Latest news with #PalmerstonNorth
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Murder defence team claim shots fired at Hori Gage were intended to intimidate, not kill him
By Jeremy Wilkinson, Open Justice reporter of Robert Richards (left) and Royden Haenga are jointly charged with the murder of Hori Gage. Photo: NZ Herald / Jeremy Wilkinson The lawyer for a Black Power member accused of shooting a man in front of his family says the accused man only wanted to scare and intimidate Hori Gage, not to kill him. Royden Haenga and Robert Richards are facing trial for the murder of Gage, whom the two Black Power members allegedly killed in retaliation for an attack on one of their local presidents several days earlier. However, Gage, who was a member of the Mongrel Mob, was part of a different chapter and hadn't been involved in the earlier incident at all. It's the Crown's case that Richards and Haenga were driving around Palmerston North on Sunday, 6 August, 2023, armed with guns and searching for revenge. Richards denies being there at all, while Haenga admits he was in the car and admits shooting at Gage, but claims he didn't mean to kill him. Defence lawyer Scott Jefferson partly quoted his client's words in his closing address in the High Court at Palmerston North this morning when he said: "Ladies and gentlemen, it was a f***ing sh*tshow that shouldn't have happened, but it wasn't Royden Haenga's sh*tshow." During a police interview, Haenga had described the situation on 6 August in those words. Later in that same interview, Haenga claimed he was "... just trying to intimidate him, not kill the c*nt". "Who plans or who wants a sh*tshow? No one does," Jefferson put to the jury this morning. "This is the whole point of Mr Haenga's case." Jefferson said Haenga didn't plan the murder, and the person in the back seat of the car acted alone and unscripted. The Crown alleges Richards was the man in the back seat and that he got out, advanced on Gage and shot him five times while he sat in his car with his family. A third man in the car, who was driving, Neihana Cunningham, has already pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and Jefferson said that whoever the back seat passenger was, he was primarily to blame. "There is a huge distinction between what Neihana Cunningham and Royden Haenga did and what the guy in the back seat did," Jefferson said, noting that Haenga had been shooting low, not trying to hit Gage. "What the person in the back seat did to Mr Gage was an execution, but it was an entirely unscripted and unassisted act from Mr Haenga's point of view." Following a violent depatching and stabbing of a local Black Power president on 4 August, the Crown says a national call to arms went out to other chapters of the gang. The Crown says Richards travelled from Hawke's Bay with other Black Power associates in response to that call to arms and got into a car with Haenga, looking for someone from the Mongrel Mob as a target. Richards' lawyer, William Hawkins, centred his closing address on the credibility of what he described as "self-interested" Crown witnesses. "Only one person formally identifies him as the shooter," Hawkins said, referring to a sole witness who was granted name suppression at the trial. Hawkins centred on this witness' first interview with police, in which he lies about his involvement in terms of driving Haenga out to a Black Power address known as "The Farm", and then leaving with him and another man whom he later identified from a police montage as being Richards. Hawkins accused the witness of wanting to "have his cake and eat it too" by claiming he wasn't in the car, but was also able to identify Richards. Hawkins also suggested that the witness was in the car when Gage was shot. Also under fire in Hawkins' closing address was Cunningham, whom he said was perilously close to sitting in the dock next to Richards and Haenga as an accessory to murder. "But he had a change of heart," Hawkins said, referring to Cunningham's decision to plead guilty to manslaughter for his role as the getaway driver of the car after Gage was shot. Hawkins said Cunningham was doing everything he could to reduce his sentence, including giving evidence against Richards and Haenga at the "11th hour" before the trial. Finally, Hawkins said that while there was CCTV that placed Richards around Palmerston North leading up to the murder, there was none that placed him at The Farm, nor any cellphone polling data. Crown prosecutor Guy Carter summarised several weeks of Crown evidence for the jury on Tuesday, including police surveillance, phone polling data, and testimony from multiple witnesses. A key Crown witness, who has name suppression, admitted driving Haenga to a known Black Power address in Palmerston North roughly 40 minutes before the murder. That witness, who is not a Black Power member, then drove away with Haenga and another person he later identified to police as Richards, before stopping at another address where he got out and Cunningham got in to drive. It was Cunningham's evidence that, as he was driving along Croydon Ave, it was Haenga who told him to turn around as they drove past Gage and his family sitting in their car in the