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RNZ News
5 days ago
- RNZ News
Employer sentenced over false visa claims, exploiting Thai worker
Photo: RNZ / Yiting Lin A Christchurch employer who falsely claimed a Thai worker was a relative to get her into New Zealand has been sentenced to four months' home detention. Immigration NZ (INZ) said Ava Young falsely supported the woman's visitor visa, then charged her about $7500 for the job and visa, and forced her to work in the sex industry to pay it off. Young took 35 percent of the woman's earnings and kept a schedule of debt which she regularly send to the woman, officials said. According to INZ, the woman provided massage and sex services at Young's direction at various addresses in Auckland until June 2024, when she stopped working for Young after clearing her debt. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment launched an investigation after receiving a complaint that a female Thai national was breaching her visa conditions and being forced to work in a massage parlour and provide sexual services to clients. Six search warrants were carried out at addresses across Auckland and Christchurch, ultimately resulting in Young's arrest. Young pleaded guilty to two charges of providing false or misleading information to Immigration New Zealand and one charge of aiding and abetting the breach of visa conditions. INZ said the woman was misled and exploited, and the case was a serious abuse of the system. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
National Post
09-05-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Vivian Bercovici: Mothers express anguish as world turns its back on Israeli hostages
'It was very difficult to hear Bibi and Sara Netanyahu talk about three hostages not being alive,' said Herut Nimrodi, the mother of Tamir Nimrodi, a young soldier who was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on October 7, at a media briefing on Thursday. Article content Article content Herut Nimrodi last communicated with her son the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, when he sent his mother a series of text messages, not knowing that terrorists had already infiltrated his army base. Article content Article content At 4 p.m. that day, Nimrodi's 14-year-old daughter saw her brother in a video on social media. He was barefoot, in his pyjamas, without his glasses, clearly terrified and trying to shield his face from the relentless blows inflicted by Hamas terrorists. Tamir Nimrodi was led by force and walking on his own. Article content Article content Since then, the family has received no sign of life. No sightings of him in the tunnels. No psychological warfare videos. Article content Herut Nimrodi shared that her family worries profoundly that their beloved Tamir may be one of three of the remaining hostages who have been murdered. If, in fact, that is even true. Article content Israel officially lists 24 hostages as being alive, but the question of whether three of them may have been executed has been swirling around Israel in recent days. Late Thursday night, Israeli media published speculation that the three are, in fact, Tamir Nimrodi, as well as a Thai worker and a Nepali agricultural student. Article content On April 28, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked about the status of the hostages. He confirmed that there were 'up to' 24 believed to be alive, of 59 still held by Hamas. His wife, Sara Netanyahu, interjected loudly enough for the press to hear: 'fewer.' Article content Article content A week later, U.S. President Donald Trump also let slip that three of the 24 may be dead. 'There's 21, plus a lot of dead bodies,' said Trump. Article content Article content This rather casual disclosure of such sensitive information understandably distressed the families. Is it true? Why did no one tell them anything? This is how they live — on rumours and crumbs of reliable intelligence, but mostly on hope. Article content Just a few weeks ago, Hamas issued a statement saying that it had lost contact with the guards holding Edan Alexander, a 20-year-old American-Israeli soldier, suggesting that he may have been injured or killed. Article content Alexander's mother, Yael, did not speak of that particular event, but did share her torment in the briefing on Thursday, where Nimrodi and Hagit Chen, the mother of 21-year-old soldier Itay Chen, also spoke. Article content These mothers, bearing the heaviest of crosses, participate in these public sessions because they must. They must keep the fates of their sons — and all the hostages — fresh and at the forefront of this never-ending horror. Article content In addition to the cryptic Hamas message questioning Edan Alexander's condition, Yael and her family have seen two videos of him in captivity in recent months. These signs of life bring relief, and so much pain.
