Latest news with #FetalAlcoholSyndrome
RNZ News
28-05-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Mainstream health system failing Māori, Waitangi Tribunal told
Deputy Director-General of Māori Health John Whaanga. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone The Waitangi Tribunal has been told the health system is failing Māori with one woman detailing how her son has been let down multiple times. Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority, was set up in 2022 but the government scrapped it last year and the Tribunal is scrutinising the decision as well as asking what the plan is now for improving Māori health. The second part of the Tribunal's inquiry into the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora has been running since the start of the week. Maia Honetana from Ngāti Tu ki Tai Tokerau told the Tribunal on Monday multiple government agencies failed to help her son Akira, who suffers from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and ADHD. Honetana said instead of helping him they blamed her and her family for his condition, resulting in a poor education and a one-way ticket to prison. A dedicated Māori Health Authority when her son was young have made all the difference, she said, and she was furious the young agency was scrapped. "I find it really appalling that this government could even think about striking us out and putting us at the bottom, just because they want to. "Just because they somehow have this power to just do that, to scrap it whenever they feel like it." The mainstream health system had not worked for her whānau, Honetana said. "I know that I'm not alone, I'm one of many. "My case should be unique, it shouldn't just be one of many Māori that have suffered the consequences of not having a Māori-based health system or Māori Authority to basically look after us and take care of our needs." Deputy Director General of Health Māori John Whaanga provided evidence on behalf of the Crown and when asked by the Tribunal what exactly will replace Te Aka Whai Ora, defended the government's ongoing approach to improving Māori health. "Your point is that there is nothing new since the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora. I'm responding by saying that I don't quite understand that question. "We continue to work on a stratergy for government on Māori health, which we would have been doing with Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority if they were still in place." Whaanga said. Whaanga and Crown lawyers could not give the exact details on what the government has planned for improving Māori Health, but evidence submitted to the Tribunal shows the role Iwi Māori Partnership Boards (IMPB) have in developing and actioning Māori health policy. Moe Milne from Ngāti Hine told the Tribunal the short-lived health authority made progress connecting small Maori providers with the government. "It wasn't 'happy families' with Te Aka Whau Ora but they went out of their way to not only come once for a consultation, they came several times to check, ring - we did several Zooms. "What we lost was the discussion about what should happen next, that's the biggest loss." Milne said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Yahoo
Indiana inmate to be executed Tuesday for fatal police shooting in 2000
May 19 (UPI) -- Indiana is set to execute an inmate early Tuesday morning, almost 25 years after he shot and killed Beech Grove Police Department officer William Toney. Authorities are set to administer the lethal infection to Benjamin Ritchie shortly after midnight Tuesday at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Ind. Indiana last December executed Joseph Corcoran, the state's first execution in approximately 15 years. Indiana had paused the procedure because of a lack of supply of lethal injection drugs. Gov. Mike Braun, R-Ind., who took office in January, last week refused to grant Ritchie clemency, following the recommendation of the Indiana Parole Board. Ritchie shot and killed Toney in September 2000 after the officer attempted to stop a stolen van. The vehicle crashed, leading to a foot chase through a residential neighborhood in Beech Grove, an Indianapolis suburb with a population of approximately 14,700 people in Marion County, Ind. Ritchie, who was 20 at the time, had been planning to commit an armed robbery with another man. He was also wanted in Ohio for a separate vehicle theft involving use of a weapon. Now 45, Ritchie was sentenced to death in October of 2002. Toney had been an officer for two years before the incident on Sept. 29, 2000. He was killed the day before his 32nd birthday. He was survived by his wife and two young daughters. Lawyers for Ritchie had argued that his abusive upbringing and a Fetal Alcohol Syndrome diagnosis were grounds for clemency. He has exhausted his appeals process at the state level. Indiana and Wyoming are the only two to employ the death penalty that do not permit media representatives to witness executions. A collective of journalists lost a court battle to force the state to permit witnesses, arguing the media has a First Amendment right to witness executions.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Yahoo
He Killed an Officer Who Was Just Filling In — Now He Faces Execution and Says It's Wrong Because of How He Was Born