driveway. Carter said CCTV footage places Haenga's white Nissan Teana driving towards The Farm shortly before the murder, and more footage shows it speeding away from the scene of the crime on Croydon Ave on 6 August, 2023. In that footage, gunshots can be heard and Gage's partner, Amethyst Tukaki, and her three children can be heard screaming in the aftermath. Carter referenced forensic evidence heard in the trial showing that, in total, nine bullets were fired from two guns. Six of them struck Gage. Five of them, the Crown says, were fired by Richards, while the sixth, which struck Gage in the arm, was allegedly from Haenga. "You've heard the shooting and the audio," Carter said, "He was shot six times in front of his family, while he sat defenceless and unprotected in his vehicle." Carter said it was clear that Richards was the third person in the car, and that there was an overwhelming amount of evidence to support that. However, Carter said that Haenga facilitated the murder to the point it couldn't have happened without him by supplying the car, the local knowledge and the driver. The prosecutor also said Haenga deliberately shot at Gage, and had brought a gun he knew was loaded, which he aimed at the other man and squeezed the trigger. Carter said that while, yes, Gage was a member of the Mongrel Mob, he was also a family man and a father to four children, and he'd had nothing to do with the gang violence from days earlier. "But he was the one who paid the perverse price that was demanded for it. "A man they didn't even know personally, but they chose to kill him because he was associated with the wrong gang on the wrong weekend." Carter said the several-week-long trial had been about holding the two shooters accountable. "What they did does amount to an execution," he said. "It was targeted, it was a callous, it was cold-blooded." Justice Helen McQueen will sum up the case for the jury on Thursday morning, before they are sent out to deliberate. - This story was first published by NZ Herald.
RNZ News
3 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Breastfeeding baby died after ‘distracted' midwife left room for 25 minutes
By Jeremy Wilkinson, Open Justice reporter of Photo: A "distracted" midwife who was "rushing" to complete administrative tasks after a birth left the room for 25 minutes - only to come back and find the baby unresponsive. She, and the other staff at the hospital fought to revive the newborn, who had just finished breastfeeding, but she died despite being transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Now, a coroner has criticised midwife Lesa Haynesfor a lack of vigilance and mismanagement of her priorities which resulted in the preventable death of the 30-hour-old baby girl. An inquest held in 2023 focused on the postpartum care the couple received, in terms of how they were taught to breastfeed the baby and make sure she was able to both breathe and feed. According to inquest findings, which were released today, the baby was born in 2015 at Palmerston North Hospital, and the parents, who cannot be named, were assisted by Haynes in helping the baby latch before she left the room to complete paperwork and other tasks. The mother said that at some point during this time, her baby stopped feeding, and she thought this meant she was full and had gone to sleep. Shortly after this, the mother began bleeding and needed to call for a nurse, at which point Haynes returned and noticed that the baby appeared quite still. Haynes recalls the baby lying on her back, not breathing, with mottled skin and immediately recognised something was wrong and began attempting to resuscitate her. The baby was intubated and then transferred to Wellington Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. However, it was found that the baby had suffered irreversible brain damage due to a lack of oxygen, and the decision was made to take her off life support. The cause of death was confirmed as Hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy due to neonatal asphyxia during the skin-to-skin contact while feeding the baby. The baby's mother told the inquest that she recalled being surprised at how close the baby needed to be held in order to be fed, and remembers asking Haynes: "Will she be able to breathe?" and being told in response that "The desire to breathe is greater than her desire to feed." She didn't recall any specific instructions on how to keep the baby's airways clear, and that after the feeding had finished her daughter appeared to be asleep. The baby's father said that after the skin-to-skin contact and the feeding began, Haynes left the room a number of times. When she returned and saw that the baby was still, she "immediately grabbed the baby and jumped into action". When asked about what he expected in terms of Haynes' further involvement, he said that they were first-time parents and were in her hands, and it was for her to tell them what to do. The father said the inquest focused on the breastfeeding, but at the time it didn't seem like a huge thing because they were told what to expect before Haynes left the room. "That didn't seem unusual or alarming to us, we didn't know any better. Everything was relaxed, casual