Author: Press Room
A coroner has not been able to find with certainty what caused the death of a new-born boy who was found after sleeping alongside his mother, who also died.Police at the time called the deaths “an absolute tragedy”.Tanatui Samuels was born at Auckland Hospital on March 13, 2020.Three days later he was dead.He was the son of Emerald Tai and her partner Tana-Tui.Baby Tanatui was born at 38 weeks after Tai went to hospital in the late stages of labour.He was healthy, but needed to be put under observation because meconium was found in the in-utero fluid during delivery.Meconium is…
Charging for Sunday parking in Dunedin has been slammed as a money grab that will kill off centre city business. Dozens of submitters made their feelings clear after the Dunedin City Council consigned free parking on Sundays in the central city to history. While the council was asking for feedback on where to charge for parking, most submitters took the opportunity to make it clear they were against any Sunday fees. Submitters described the move as greedy, irresponsible, disconnected and out of touch with residents already facing a cost-of-living crisis. The council approved central city parking fees on Sundays in…
Education Minister Erica Stanford has imposed a near total ban on Māori in new additions to a series of books used to teach five-year-olds to read.An Education Ministry report shows Stanford decided in October last year to exclude all Māori words except for characters’ names from any new books in the Education Ministry’s Ready to Read Phonics Plus (RtRPP) series.The paper showed the decision was driven by concern Māori words were confusing for children learning to read English though evidence of that was mixed.Stanford told RNZ the decision affected only 12 books that would finish the series, after which the…
Four South Korean skiers died after being thrown around inside their vehicle following a head-on crash in South Canterbury last year.It has led a coroner to issue a plea: “always wear your seatbelt”.Bum-Hee Cho, 23, Junwoo Park, 20, and Sangseo Kim, 16, died instantly in the head-on collision just outside Geraldine in August 2024.Hyunseo Han, 17, survived initially but suffered serious injuries and died later in hospital, in December.Cameron McDonald, a 24-year-old Wānaka resident, was driving the other car – a 1996 Toyota Surf – and was injured but not fatally.In her findings released today, Coroner Mary-Anne Borrowdale said it…
Charging for Sunday parking in Dunedin has been slammed as a money grab that will kill off centre city business. Dozens of submitters made their feelings clear after the Dunedin City Council consigned free parking on Sundays in the central city to history. While the council was asking for feedback on where to charge for parking, most submitters took the opportunity to make it clear they were against any Sunday fees. Submitters described the move as greedy, irresponsible, disconnected and out of touch with residents already facing a cost-of-living crisis. The council approved central city parking fees on Sundays in…
A friend of Sarah Shaw, a New Zealander detained at the US-Canada border, says they’re expecting to hear today whether her six-year-old son will be released.Shaw and her son Isaac, who live in Washington state, were detained three weeks ago after dropping her other children off in Vancouver to catch a flight.Victoria Besancon said Shaw was “absolutely terrified” when she and her son were bundled into a giant white van with no markings on it at the Canadian border.”I remember her on the phone being absolutely panicked. She originally thought she was being kidnapped, she didn’t even realise she was…
Police are seeking a second person involved in a shooting which took place in Stokes Valley earlier this month.The 40-year-old victim was shot outside his home address in Hanson Grove at 9am on Sunday, August 3.Detective Inspector Haley Ryan said he remained in critical condition at Wellington Hospital’s intensive care unit.”Police believe two men drove to the victim’s address in a purple Toyota Mark X station wagon, registration KMW290. “On their arrival the male passenger exited the vehicle and, moments later, shot the victim,” Ryan said.”It is also alleged the victim was then driven over by the Toyota vehicle before…
European ride-hailing company Bolt is eyeing up Christchurch and Wellington but only after building its Auckland base. The launch in the country’s largest city has quickly surpassed rider and driver targets. Bolt’s entry into Auckland in mid-June extended the competition beyond marketplace kingpin Uber and India’s DiDi, which moved into the capital city last month. The Estonian-headquartered company repeated its plans to open up in other cities, but would not be moved on when it might expand its app-based service south. Aside from taxis, Uber is the only ride-hailing operator in Christchurch. Bolt New Zealand general manager Adam Muirson said…
A former Cambridge dentist took thousands of dollars in payments for teeth straightening treatment, days before he shut down his former practice from Panama.Dr Vernon Kruger claimed True Alignment Orthodontics was not his practice in November 2023 when it closed unexpectedly, leaving dozens of parents out of pocket after they pre-paid in full for their children’s treatment.Complaints were being investigated by the Dental Council of New Zealand while Kruger, who was not a trained orthodontist, continued to run an orthodontic consulting business in Panama.One Hamilton mum, who with her former husband paid $11,000 upfront for their then 10-year-old son to…
A fire at a former mental health facility on the West Coast is being treated as arson, and police want to speak to a person seen walking across the grounds before the blaze.Emergency services responded to multiple reports of a large fire at the old Hokitika Seaview hospital complex at around 7am on Sunday. There were no reports of any injuries.Police initially treated the fire as suspicious, and now, after a long scene examination, an arson investigation was underway. “The scene examination took the better part of Sunday and half of Monday to complete, involving both fire and police investigators,”…