A public service post

If you live in or around Christchurch, you may know who these young men are:

If you do know the identity of any or all of the above, let the Police know. Newstalk ZB explains why:

Christchurch police have footage of three men, who allegedly left a trail of tagging around central Christchurch - including on earthquake memorials.
The video and still images show the men in areas where fresh graffiti was found on August 3.
The sites include C1 Espresso, fencing, power boxes, traffic barriers and most controversially - on the sign outside the CTV building site.
Senior Sergeant Phil Dean says the trio covered a wide area in the city.
"We have them on footage, both stills and also video footage, of them acting suspiciously around the areas where these other tags have been recorded.
"These tags are the same as the ones that are on the CTV site."
Senior Sergeant Dean says one of the three is wearing a distinctive top and they are hoping someone in the public recognises them.

Here are another couple of images, including one which shows one of the youths seemingly caught in the act:

There's low behaviour and there's low behaviour. But tagging earthquake memorials is is new level of low. We're only too happy to republish these images in the hope that these people are identified, and brought to the attention of the Police. If there is an innocent explanation to their actions that's fine, but we suspect otherwise.

Let's help the Police.


 

Maybe this is why they wanted them Winston

Winston Peters does faux outrage better than most. And he has been in a state of high dudgeon today, after telling Parliament that the police wanted to access his phone records when they investigated cameraman Bradley Ambrose in late 2011. 

Now we know that Winston Peters is getting on a bit, but he claimed to be ignorant as to why the Police would be connecting NZ First and Winston Peters with a meeting between the National and Act leaders. He's obviously forgotten this, but fortunately, Stuff's archives haven't:

Winston Peters flew into Invercargill yesterday claiming he had information most of the New Zealand media wanted to know – what was in the Teapot Tapes.
He didn't disappoint the sizeable media contingent at the Invercargill Workingmen's Club, revealing in dramatic style what Prime Minister John Key apparently told John Banks during their now infamous cup of tea.
He said Mr Key had told Mr Banks the next leader of the ACT Party should be Catherine Isaac, the party's former president and No2 list candidate.
"Here is the leader of the National Party telling Mr Banks, on whose coat-tails (ACT) hope to get back into Parliament, who the new leader of the ACT Party should be," Mr Peters said. "And that person is, according to Mr Key, Ms Isaac. That caught you unaware, didn't it?"
He said Mr Banks had described ACT leader Don Brash as "a strange fellow" and that Mr Key had then said "we've been down that road before". 

Whilst the Police were investigating Mr Ambrose and his motives in recording the conversation between Key and Banks, any Police officer with a better nose than Inspector Clouseau would wonder how Winston Peters came to be in possession of a conversation that occurred at a meeting that he wasn't at. 

The police seized, under a search warrant, text messages between Mr Ambrose and a number of other individuals. There's nothing at all unusual about that. And if Mr Ambrose happened to have entered Winston Peters' name in his contacts, that name would show up on any text messages between the two. 

This is the kind of stuff that Peters thrives on. He will deny that the Storm in a Teacup helped get him back into Parliament, but he gleefully broadcast the news that he knew what was in the conversation, just as he has claimed to have seen Peter Dunne's e-mails and phone records.

This time however, he's moaning because his role in this saga has been exposed. He's claiming to be an injured innocent, but that simply won't wash. 

Winston Peters has built a political career out of innuendo, attacks under parliamentary privilege, telling half-truths and far more. This time however his chickens have come home to roost, and we have no sympathy for him whatsoever.

Up in smoke

You'd think that if you were growing dope at home, you'd try not to attract attention. Not this bloke, as the Dom-Post reports:

A Whanganui man may have saved his burning house but he couldn't hide his cannabis plants from emergency services rushing to help.
Fire Service and police were called to a house fire on Niblett St, Whanganui, at 10.35am.
Sergeant Drew Allison, of Wanganui Police, said the fire had already been extinguished by the time they arrived but a quick inspection of the house uncovered 11 cannabis plants growing in one of the rooms.
''It wasn't the most sophisticated operation we've seen and the person was very cooperative,'' he said.
One of three occupants of the house, a 55-year-old man, will appear in Whanganui District Court on Tuesday on charges of cultivating cannabis and possession of utensils.
Wanganui Fire Service senior station officer Craig Gardiner said the fire had started in a separate room to the plants and was not at all related to the growing operation.
When the occupants noticed the fire, which by that stage had engulfed nearby curtains, they doused it with a garden hose.
At least one of them inhaled significants amounts of smoke while fighting the flames and was treated by paramedics.
''They took in a lot of smoke and put their own lives at risks. The guy probably had a little bit more reason than most to put the fire out.'' 

There's not a lot more that one can say about this. But Sgt Allison's comment that  ''It wasn't the most sophisticated operation we've seen" might well qualify as the understatement of the week.

