Labour being soft on crime is a Joke

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Oamaru man gets home detention for raping 15-year-old girl

The victim told the Timaru District Court she has been plagued by nightmares since being raped by Bailee Andrew James Hawtin, 24, about eight times over a month – the first while her older sister was screaming at him to stop.

“He took advantage of me and used me. I feel disgusted,” the victim said.

“I went from being happy to a closed person who doesn’t even like going shopping alone because I feel it may happen again.”

Hawtin was sentenced to nine months’ home detention with judicial monitoring and issued a first strike when he appeared before Judge Joanna Maze in the Timaru District Court on Wednesday, having pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual connection with a person aged 12 to 16.

Judge Maze did not order Hawtin to be registered as a child sex offender because there was no indication he posed an ongoing risk to children.

In a summary of facts presented to the court, Crown prosecutor Anne-Marie McRae said Hawtin and an associate picked the victim, her sister, and niece up from their home one evening.

They spent a few hours driving around and drinking before going to the home of Hawtin’s associate to sleep.

“Both the defendant and victim were intoxicated at this time,” McRae said.

While all five were settled in the bedroom, Hawtin began kissing the victim – ignoring her protest of “no” and attempts to push him away.

Her sister told Hawtin to stop and that she was underage, while his associate encouraged him to have sex with her.

Hawtin pinned the victim down – holding her wrists “so she couldn’t struggle” during the ordeal, McRae said.

He raped the victim at least seven more times across North Otago and South Canterbury, plying her with drugs and alcohol beforehand.

Hawtin, when questioned by police, stated he and the victim were in a consensual sexual relationship, and she claimed to be 16.

Judge Maze said Hawtin was “psychologically immature” and easily influenced.

“You are known to suffer from a diagnosed health disorder which impairs judgment and impacts your ability to express or even feel full remorse,” the judge said.

“At least in the immediate past, you have been living with the strong support of close family. You have changed the associations you previously had, and been making efforts to live a more responsible life.”

Judge Maze said Hawtin was trying to kick his drug habit but had suffered a relapse, and was back in a rehabilitation programme.

“You need to adopt better strategies for avoiding relapse, you need to choose your friends with greater care, and you need to settle down in employment.”

McRae argued for the defendant to be sentenced to imprisonment because he showed “a lack of accountability and remorse”.

“His attitude is concerning and may be indicative of how he would approach a sentence of home detention.”

Defence lawyer Kelly Beazley argued Hawtin was “remorseful” and “takes responsibility for his actions”, and had been adhering to the conditions of electronically-monitored bail since being released from custody on April 17.

“This has been a learning curve for him.”

Judge Maze said Hawtin’s rehabilitation needed to be the focus of the sentence and “that won’t be achieved with a full custodial sentence”.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Labour’s hiding away this election

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Newstalk ZB, Publish DateMon, 3 Aug 2020, 5:02PM

Labour’s election strategy is becoming obvious: they’re going to try to do a Joe Biden.

If you’ve been following what’s going on in the US, you’ll know what I mean. Joe Biden seems to poll better when he’s invisible.  The idea of him is better than the reality of him.  The less he’s in the media, the better he does. 

It’s looking like Labour might try to pull the same thing here. They’re running an invisible campaign: hardly any policy, hardly any typical campaign media stuff, almost trying to pretend the campaign isn’t happening. 

There have been hints of this for a few weeks now, but an admission from the PM this morning was surprisingly frank. 

She watered down any expectations we might have of significant policy announcements: “I would flag to voters not to expect to see large scale manifestos that are a significant departure from what we’re doing.” 

But what are they doing? Spraying money everywhere. Keeping borders largely closed. Avoiding decisions. That is not a recipe for an economic recovery. 

If you’re hoping to get an idea of how they’re going to get us out of this economic hole before you vote, judging by that comment, you’re going to be disappointed.

Furthermore, the PM’s not participating in the regular media interviews you’d expect during a campaign. If you were following the Herald’s Leaders’ Unplugged series last week, you might have noticed only one leader refused to be interviewed: Labour leader Jacinda Ardern. 

Clearly the PM’s team prefer that she’s attached to the PM brand, rather than the Labour leader brand. 

