Latest news with #reparation
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Joshua Oliver's victim left waiting for reparation he offered her at sentencing following sexual attack
By Hannah Bartlett, Open Justice reporter of Joshua Oliver was sentenced to six years' and three months' imprisonment for the sexual violation of a woman. Photo: NZME / supplied Warning: This story includes details of sexual offending and may be distressing. When a woman who was sexually violated after a work party was proactively offered a reparation payment by her attacker at sentencing, she thought it would be paid "then and there". She also thought it would be the end of the matter, and she could start to move on with her life. The victim told NZME that while $2500 felt like a "pathetic amount" compared to what she'd been through, and the financial loss she'd suffered, it would be some help towards Christmas, which was then coming up. But the money didn't turn up in her account, and calls to the police and courts left her doubting if she'd ever see the money. It was only after NZME became involved that the money has now been paid, nine months after Joshua Oliver was sentenced to imprisonment, having received a 5 percent discount for remorse - a discount that took into account his offer of emotional harm reparation. While the government's Chief Victims Advisor Ruth Money said she couldn't comment about specific cases, she acknowledged there were ongoing concerns about unpaid reparation. In particular, she worried sentencing took into account reparation or other offers, and yet they often did not materialise. "The judge can only take [offers] at face value, so the judiciary takes into account all offers and all signs of remorse as part of a normal sentencing process." A 'manifestation' of remorse A jury found Oliver guilty in June last year on a charge of sexual violation, for an attack while the victim was asleep and intoxicated after a work party. After an evening of socialising, the victim had gone to bed in a spare bedroom in a friend's house, only to wake to Oliver "forcefully" violating her. Her victim impact statement said it had been one of "the most extreme violations a person can endure". It left her traumatised, unable to work, and she told the court her children had lost the "carefree, happy mother they once knew". When Oliver was sentenced in October, he provided a remorse letter and made the offer of emotional harm reparation. Judge Lawson said $2500 couldn't "possibly repay the financial loss that the victim suffered, but it is an offer which I can take into account as a 'manifestation' of the remorse you've talked about". The judge was persuaded that comments Oliver made to a pre-sentence report writer, and the contents of the letter provided to the court, suggested he appreciated the impact of his actions. "Very often in cases like this, we find victims left in a state of doubt because the defendants maintain their innocence and do not accept the verdicts. Here you have accepted what you have done and that your offending has caused harm to the victim." "More than that", Oliver had made the offer of $2500 emotional harm reparation. Taking all that into account, Judge Lawson gave Oliver a 5 percent discount for remorse, as well as 10 percent for Oliver's background, to arrive at an end sentence of six years' and three months' imprisonment. He ordered the emotional harm reparation, though didn't give any specific directions about timeframe in his oral judgment. The victim said there had been a lot of "back and forth" trying to get the reparation, and she had followed up with the collections team at the court. She was told there had been an unsuccessful attempt to collect the money while Oliver was in custody, and she wouldn't get the reparation for "at least another six years, or when he gets out of prison, if [she gets it] at all". The victim told NZME that from the start, it had felt like a "pathetic amount". She'd been unable to work after the attack, and it had derailed the career she'd been pursuing. Despite that, she and her husband had seen the sentencing as the end of the process, and expected the offered reparation would be paid straight away so they could move on. "We were like, oh good, Christmas is not far away, we can actually 'do Christmas', kind of thing... but then it never came." She thought that because the money had been proactively offered, and had informed the discount, it would be paid "then and there". "If you're not gonna pay it, don't get 5 percent off... stay in prison for a few more months," she said. The victim's husband said they thought, "this is sentencing, he goes to prison. The payment is made. We move on with our lives and don't have to think about it again." Before the payment was made, the victim said chasing up the payment had made it hard to move on and put the attack, and the trial, behind her. It had felt "never-ending", she said. It was only