and there were no details," he said. Haynes accepted that she was absent for about 25 minutes during the second hour of the baby being born, and that she had left the room multiple times in the first hour. "…it would have been for a couple of minutes to get pain relief but with the amount of work that goes on within that first hour or so, there's no way I left the room for an extended period of time and would have left them alone," she said at the inquest. Haynes explained that once the baby had been born she would keep an eye on the girl's colour and breathing and checking the placenta and the mother's perineum. She would also clean up after the birth, position the mother and getting the baby skin to skin. In terms of breastfeeding she said that she talked about keeping the baby's face clear, watching the length of her jaw for sucking, what to look for with swallowing, how to make sure that her face was clear. She said she showed the mother how to put her finger on her breast to keep that away from the baby's face and then got her to repeat that back to her. She said she most definitely showed the parents the proper technique for breastfeeding, stating. "I can still see that day in my head, it is very clear, that that's what I did…I cannot get rid of it". After about five minutes she considered that the mother and baby were fine and that the father was capable of watching them, so she left the room to give them some time alone. The midwife was questioned at the inquest about whether she had an obligation to remain in the room. "In hindsight, absolutely," she replied. Haynes declined to comment further when approached by NZME about today's findings. Coroner Bruce Hesketh said in his findings that Haynes had not provided an acceptable standard of maternity care, that it wasn't appropriate for her to have left the room, and that the baby's death was preventable. "I am satisfied that RM Haynes was rushing to complete her outstanding tasks instead of being vigilant during the very important skin to skin contact and first breastfeed between [the mother] and [the baby]." "I do not accept it was appropriate in the circumstances of this case to leave the parents alone at the time she did. It was too soon and there had not been sufficient observation of mother and baby during the first breastfeed." Coroner Hesketh said that Haynes' priorities were wrong in leaving the room when she did and that she should have stayed longer to observe. "I find RM Haynes got distracted when she left the birthing suite and had it not been for the call bell activation and the intervention of [hospital staff], I am satisfied RM Haynes would have been absent for even longer." Coroner Hesketh recommended the Te Whatu Ora review the definition of the "Immediate Postnatal period" in its guidelines, and that this period should not encompass just the first one to two hours post birth. Instead, Coroner Hesketh said this period should be an ongoing assessment that recognised any deviations from normality. * This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
RNZ News
4 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Baby dies after allegedly given adult dosage of medication
A two month baby has died from a suspected overdose after she was allegedly given an adult dosage of phosphate medication. BellamereArwyn Duncan was born prematurely in Palmerston North in May, when she left the neonatal unit she was prescribed several medications, including phosphate. The pharmacy allegedly dispensed an adult dosage and 24 hours after Bellamere's first dose, she stopped breathing. Pharmacist and director of Mangawhai Pharmacy, Lanny Wong spoke to Lisa Owen. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
4 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
'Awful error': Two-month-old dies following overdose after pharmacy allegedly gives medication at wrong dosage
By Sam Sherwood, Bellamere Duncan died at Starship Hospital on 19 July. Photo: Supplied Warning: This story has details of the death of an infant A two-month-old baby died following an overdose after she was allegedly given medication at an adult dosage by a pharmacy, RNZ can reveal. In an exclusive interview, her grieving parents are calling for a law change that would make it mandatory for medication to be checked by two people before it is dispensed. The revelations have prompted the Ministry of Health and Health New Zealand to "urgently" undertake a joint review into the incident, with Medsafe visiting the pharmacy to ensure they are safe to continue operating. The Pharmacy Council, which is also investigating, says it is "clear that an awful error has occurred". Bellamere Arwyn Duncan was born at 31 weeks and five days at Palmerston North Hospital on 2 May. Her parents Tempest Puklowski and Tristan Duncan knew from the scans she was going to be "quite tiny", and were told she would be early but no one expected she would come as early as she did. "That was definitely on her own accord," Puklowski, a first-time mum, says. "She sort of just made up her mind, and was like 'I'm coming out'." Bellamere, who weighed 1023 grams when she was born, spent about two months in the neonatal unit. Puklowski says she could not wait to bring