Ex-nurse accused of hate crime avoids conviction
Jennifer May Scott, 37, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday facing charges of disorderly behaviour, resisting police and failing to remain stopped.
Prosecutor Sergeant Simon Reay, though, confirmed Scott had completed diversion on the latter charge and the other counts were withdrawn.
The police diversion scheme allows predominantly young or first-time offenders to make amends for their crimes — sometimes by making a reparation payment, writing an apology letter, attending counselling or completing voluntary work — to avoid a mark on their criminal record.
However, Scott already has a conviction for intentional damage from 2023 after spray-painting explicit phrases on an ex-boyfriend's ute.
The terms of her recent diversion were not discussed in open court.
The charges stemmed from an incident on June 1 last year when Scott was allegedly driving in the Octagon.
She was accused of filming pro-Palestine protesters with her phone and yelling "Palestine rapes and murders babies. Palestine isn't a country".
Scott allegedly ignored police instructions in the aftermath and resisted officers trying to handcuff her.
Yesterday's withdrawal of charges was a rare win for Scott after last year was littered with setbacks.
The woman, who has called herself "Terf [trans-exclusionary radical feminist] of the South" online, courted controversy in August after setting up an online fundraising page, complete with a photo of her and her partner, claiming they were homeless and needed money for a campervan.
The partner was identified as a double-murderer formally known as Gresham Marsh and Corrections confirmed he had a home and was being "closely managed".
The photo and all reference to him was subsequently removed from the web page.
The following month, after a hearing Scott failed to attend, the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal cancelled her nursing registration.
The ruling pointed to her spreading of vaccine disinformation and repeated episodes of transphobia as reasons for the decision.
Tribunal chairwoman Theo Baker said the misconduct brought discredit to the profession and was "sufficiently serious to warrant a disciplinary sanction".
Scott was also ordered to pay costs of more than $45,000.
Then in October, she was on the wrong end of a decision by the Tenancy Tribunal.
Ms Scott made "wide-ranging claims" including assault, unlawful entry, breaches around storage, withholding of goods and breach of privacy after being evicted from a Macandrew Bay property.
But adjudicator Rex Woodhouse said the tribunal did not have jurisdiction to hear her case because she was a "squatter" and it was therefore not a dispute between tenant and landlord.
The house had been sold earlier in the year and the tribunal issued a possession order in favour of the new owners.
rob.kidd@odt.co.nz, Court reporter
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
18 hours ago
- RNZ News
Two teenagers charged with murder of Tyreece Te Pairi in Hamilton in July
Two 19-year-old men appeared in the Hamilton District Court today. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly Two 19-year-old men have been charged with the murder of Tyreece Te Pairi in Hamilton in July. Police said the pair were arrested in Hamilton and South Auckland on Tuesday evening. The two men appeared in Hamilton District Court on Wednesday and were remanded in custody without plea to reappear on 26 August. Tyreece Te Pairi, who was 20, was fatally wounded during an altercation on Alexandra Street just after midnight on 20 July. The court has ordered name suppression of the two charged, as well as all suppression of all facts and circumstances relating to this case. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
Snapchat predator admits further offending while on bail
Warning: This story deals with details of sexual assault against young people, and may be distressing. Snapchat predator Raveen Saily was on bail, awaiting a rape trial, when he filmed a 13-year-old Rotorua girl performing a sexual act on him. Now it's been revealed the 23-year-old sent that video to an 11-year-old Auckland girl he'd met through Snapchat, whom he'd asked to be his girlfriend, and was also grooming. Yesterday in the Tauranga District Court, Saily pleaded guilty to grooming for sexual conduct with a young person, indecent communication with a young person and distributing objectionable material. They all relate to the Auckland victim. He will be sentenced in December, along with charges related to the sexual violation of the 13-year-old victim from Rotorua. A police summary of facts reveals Saily met the 11-year-old through Snapchat in May 2024. At the time, he was awaiting trial on charges of indecent assault, rape and sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, for an attack on a 16-year-old girl at the Arataki Community Centre in Mount Maunganui. He had also met that teen on Snapchat, where he used the alias 'John', and was found guilty by a jury, on all six charges, in August last year. While awaiting trial, Saily continued to contact girls on Snapchat. This was despite bail conditions banning him from accessing the internet, having contact with anyone under 16, or leaving his Pyes Pā home at night. When spoken to by police about his contact with the 11-year-old, he told them he 'probably did do these things, but he cannot remember specifics due to the volume of girls he was in communication with, and the time that has passed since his incarceration'. 