Instead, what Labour is going to give us is Covid Covid Covid.  Take today’s post-cabinet press conference.  No policy announcement.  Just a Covid update.

Take this weekend’s paper.  Big full page Covid ad again, warning us to ‘be ready’.

That seems a pretty good summary of labour’s plan for this election.  Hide mostly everyone away, hide away the policy, hide away the Labour Party brand. 

Three passengers on the same flight from Auckland to Sydney test positive for covid-19 and we are supposed to believe we have no community transmission?

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Second Covid-19 positive case on Auckland to Sydney flights

A New Zealand woman says she has tested positive for Covid-19 after flying from Auckland to Sydney just over a week ago.

The woman – who didn’t want to be named – took off on July 20 aboard Air NZ flight NZ103 and went straight into quarantine in Sydney.

Australian authorities then tested her on her second day in quarantine before her results came back positive for Covid-19 on July 26.

Her positive result comes after another passenger was late last night also revealed to have tested positive to Covid-19 after flying from Auckland to Sydney on July 6.

Passengers on board that flight seated in rows 22 through to 26 were being contacted by health officials both here and across the Tasman.

In Auckland, the regional public health service was following up with household contacts and other contacts as appropriate, Stuff reported.

There was a suspicion the person may have been a previously unconfirmed case from March, and that was responsible for the positive test result.

The woman said she assumed Australian authorities would have automatically alerted New Zealand health officials to her positive test.

However, after reading about the Korean traveller who tested positive to Covid-19 after returning from New Zealand to South Korea earlier this month, the woman decided to ring New Zealand’s health hotline to make sure.

She discovered authorities were unaware of her case.

An Open Letter To Returning Kiwis:

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You ARE special. You were born in New Zealand. That alone makes you rare, in this world of 7.8 billion.

At some stage, for any of a thousand reasons, you left your home country. Perhaps for adventure, or love, for opportunities to study, or work, or live in a bigger, brighter city. Perhaps you were bored here, or your life wasn’t what you wanted it to be. Or maybe you didn’t have a choice, or the choice was not yours to make.

And now you want to come home. You are welcome. Your country awaits you. We are special too. We have stayed, and worked, and played, and lately, we have suffered. We have had our freedom curtailed, our incomes reduced, the things we took for granted taken away. We have had loved ones die, and not been able to attend their funerals. We have had others sick, and not been able to comfort them. We have had our children graduate, unable to have ceremonies. We have had weddings with ten guests, where there would have been 100+. We have suffered, and, maybe, we have triumphed. But we are not at the finish line yet, and our future is precarious.

You are welcome to come home. You are special. But the lady behind the till at the supermarket? Her child has asthma, and she lives in fear of catching Covid-19 and taking it home to her child, who is vulnerable. And the nurse who will be testing you? Her husband has cancer, and is undergoing chemotherapy. His immune system is shot, and Covid-19 would be fatal, and so they are not living together. The assistant at the liquor store? He doesn’t even know, but he is immune compromised, and not only is he at risk should he catch Covid-19, but so is his newborn baby.

So please, come home. You are special. But you’re not MORE special. Not more than the supermarket worker, not more than the nurse, not more than the liquor store assistant. Not more than any single person in New Zealand. So please, come home if you need to, want to, or have to. But DON’T think you’re “more special”. That the rules don’t apply to you. That you should be entitled to compassionate leave to attend a relative’s funeral or visit a sick grandmother. Because we, too, have been unable to do those things. We, too, have felt that pain. But we are not MORE special than the rest of our team of 5 million, and so we have done our bit to protect our beautiful country, and all the special people in it. And now it’s your turn.

Come home, by all means. Join our team of 5 million, we welcome you back. But please, obey the rules. Two weeks in a four star hotel with meals provided is not punishment. It is the price you need to pay for calling New Zealand home. To be able to come to our safe haven, and live with little restrictions. To enjoy, it could be argued, the best quality of life offered by any country in the world right now.

And to those (few) of you who can’t obey the rules, or think you’re MORE special – then perhaps this is no longer the place for you. You do not belong in our team of 5 million, and you are not welcome. We have worked too hard, together, with too much cost, to risk it all on the likes of you.

Signed: Shelley Carppe
A Concerned Citizen