Just pay up Hone

Hone Harawira is playing the "poor me" game; the Herald reports:

Hone Harawira plans to ask fellow MPs to help pay his $500 fine after he was found guilty of not complying with a police instruction at an Auckland housing protest.
The Mana Party leader was arrested last October when he joined protesters fighting the removal of state houses in Glen Innes.
He locked himself in his car and turned his music up loud, blocking a Housing New Zealand-contracted truck and trailer unit from leaving with one of the homes.
Police told him several times to move but he refused and they eventually smashed a window and arrested him.
Harawira denied the charge but, after a three day hearing in Auckland District Court, was found guilty yesterday, fined $500 and ordered to pay $132 court costs.

We have no issue with Harawira exercising his right to protest. But he wilfully broke the law, and he has to accept the consequences of that.

However his plan to lobby his fellow MP's to pay his fine for him is simply daft. As an MP, Hone Harawira is amongst New Zealand highest paid people; certainly within the top few percent. His political party may champion the rights of the poor, but Harawira is anything but.

There's an old saying amongst criminals; if you can't do the time, don't do the crime. Hone Harawira rolled the dice with the police in Glen Innes last October and lost. He should just pay his fine, and get back to work.

UPDATED: A call to the blogosphere; dob 'em in!

UPDATE: The internet has been put to good use again; the Herald reports:

Police say they have identified three people linked to a brazen theft from a Wellington cafe after Sunday's magnitude 6.5 earthquake.
Mojo State has been flooded with messages, calls and emails after it released CCTV images of four young people stealing the safe from the cafe in the State Insurance Tower on Willis St at 12.20am on Monday, about seven hours after the tremor.
The "low-life'' offenders, whose faces were clear in CCTV images posted on Facebook, have been condemned by social media users.

That's great news. This was a particularly opportunistic, mean-spirited crime, and we hope that the book is thrown at the young offenders with a degree of judicial force.

 *****************************

Four young people burgled a Wellington cafe in the early hours of Monday morning, whilst emergency services were busy with the aftermath of Sunday evening's earthquake. A safe with around $1300 in it was stolen.

One has already been spoken to by the police, but others have thus far evaded capture. So if you know who these young women are, let the police know.

Ain't CCTV wonderful?

Bad luck Winston; how about an apology...

Winston Peters' loathing of Peter Dunne saw him complain to the Police over an alleged GCSB leak. But Peters has drawn a blank; the Herald reports:

Police will not progress a complaint from New Zealand First leader Winston Peters about the leaking of a report into the GCSB.
In a statement issued today, Assistant Commissioner Malcolm Burgess said police had decided not to take any action over the complaint about the leaking of the report Review of Compliance at the GCSB to Fairfax journalist Andrea Vance.
Mr Peters made his complaint under the Crimes Act and the Summary Offences Act.
"After considering the information presented by the complainant police are satisfied that no offence is disclosed and that further investigation will fail to provide evidence leading to a prosecution under either piece of legislation,'' Mr Burgess said.
"Police consider this matter ended unless additional information becomes available which might warrant further assessment.''

Winston Peters of course implied that he had seen or had knowledge of the e-mail correspondence between Peter Dunne and Andrea Vance. Having been unable to put up, he would now be well advised to shut up. He was very hasty in his complaint to the police, but he seems to have forgotten that the police deal with evidence, not innuendo and unsubstantiated rumours.

Just as the Speaker last week ruled that there was no question of privilege against Dunne as alleged by David Shearer, Peters' complaint to the Police has been swiftly dismissed. And let's not forget that Green Party co-leader Russel Norman was originally calling for the release of the e-mails in question, before he suddenly realised what the consequences of that might be and had a change of heart.  

Winston Peters however invested the most in this case. Another of his wild accusations has been unable to be substantiated. He owes Peter Dunne an apology.

Getting the 3rd Degree

TV3's current affairs show 3rd Degree went large on the David Bain case last night with apparent "slam-dunk" evidence. The intent was to "prove" that Robin Bain was the killer, and to pressure Cabinet into giving David Bain compensation.