'Too young to have a boyfriend' says victim Saily never met the 11-year-old victim in person; they lived in different cities and communicated on Snapchat. Their relationship was discovered when the girl's mother looked at her phone, saw the messaging and reported it to police. The police summary of facts state that during a video call, Saily asked the girl to be his girlfriend. She told him she was only 11, and too young to have a boyfriend. However, Saily continued to pressure her until she agreed, and their conversations continued over text and Snapchat, and audio and video calls. She became 'increasingly emotionally dependent' on Saily, believing she was in a relationship with him. Saily told the 11-year-old he loved her, while encouraging her to send him sexually explicit images. He would ask her to 'get naked', and tell her about his sexual preferences, describing himself as 'freaky'. He told her she would be a 'good SCAT girl', which describes sexual arousal from faecal matter. He would direct her to places in the house away from her caregiver, while on video calls, and instruct her to perform sexual acts while he watched. He told her he wanted to drive from Tauranga to have sex with her. In June 2024, he filmed the 13-year-old victim from Rotorua performing a sexual act on himself, and sent it to the 11-year-old. Offending discovered at 'routine traffic stop' The video of the 13-year-old was sent between June 27 and August 27, 2024, with the video found by police when they examined Saily's phone, after arresting him. Last month, Saily pleaded guilty to charges related to the 13-year-old, including grooming, sexual connection with a young person, sexual violation, and possessing objectionable material. He had added that girl on Snapchat in May 2024, claiming he was only 16. He groomed her over a month and encouraged her to send him sexually explicit photographs. They met at night in June 2024, and he drove her to several private locations where he sexually violated her, at times as she cried in pain. She repeatedly told him to stop, but he told her to shut up. It was her first experience of sexual intercourse. This offending was only detected after police pulled the pair over during a routine police stop and became suspicious about their age gap. When being dealt with by police at the traffic stop, the defendant indicated he was not aware of the girl's age and tried to stop her from speaking to the attending officers. Because of the significant age difference between the complainant and the defendant, she was taken to her home and spoken to alongside her mother. That traffic stop happened on Saturday, August 24, just before Saily's Tauranga trial began on August 26. Sex with 'naive' 16-year-old at knife-point During the Tauranga trial, the court heard how the girl didn't know Saily's proper name, and he didn't use it on any of his social media profiles. They'd met up at Mount Maunganui's Bayfair mall, and then went for a walk to the nearby Arataki Community Centre. There, the girl said she had been forced to perform sexual acts after Saily threatened her with a knife. He then went on to rape and violate her. Saily claimed it had been consensual, but the Crown said this was 'utterly fanciful', particularly given the 'naive' girl had no sexual experience and it was the first time she'd met up with a boy alone. Saily is currently serving a sentence of nine years and two months' imprisonment for the Tauranga attack, and will be sentenced for the offending against the 13-year-old and 11-year-old in December. SEXUAL HARMWhere to get help:If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7:• Call 0800 044 334• Text 4334 • Email support@ • For more info or to web chat visit contact your local police station - click here for a list. If you have been sexually assaulted, remember it's not your fault.
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
Skipper was distracted by phone before grounding
The skipper of stricken fishing vessel Tamahine Teone Taiaroa is winched to safety last year. Photo: Stephen Jaquiery A skipper was distracted by his phone as he steamed towards catastrophe. Teone Martin Taiaroa, 62, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday and admitted his careless actions, which ultimately led to the boat sinking and the dramatic rescue of the bedraggled sailors by helicopter. Court documents reveal he failed to maintain proper lookout and use all means appropriate to determine if the risk of collision existed. The defendant had worked on fishing vessels since 1980 and was qualified to operate the boat, the fishing vessel Tamahine, which he had owned for about seven years. About 6.15am on June 4 last year, Taiaroa was operating his wooden commercial fishing vessel in Taiaroa Head. He had one crew member aboard, who was new to the job, and they left Dunedin heading towards the fishing grounds northeast of the the head. Once out of the shipping channel he set the boat's autopilot to North East, made a coffee and sat at the wheel of the boat reading a news article on his phone. The other crew member was also on his phone, the court heard. Taiaroa admitted grounding the fishing boat which sank off Taiaroa Head. Photo: staff photographer About nine minutes after setting the autopilot, Taiaroa realised the boat was heading south-east rather than its intended course. The vessel was caught in the swells and the defendant engaged manual steering but could not get away from the breakers. The Tamahine grounded just below the Royal Albatross Colony and began to take on water. Taiaroa launched the liferaft and a rescue helicopter was deployed to recover Taiaroa and his crew member. About six hours later, Tamahine sank. The defendant was taken to hospital where he was treated for hypothermia. Taiaroa said the grounding was caused by satellite-compass failure, causing the compass readings to be reversed. The defendant will be sentenced in December.