her baby home and was excited when she was discharged on 24 June. Do you know more? Email While in hospital, Puklowski gave Bellamere her drops for Vitamin D. Nurses also administered her phosphate. When they left hospital they were given some Vitamin D in a little bottle, and a prescription for iron and Vitamin D. The following day Duncan went to a Manawatu pharmacy with the prescriptions. He was given the iron, but says the pharmacy refused to give the Vitamin D as the staff thought the dosage was "too high for her age and her weight". The staff said they would call the neonatal unit and follow-up. A few days later Puklowski received a call from the unit to organise a home care visit. During the call she was asked if she had any concerns, and Puklowski asked if they had been contacted about the Vitamin D. They had not, and said they would follow up and rewrite the prescription along with a prescription for phosphate. The homecare visit went well. Bellamere had put on weight, and was "doing well", Puklowski recalls. "She was settling in perfect." Bellamere Duncan's parents were allegedly given an adult dosage of phosphate by the pharmacy. Photo: Supplied A day after the phone call, on 2 July, Duncan went to the pharmacy to collect the medication and came home with just the phosphate. Unbeknown to the parents, they had allegedly been given an adult dosage of phosphate. The label on the medication directed them to dissolve one 500mg tablet of phosphate twice daily in a glass of water. Puklowski said given the pharmacy's refusal to give them the Vitamin D, they did not even think to question the dosage. That evening they gave Bellamere her first dose of the medicine in her formula water. They would give her three bottles in 24 hours as was recommended. The couple noticed in that period that her eating was off, and thought she was "extra gassy", Puklowski says. "She was still feeding fine. She just wasn't maybe going through a whole bottle compared to what she was," she recalls. Then, the day after she got her first dosage, Bellamere suddenly stopped breathing. "We were like oh shit, I went straight into panic," Puklowski says. "Tristan had to start administering CPR, and I was on the phone to the ambulance which arrived very quickly, within at least five to 10 minutes." Bellamere was flown to Starship Hospital after she suddenly stopped breathing. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly Bellamere was taken to hospital and rushed to the emergency department. Once she was stabilised she was taken to the neonatal unit where she stayed overnight before she was flown to Starship Hospital. "We were definitely terrified and more confused than anything about what was going on," Puklowski says. The couple told the doctors they were worried they had overfed her, and her body was struggling to get it out. "I was trying to think of what had changed in the past 24 hours, which was her phosphate," Puklowski says. The couple had taken a bottle of the medicine with them to Starship Hospital. She gave it to the staff who saw that they had been given an adult dose. The staff then requested the original prescription which confirmed the script had been written with the correct dosage, but somehow the pharmacy had given the wrong dosage, Puklowski says. "I keep thinking about how much she ended up having and it just makes me feel sick." Once at Starship Hospital the couple were told they would "have to make some hard decisions". "But then we went and saw her. She was still moving and her eyes were still opening. "So we were like, 'No. She's our strong little fighter. I mean, look at how well she's done so far'." Tragically, Bellamere died at Starship Hospital on 19 July. "It was completely horrible," Puklowski says of having to say goodbye to her baby. A preliminary coroner's opinion is that Bellamere died of phosphate toxicity, her parents confirmed. A week on from their daughter's death, the couple are still in shock. Puklowski says she is in "disbelief". "They're just numb," Puklowski's mother, Rachelle Puklowski says. "It's completely traumatised them. They just watched Bella pass twice, once in their home and then again up at the hospital." The owner of the Manawatu pharmacy that dispensed the medication said in a statement to RNZ the baby's death was "a tragedy". "Our sympathy is with the family and whānau. This is a very difficult time. "We are looking into what has happened to try to understand how this took place. There will also be external reviews which we will work with." RNZ asked the owner how the medication was given at the wrong dosage, whether they disputed the allegations, when the pharmacy became aware the wrong dosage had been given, and what confidence people could have about other medication received from the pharmacy. The owner said the pharmacy was "devastated about what has happened and are investigating to find out how this occurred". "It is not appropriate to comment further at this stage." Duncan describes what happened to his daughter as "negligence". "How was it overlooked?" Puklowski wants to know. "Not even just in the initial making of it, but in the handing of it to us. They denied us the Vitamin D because they thought the dosage was