after NZME contacted a representative for Oliver that the payment was made. However, despite several requests for comment, NZME has not received any official response about why it hadn't been paid earlier. Figures released to NZME in March, revealed unpaid reparation in the Tauranga District Court sits at $5,717,308, while the total outstanding reparation across the country is $105,678,413. Ministry of Justice National Service Delivery group manager Tracey Baguley couldn't comment on specific cases, but said when reparation was ordered in cases where a defendant was sentenced to imprisonment, the ministry would still attempt to collect the payment. That was payable within 28 days unless specific alternative timeframes were directed by the judge. "When an offender is in prison... however, enforcement options are often limited," Baguley said. Enforcement could include wages or bank account deduction, seizing property and, in some cases, suspending the offender's driver's licence. "...the legislation does not empower the court to pay the victim before it is collected from the offender; instead, the offender pays reparation, with payments enforced by the court." This is an area that Money, the government's chief victims advisor, has much to say about. When reparation went unpaid, it could cause issues with trust and confidence in the court system. It could also have a "long-lasting impact" on victims. "Either receiving little drip-fed amounts over a long period of time, as a constant reminder of their trauma," she said. "Or waiting many years, and still perhaps nothing materialising at the end of it." She had seen "many" cases where reparation had been paid swiftly, however, and where the offender had paid reparation while in prison. "Often the survivor is using that for therapy, for loss of income over missing work... it allows them to truly draw a line in the sand." She wanted to explore whether the state could pay the reparation, and then chase up the offender, rather than leaving it to victims. "That is an expensive option, particularly in today's economy. But is that a reason for us not to do it? Absolutely not." If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111. - This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Climate
- News.com.au
City of Gold Coast installs sandstone terraces to end destruction caused by decades old pastime
A local council has taken drastic action to stamp out a decades-old pastime which has delighted generations, after ratepayers were stung thousands to repair the damage left behind. The City of Gold Coast council announced it will install multiple sandstone terraces across Kirra and Burleigh Hills to prevent people from creating a 'mudslide' by sliding down the grass area during rain or storms. The damage bill has cost ratepayers thousands to replace the grass destroyed from mudslides, which left many locals disgusted by the mess left behind after ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred. Footage of a muddy North Burleigh Hill showed the area strewn with boogie boards and sheets of cardboard from residents that slid through the mud. One resident posted on social media it stunk like a sewer and was disappointed to see all the boards left everywhere. 'I can say all those that slid down it will have diarrhoea for weeks,' she captioned in a video on Instagram. City of Gold Coast councillor Gail O'Neil posted on Facebook that Kirra and North Burleigh Hills were turned into dangerous mudslides during the cyclone. 'Not only did this cause significant damage to the parks, but it also created serious safety concerns,' she said. 'This has been an ongoing issue for years with both hills continually having to be fixed after storms, using rate payers money to bring them back to an acceptable standard each time. 'To help deter this behaviour in future weather events, the City has made the decision to reshape and strengthen the hillsides, making them more resilient and much safer for the community.' The council will install sandstone block terraces across the hills to prevent people from creating mudslides and to reduce the risk of erosion. The work is expected to start later this month and will be finished by mid-October. But the work has had a mixed reaction from locals who have enjoyed the mudslides during rain events for decades. Some residents believe the money could be better spent labelling the city the 'fun police.' 'Grass grows very quickly. I'm sure Gold Coast council has plenty of rate money to spend on better things,' one person commented. 'Let the kids have a bit of fun. The grass has grown back! Money better spent putting in a second bike track from Kirra to Greenmount,' another person said. 'That's absurd. It's been there for thousands of years and done an all-right job,' a person said. 'Rather tax dollars go to fixing the grass on a hill from some locals having fun than some silly new stadium,' another person commented.
