence

A senior minister in Australia's federal government has spoken out against sexual violence and harassment, saying they are problems men need to fix.

"Let me be clear - this is a bloke problem, not a woman problem," she wrote in The Australian.

"Too often we hear about the number of women who have been raped, rather than the number of men who have raped women.

"It is men who need to be better."

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Stuff: Alcohol sales through food-delivery apps concerning, health advocates say

Health advocates are raising concerns about the spread of alcohol delivery services, as Uber Eats becomes the latest to deliver liquor through its app.

Uber Eats has joined a growing list of alcohol delivery services such as Delivereasy, Bevee and Drinks Mate, by delivering alcohol for adults between 10am and 10.30pm. It is operating the service in Auckland and plans to offer it in Wellington and Christchurch soon.

Selah Hart, the chief executive of Māori public health organisation Hāpai Te Hauora, criticised the move, calling it “totally irresponsible” and out of touch with the realities of alcohol harm.

“What is more telling is the invisibility of any protections in place – for minors, for communities, and ultimately to protect New Zealanders from alcohol harm,” Hart said.

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Stuff: Why 'would ya' allow gendered violence to exist in sport?

This piece contains content that may be confronting for some

OPINION: In recent days, National MP Nicola Willis spoke of not feeling safe walking down the street in Wellington, Stuff news reporter Virginia Fallon talked of keys as a form of self defence, while women around the globe discussed gendered violence against them following the abduction and murder of Sarah Everard in the UK.

But it’s not just on the streets where this happens. It occurs in sport too, an environment often dominated by men, where hyper heterosexual masculinity is held up in awe and regularly celebrated.

Sports culture often undermines the experiences, voices and value of women in sport.

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The Spinoff: Making women’s prisons more gender conscious won’t solve anything much

Kelvin Davis’s call for prisons that meet the unique needs of women is a bandaid solution to a systemic issue, writes Jared Davidson.

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Stuff: Violent man could get NZ residence after tribunal rules he has special circumstances

A man who smashed a door and threw a phone at his wife will get another shot at residence after a tribunal ruled it is in his family’s best interest for him to remain in New Zealand.

The man, a 25-year-old Samoan citizen, has been in New Zealand since early 2018 on visitor and work visas. He has a 22-year-old wife and a 2-year-old son who are New Zealand citizens.

Between March 2018 and March 2020, six family violence incidents involving the man and his wife were reported to police, according to a recent decision from the Immigration and Protection Tribunal.

One involved him throwing a cellphone at his wife, hitting her in the back. At another time, he slapped her, leaving a bruise.

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Stuff: Woman threw herself out of car after being 'kidnapped, drugged and raped'

A man jailed for raping, kidnapping, and assaulting a woman who later threw herself from his car has failed to overturn his conviction.

Darryn Michael Horton was jailed for 14 years for violating and raping the woman, who he'd just met, over a weekend in Tokoroa in March 2018.

But he argued his trial wasn't fair because he couldn't use her previous convictions – which include shoplifting and other dishonesty offending – to challenge her creditability as a witness.

The Court of Appeal disagreed, saying in a recently released judgment that that kind of history is a poor indicator of how likely someone is to lie about allegations of serious sexual abuse.

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Stuff: School counsellor made sexual advances on student in 'gross breach of trust'

A school guidance counsellor who made sexual advances towards a teenager seeking help with personal problems has been sentenced to four months of home detention.

The counsellor – who is no longer employed in that profession – was sentenced in the Hamilton District Court after earlier pleading guilty to a single charge of doing an indecent act with intent to insult.

The charge, which has a maximum penalty of two years in jail, is a representative charge, meaning it covered offences on a number of occasions between 2015 and 2018 at a Waikato school.

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Category: News Media