too high for her age and weight, but can proceed to give us a full adult dosage of phosphate, like it just makes no absolute sense," she said. "They have to make sure they realise the kind of mistake that they have made, and that something has been done about it." The couple are adamant they want changes to the system for giving out medication. "It's the sort of thing that can't really be overlooked. "There needs to be something better in effect, rather than just relying on one person to make sure you're getting the right prescription, having at least a few eyes." Pharmacy Council chief executive Michael Pead said in a statement to RNZ the council's "heartfelt thoughts" were with Bellamere's family following the "absolute tragedy". "It is clear that an awful error has occurred, and as the regulator for pharmacists, we are working on understanding every detail of what happened, what went wrong, how it went wrong, and who was involved. The Pharmacy Council is working promptly to take any immediate steps required to ensure public safety. "Our enquiry and investigation processes are currently underway and, until these are complete, we cannot provide any further details. At the end of the process, we will make any recommended changes to ensure as best as possible an event like this does not happen again." The Pharmacy Council operated within a wider framework of organisations responsible for the protection of public health and safety, Pead said. "We have also referred the incident to other relevant organisations to ensure they can act on any matters that may fall into their remit. "We would emphasise that situations of this nature are extremely rare. No health practitioner goes to work aiming to cause harm, and New Zealanders can have faith that the pharmacists working in their communities and hospitals are vigilant about medicine dosage and patient safety." Pead said the council set the standard that all pharmacists follow a "logical, safe and methodical procedure" to dispense therapeutic products. Every pharmacy would have their own standard operating procedures that covered the dispensing and checking process, he said. "It involves checking the prescription for legality and eligibility, clinical assessment and accuracy check. "The check by a second person (separation of dispenser and checker roles) is considered best practice and is often built into the checking process in a pharmacy's procedures. The pharmacist is responsible for the final check. Sometimes this may not be possible for a sole charge pharmacist, working alone in the dispensary. It is recommended that a second self-check should be carried out, taking a few moments between the prescriptions to 'reset' and performing the final check with care." Health New Zealand and the Ministry of Health released a joint statement to RNZ, extending their "heartfelt condolences" to Bellamere's family. "Health New Zealand and the Ministry of Health take very seriously incidents like these, which while rare, are always thoroughly investigated to identify any lessons that can be learned. "Both agencies involved are acting urgently in undertaking a joint review into this incident, exploring all aspects of the care provided." Health New Zealand is undertaking a serious incident review and the Ministry of Health will be looking at actions taken by health services in the community. "This will occur alongside providing any information requested by the coroner." On Friday, a Ministry of Health spokesperson told RNZ that Medsafe had visited the pharmacy where the medicine was dispensed and completed an initial assessment that the pharmacy was safe to continue operating. "That initial assessment is part of a rapid audit and site visit of the pharmacy which is being carried out by Medsafe, aimed to provide additional assurance that the pharmacy is meeting expected standards." The actions taken by Medsafe and the Pharmacy Council would help inform the ongoing review, the spokesperson said. "These measures are occurring alongside providing any information requested by the coroner." Health Minister Simeon Brown said in a statement to RNZ he was "heartbroken" for Bellamere's family who had "inexplicably lost their baby in tragic circumstances". "My thoughts are with them at this incredibly difficult time. "I am advised that the Pharmacy Council has taken immediate action and is investigating this incident. The council has also advised other appropriate regulators."
RNZ News
18-07-2025
- RNZ News
Around 10 cows killed after vehicle crashes into herd outside Palmerston North
Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER *A previous version of this story stated around 20 cows had been killed. A later police update clarified that 10 died and four have been injured. Police say 10 cows have died, and four have been injured after a vehicle crashed into a herd outside of Palmerston North on Friday night. Emergency services received reports of a collision between a vehicle and a herd of cows on Napier Road, SH3, near Ashurst around 8.30pm. The driver of the vehicle suffered moderate injuries. Both lanes were blocked, and diversions were put in place while the road was cleared. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
