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November 10, 2023 at 1:37 PM

NZ Herald: Ruthless-Empire homicide: ‘We wish we had more days with him’; Family pay tribute two weeks on from killing

Today marks two weeks since Ruthless-Empire Souljah Reign Rhind Shephard Wall died as a result of blunt force trauma. Herald senior crime reporter Sam Sherwood reports on the tragic death of Baby Ru.

The giggle of a cheeky, bubbly toddler can be heard inside Sarah Reremoana’s Taupō home.

The laughter is accompanied by the first few words Baby Ru is capable of saying, like “truck” and “car”.

But rather than being able to get up off the couch and give the toddler a cuddle, Reremoana and the rest of her whānau must keep sitting and watching the television waiting for the next tribute video or the next photo to appear.

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NZ Herald: Farzana Yaqubi murder: Auckland uni law student told police she was in ‘extreme fear’ of stalker two weeks before killing

An Auckland student told police she was in “extreme fear” of the actions of a stalker, saying she was worried it would “result in life-threatening results” - two weeks before he murdered her.

Farzana Yaqubi, 21, was murdered last December by Kanwarpal Singh, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder.

The Herald on Sunday revealed she had gone to police with concerns she was being harassed two months before she was murdered.

Since the revelations, four political parties have pledged to strengthen legal protections against stalking and harassment.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) is investigating whether there could have been improvements in the police response.

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RNZ: Schools struggling to deal with sexual violence

An advocate for sex consent education says she is shocked at how many high school students were not protected adequately by their schools when they shared experiences of sexual assault.

A report by Let's Talk Consent collected testimonies from 300 students who were victims of sexual assault at school.

The experiences they shared included examples of sexual harassment, blackmail, rape and pack assault. 

The founder of Let's Talk Consent, and the report's author, Genna Hawkins-Boulton, told Nine to Noon victims were confident reporting their assaults, but often still found themselves in the same classes as perpetrators.

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Newshub: New Zealand's youth share horrifying stories of sexual violence

Warning: This story contains details that may disturb some people

A survey of young people has revealed many of them have suffered shocking experiences like sexual violence, pack assault and sextortion.

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RNZ: School counsellors urgently need more help – association

The Association of Counsellors warns school counselling services are badly over-stretched and need more funding from the next government.

The association's president Sarah Maindonald said a Council for Educational Research study that found support for vulnerable students is an issue for 80 percent of secondary principals was "absolutely" accurate.

Maindonald said school counsellors were struggling to keep up with demand from students seeking help for problems, including anxiety and depression.

"As an association we've been very concerned about the mental health of secondary school students for many years and we have lobbied the government to increase the staffing and tag the staffing so there's a counsellor available in every school in the country.

"We're looking to have a ratio of one counsellor to every 400. At the moment it's very inequitable across the country. Sometimes there's a counsellor for every 1400 students and one to 2000 which is actually a risk."

Maindonald said research showed school counsellors were an effective way of supporting young people's mental health. She said children and teenagers were more likely to seek help from counsellors if they were based in schools.

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RNZ: Youthline goes 24/7 amid rising mental health crisis

Youthline have announced they will be making their helpline available 24/7.

Previously, the non-profit organisation's helpline - which supported 15,000 Aotearoa youth last year - had been limited overnight to those in crisis.

Youthline CEO Shae Ronald told The Pre-Panel that the new service was "absolutely incredible - this is huge for us".

Young people could now contact the helpline over any issue - "big or small".

The organisation had to fundraise $1.4 million a year to keep the helpline running, and ASB will now fund the overnight service.

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The Spinoff: The podcast nobody wants to listen to

Emily Writes is the host of The Courage Club, a podcast for brave chats about kids, disability and sexual safety. If it sounds daunting, it’s not – well, not really.

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RNZ: Babies 'bearing the brunt' of health system complications as preventable hospital admissions rise

A spike in the number of pre-schoolers being hospitalised for illnesses that should have been picked up earlier is worrying, an Auckland GP says.

The latest Te Whatu Ora figures show in June, preventable hospital admissions for babies and pre-schoolers shot up by 35 percent compared with the same time last year.

Preventable admissions were up nation-wide, but Auckland was hit particularly hard with rates soaring by more than 60 percent.

Pasifika children aged zero to four were worst-affected, with their hospitalisation rate increasing 45 percent.

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NZ Herald: Dementia case: Mount Maunganui retirement village murder of Jean Salter by husband John Salter sparks calls for more community support

Community-based Alzheimer’s specialists are “running on the smell of an oily rag” and services for the elderly and people with dementia have been “grossly underfunded for decades”.

That’s the view of Alzheimer’s New Zealand chief executive Catherine Hall following the “tragic” case of a man who murdered his wife, who had the condition, by strangling her with a necktie in a Mount Maunganui retirement village.

John Alfred Salter, 80, pleaded guilty in the High Court at Tauranga to murdering his wife, Jean Ann Salter, 78, in their Bayswater Metlifecare Retirement Village apartment in Mount Maunganui on October 8.

Court documents released to the Bay of Plenty Times this week revealed Salter had become distressed after it was suggested his wife, who had mild Alzheimer’s, should move to a specialist facility.

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