Benjamin Ritchie, 45, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at the Indiana State Prison on Tuesday, May 20 Ritchie was convicted of fatally shooting Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney in 2000 Ritchie's attorneys have argued the inmate suffered from brain damage due to Fetal Alcohol SyndromeAn Indiana inmate who was convicted of killing a police officer two decades ago is set to be executed on Tuesday, May 20. Benjamin Ritchie, 45, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at the Indiana State Prison before sunrise unless he receives a last-minute court reprieve, according to the Associated Press. He has been on death row for more than 20 years for the 2000 fatal shooting of 31-year-old Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney. Ritchie would be the second inmate executed in Indiana in 15 years, per the AP. "Officer William Toney lost his life 25 years ago serving the community he lived in,' the Beech Grove Police Department wrote in a statement on Monday, May 19, per WTHR. 'Taking a solemn oath to uphold the constitution and the laws of this great state, that its citizens may lead a peaceful life. His life was violently taken from him by an individual whose actions adversely affected the innocent and ripped at the very fabric that holds society together. While there is no peace in the execution, there is comfort in the realization that society has kept its promise to the men and women of law enforcement to hold those accountable for their reckless choices and damaging actions, so that those still serving find strength knowing that their service is not in vain." The Indiana Parole Board denied Ritchie's clemency plea on May 14 to have his sentence commuted to life without parole, WISH-TV reported. The same day, Governor Mike Braun approved the execution. 'After carefully reviewing the unanimous recommendation from the State Parole Board, I have decided to allow the execution of Benjamin Ritchie to proceed as planned for May 20,' Braun said in a statement. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. 'It's time. We're all tired,' Toney's widow said at the clemency hearing, per the AP. 'It is time for this chapter of my story, our story, to be closed. It's time for us to remember Bill, to remember Bill's life, and not his death.' According to the Indiana Capital Chronicle, Toney wasn't scheduled to work the evening of Sept. 29, but was helping a fellow officer who was leaving early on vacation. Ritchie, who was on probation at the time for a burglary conviction, shot Toney during a foot chase after he stole a van from a gas station in Beech Grove, the Capital Chronicle reported. Ritchie's attorneys have argued that he suffered from brain damage due to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, per Fox59. 'I've ruined my life and other people's lives, and I'm so sorry for that night,' he told the parole board, the AP reported. 'You can't take back what you did.' Ritchie's attorneys have filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution, according to the AP. Read the original article on People
CBC
15-02-2025
- CBC
Crown seeks 4½ years in prison for man who pleaded guilty in child porn case
Lawyers presented their sentencing arguments Friday for Aarron Kowalchuk, a 35-year-old man who pleaded guilty in June to making child pornography and luring. In the Court of King's Bench in Edmonton, Crown prosecutor Jonathan Avey argued for a 4½-year prison sentence, citing multiple aggravating factors including the young age of the children, the volume of images and the severity of abuse. Kowalchuk's defence lawyer, Rory Ziv, is seeking a sentence of 2½ years, with 47½ months — just shy of four years — credit, meaning his client would avoid additional in custody. "It turns my stomach to think of viewing those things, but I think for the process, I'm going to have to deal with that," said Justice Lynn Michele Angotti, before calling a recess to view hundreds of items depicting child sexual abuse that was found on Kowalchuk's phone. Alberta's Internet Child Exploitation unit, which is part of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT), arrested and charged Kowalchuk on Feb. 16, 2023. In addition to the sexual abuse material on his phone, court heard Kowalchuk, 35, had dated a 13-year-old and told a 15-year-old in an online chat that he had had sex with two minors. Then, in November 2022, Kowalchuk had exchanged messages with an undercover police officer posing as a 13-year old girl. On Thursday, Kowalchuk told Angotti that he is remorseful and apologized to the victims and their families. On Friday, Ziv's argument for a lighter sentence cited entries in Kowalchuk's diary, which alleged harsh treatment by guards and long periods in administrative or restricted segregation, where he was often denied the minimum time required out of his cell. Avey, however, argued that records from the Edmonton Remand Centre showed, out of Kowalchuk's 604 days there, there were only seven during which he was denied his allotted out-of-cell time — and that it was due to operational issues. The prosecutor also pointed to testimony from Curtis Miller, a guard in Kowalchuk's unit who described him as quiet and said he couldn't recall ever having an issue with him. Ziv agreed that Kowalchuk's moral responsibility is high, but noted he had no previous criminal record and has been diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. The Crown has challenged that diagnosis.