Less than 24 hours on, it is all unravelling. The NZ Police have put out this media release:

Police response to latest Bain theory (plus image)

June 27, 2013, 5:30 pm
The latest story advanced through the media by representatives of David Bain is an interesting theory but is not new evidence says Assistant Commissioner Malcolm Burgess.
"It is an interesting idea when taken in isolation, but is no more than a theory when taken out of context of all the other evidence which has been presented to several courts.
"Marks on a photograph can always be open to several interpretations by experts, and the significance or relevance of these marks have not been tested in court.
"Examination of the original photograph does not give any definitive indication of what the marks could be. There are other possibilities, including that they are minor cuts.
"We know for example that Robin Bain was doing work to the roof and spouting of his Every Street home in the days leading up to the killings - any Kiwi handyman knows the sort of damage this can do to the hands. Post mortem examination of Robin Bain's hands shows a number of minor abrasions and marks you would expect to find with someone familiar with manual work.
"Indeed, police have today conducted a preliminary examination of fingerprints taken from Robin Bain after his death. These prints show an absence of fingerprint markings in the same place on his right thumb as the dark marks appearing in the photograph. Our fingerprint experts advise that this is consistent with someone sustaining cuts or damage to the fingers prior to prints being taken, which would then affect the print image.
Had these been powder marks or smudges as claimed, we would expect to see a complete fingerprint image.
"I also reiterate the evidence put forward in court that the only identifiable fingerprints found on the firearm belonged to David and Stephen Bain.
"Police will continue to look at this issue to gain a better understanding of what this photograph may show. 

But wait, as they say in the advertorials; there's more. He comes the bit that really hits at the 3rd Degree team's motives (the emphasis is ours):

"However, I am mindful that this theory has been put forward through a programme whose makers chose not to seek comment from police prior to broadcast, and who also refused to provide details about their story when approached by police on Tuesday.
"Had they done so then we would have pointed out that fingerprints had been presented in evidence and have always been available through the court to help them decide if their story stacked up."
END

Oh dear. The Police asked 3rd Degree for a right of reply, and were refused. What possible motive could there be for that, other than to present a completely one-sided theory. Where is the balance, fairness and objectivity in that?

But wait; there's STILL more! Cameron Slater picked up the time stamp of  Herald story on the 3rd Degree "revelation"; check this out:

Is is REALLY feasible that David Fisher watched the whole programme, wrote a story, submitted it to the Herald webmasters and had it published at EXACTLY the time that the 3rd Degree documentary ended? No; we don't think so either. A PR machine was clearly driving this whole issue

Robin Bain is an easy target, because he is dead, and he can't defend himself. But with what has emerged over the last 21 hours, David Bain's case for compensation may have actually been done more harm than good.


FOOTNOTE: It's not just us unconvinced by last night's 3rd Degree "slam dunk"; check out this post from photographer and blogger Rob Suisted. 

UPDATED: Gottim! A public service post

UPDATED: Kudos the the NZ Police; the Herald reports:

The man wanted over a series of home invasions targeting elderly people has been arrested after a manhunt north of Auckland.
William John Murphy, 36, was seen driving a stolen car on a State Highway 1 north of the Puhoi toll tunnels at about 8am.
The car crashed a short time after it was spotted. Murphy fled into the bush near Puhoi River, police said.
A dog unit and the police Eagle helicopter found Murphy hiding near Puhoi. He surrendered without resistance.
Acting Waitemata district commander Inspector Les Paterson apologised for commuter delays as police closed off the highway as they pursued Murphy.
"Police apologise for any inconvenience caused to motorists and commuters but say the road closure was essential in the interests of public safety."
Murphy has been taken into custody and is expected to appear in Court later today at North Shore.

This is excellent news. Now that Murphy is in custody, we will make no further comment as the justice system takes its course.

 ******************************************

Do you know this man? Or have you seen him?

Stuff names him:

The main suspect in a string of robberies targeting elderly victims in Auckland has more than 90 convictions for burglaries, violence and sexual crimes.
On Saturday at 8pm another elderly woman was bound, beaten and robbed in her Pakuranga home - a close-knit retirement village of nearly 30 units.
Police believe the same man may have been responsible for eight recent attacks and yesterday named 36-year-old William John Murphy, also known as Wiremu Ruapapera.
Murphy was identified as the man trying to use a stolen ATM card on Thursday, in a picture taken at the Pt Chevalier ASB Bank shortly after a 79-year-old Westmere woman was robbed and tied up in her home.
Detective inspector Karen Malthus said Murphy was "transient" and known to move between Kaitaia and Manurewa.
He had failed to appear in the Auckland District Court for sentencing in February and cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet.
Police previously described Murphy as a "top priority offender" and said he "poses a real threat to the community". 

Now of course Murphy is onlky a suspect at this stage, and is entitled to be considered innocent until proven guilty. But the fact that the Police have released his photograph and name must mean that they have very strong evidence against him for at least some of the recent attacks.

Attacks like this on the elderly in their own homes are an especially nasty crime. We hope that the publication of Murphy's name and photograph leads to a swift arrest. The most recent attack is more serious by virtue of the violence against the elderly victim. The elderly are particularly vulnerable, and if the violence continues to escalate, it is only a matter of time before some unfortunate, random victim is gravely injured or even killed.

We urge readers to share this image via whatever sources are available to them in the hope of flushing this career criminal out. New Zealand will be a safer place once he is off the streets.