Telegraph
02-06-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Alfred Dreyfus to be promoted 130 years after treason conviction
Alfred Dreyfus is to be posthumously promoted 130 years after he was wrongly convicted of treason. France's parliament on Monday unanimously backed a bill giving him the rank of brigadier general in a final 'act of reparation' for one of the most notorious acts of anti-Semitism in the country's history. Dreyfus, a 36-year-old Jewish army captain from the Alsace region of eastern France, was accused in October 1894 of passing secret information on new artillery equipment to the German military attaché. Despite a lack of evidence, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the infamous Devil's Island penal colony in French Guiana - later to feature in the book and film Papillon, starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman - and publicly stripped of his rank. Parliament's backing of the highly symbolic bill, which will be ratified by the senate at a later date, comes amid a surge of anti-Semitism in France following the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel in 2023. The Representative Council of the Jewish Institutions of France registered 1,570 anti-Semitic acts last year, after 1,676 in 2023. In 2022 the figure was 436. In recent days, several Jewish and Israeli establishments in Paris, including a Holocaust memorial, were defaced with green paint. Gabriel Attal, the former prime minister who tabled the bill, said that the new law could not have come at a more important time. 'The anti-Semitism that targeted Alfred Dreyfus is not in the distant past,' he said, adding: 'Today's acts of hatred remind us that the fight is still ongoing'. 'Promoting Alfred Dreyfus to the rank of brigadier general would constitute an act of reparation, a recognition of his merits, and a tribute to his commitment to the Republic,' Mr Attal said. Just before the vote and in the presence of the Dreyfus family, Patricia Mirallès, the remembrance and veterans minister, said: ' Anti-Semitism is still striking in our democracy... this hatred must be fought resolutely.' The accusation against Dreyfus was based on a comparison of handwriting on a document found in the German attaché's waste paper basket. In 1894, he was put on trial, amid a virulent anti-Semitic press campaign that split France, and ultimately he was sent to rot on Devil's Island. But Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart, head of the intelligence services, secretly re-investigated the case and discovered the writing on the incriminating message was that of another officer, Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy. When Picquart presented the evidence to the general staff of the French army, he was kicked out of the military and jailed for a year, while Esterhazy was acquitted. That gave rise to writer Emile Zola's famous 'J'accuse' pamphlet to Felix Faure, the then French president, in which he slammed a 'terrifying judicial error' amid 'the hunt for 'dirty Jews' that is soiling our time'. A campaign to free him split the country between Dreyfusards, led by Zola, and anti-Dreyfusards such as Maurice Barrès, the far-Right political leader. Finally, in June 1899, Dreyfus was brought back to France, found guilty a second time, and sentenced to 10 years in prison, before being officially pardoned, though not cleared of the charges. Only in 1906, after many twists, did the High Court of Appeal overturn the original verdict, exonerating him. However, he was reinstated with the rank of chef d'escadron (major), a downgrade for an officer who had seemed destined for the highest posts until his wrongful conviction. Dreyfus left the army in 1907, but later signed up again when war with Germany broke out in 1914, and fought at Verdun. He died in 1935, aged 76. In April, Pierre Moscovici, the first president of France's Court of Audits; Frédéric Salat-Baroux, a prominent lawyer; and Louis Gautier, chairman of the Dreyfus Museum, signed an open letter calling for Dreyfus to be made a brigadier general. France was still blighted by anti-Semitism and the posthumous promotion was all the more important because 'part of the Left … is operating a terrible return to the past', they argued. Several dozen centrist Democratic MPs later warned the bill 'should not be used to buy a badge of honour' by parties with condemnable past or present stances on anti-Semitism, pointing the finger at Jean-Luc Mélenchon's Leftist France Unbowed (LFI) and Marine Le Pen's radical-Right National Rally (RN). 'It is in my family that we are descended from Dreyfusards, not in yours,' hit back LFI deputy Gabriel Amard, who condemned the 'double discourse of the RN' where, according to him, 'anti-Semitic remarks and behaviour are still rampant'. Hailing the law as 'fundamental for the Republic', Charles Sitzenstuhl, an MP from Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance Party in Alsace and rapporteur of the bill, joined calls for D reyfus to be interred in the Pantheon, France's temple to its great and good. Critics, including prime minister François Bayrou, argue that the Pantheon is for the country's 'heroes, not its victims', but others say the decade he spent in solitary confinement and his commitment to the French army proved otherwise. 'Dreyfus is a model of resistance and heroism for the nation. He is an example for younger generations, a great man,' said Mr Sitzenstuhl.
