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Guardian
Ashburton
www.guardianONLINE.co.nz
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
FIRST PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 27, 1879
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Convicted Twins ‘not twice the trouble’ over dog attacks A Methven couple whose dangerous dogs attacked five people have been convicted on charges relating to the incident and ordered to pay victims $4000 for medical help and counselling. It will be up to the local dog control authority, the Ashburton District Council, if Graham Leslie van Duinen, 51, and Sharon van Duinen, 39, can ever own a dog again. Their two large-breed mastiff cross dogs were released from their Methven property in February by their eight-year-old son and attacked two children, a teenager who came to their rescue, a tourist and a council ranger. In the Ashburton District Court yesterday, the van Duinens each admitted five charges of owning dogs that attacked, rushed and injured people. The case was being handled through the restorative justice programme and the couple had agreed to pay $4000 to cover the cost of medical and psychiatric counselling the two child victims now need. Judge Jacqui Moran said while the van Duinens had limited financial means, and could only pay the reparation at $10 a week, the amount reflected the gravity of the offending. She said the victims were significantly harmed by the dogs, not only physically but emotionally. “The emotional harm is extreme, and particularly for those two young children. They continue to experience flashbacks and major fear, and have to attend counselling along with more medical issues. And that is something
that will be ongoing.” She said the couple’s two dogs had been categorised as dangerous but they had failed to take precautions to keep them secure. The dogs have already been put down. The lawyer for Sharon van Duinen, Michelle Barrell, said the couple’s son, who had behavioural issues, had released the dogs without their knowledge. She said the couple had gone to great lengths to secure the dogs with fences and chains. On the day of the attack, the family had gone to the local swimming pool but the son had been allowed to return home, telling his mother he wanted a boogey board. Instead, he released the dogs and they savaged two children, biting and dragging them to the ground. Three passing teenagers intervened and put the children in their car, then the dogs went on to bite a 67-year-old tourist, who needed 25 stitches. A report presented to the court suggested a life-time ban from owning dogs, but Judge Moran said that could only be imposed by the local territorial authority, the Ashburton District Council. Police had asked for a five-year ban. Restorative justice co-ordinator Kevin McMahon said the two youngest victims of the attack were still emotionally traumatised and the parents were seeking professional help for them to recover. “That will cost money.” The Canadian tourist injured in the attack has already had her medical costs reimbursed. More court news, P5
Wellington’s mayor is hopeful it will be business as normal today despite 35 buildings in the CBD found to have been externally damaged by Sunday’s severe earthquake. Engineers spent yesterday assessing almost 2500 buildings in central Wellington following the magnitude-6.5 quake which struck in the Cook Strait just after 5pm on Sunday. The quake, which has been followed by hundreds of aftershocks, caused widespread damage. Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said most of it was minor and no structural damage had been discovered. About 12 buildings on a section of Featherston Street were cordoned off due to concerns about
falling masonry and glass. Businesses and organisations, many of which were closed yesterday, could reopen today and workers, who were told yesterday to stay away, could return to the city, Ms Wade-Brown said. Glass and masonry were still falling from about a dozen buildings and those areas had been cordoned off, but most roads had reopened. Three major car parking buildings in the central city were closed while they were inspected for possible structural damage. That meant a large number of motorists who regularly used these buildings should reconsider how they got to work. Three of the four city council buildings had been cleared for use. “The Civic Administration building, the library and the Town Hall,
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Eleven-month-old twins Charlee (left) and Jorja McLachlan and their mum Anna MacPherson want to start up a new group in Ashburton for people with twins. By Erin Tasker As the mother of nearly oneyear-old twins Jorja and Charlee McLachlan, Anna MacPherson hates the term “double trouble”. Twins might mean twice the nappies, twice the feeds and twice the clothes, but for her, it’s definitely not twice the trouble. Her first year as a mum has been a constant learning curve, and she loves it. She’s learnt a lot but also knows she could have done with more support during the early days, so now she wants to start a group in Mid Canterbury which will benefit her and other parents of multiples.
She wants to start up a twins group where parents of twins can meet, socialise and share their experiences. “Just to be able to have likeminded people in the same sort of situation, and knowing that people are going to turn up and that we’ve got somewhere to go,” Ms MacPherson said. “I know there’s plenty of people out there with twins, and it doesn’t matter what age they are. We’ve all been going through the same thing.” Mid Canterbury Plunket does have a twins group but Ms MacPherson wants to set up a new one, similar to one she’s already a part of in Christchurch. That group has activities weekly
Reclaimed land subsided into the sea at Thorndon Container Terminal, taking with it a large container and a large buoy. they’re structurally fine, they’re just doing some pressure testing on the sprinklers,” Ms WadeBrown said. Following Christchurch’s lead, some of Wellington’s students had
volunteered to clean up the mess. “There’s about 300-plus members on its Facebook page entitled ‘Student Volunteer Army Wellington’,” Ms Wade-Brown said.
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and members receive a magazine put together by members once a month. They also receive a multiple births card that gives holders discounts around Christchurch, including at places like Orana Park. It’s a great group to be part of, but for Ms MacPherson, it’s not always practical to get to Christchurch. “It is hard to get out with two babies,” she said. A lady from the Christchurch group has said she’d help her set up a similar group in Ashburton, and now Ms MacPherson is hoping others will get on board. She wants to find a place to meet and plans to start up a special Facebook page.
She wants the group to be a place for mums of multiples to simply talk; share their experiences and if needed, give some handy hints. “If I could describe being a twin mum, I would say it’s hard, it’s difficult, but most it all it’s interesting because no day is ever the same,” she said. “Even at their worst, they are funny.” Charlee and Jorja – born nearly nine weeks early - aren’t identical, they’re each developing at their own speed, and they certainly have their own personalities, their mum says. Personalities that will no doubt shine through at their big first birthday party next month.
Wellington dusts itself down after quakes By Rebecca Quilliam
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Greater Wellington Regional Council chairwoman Fran Wilde said the city’s port was close to being operational again. The shake caused about five metres of reclaimed land to subside into the sea at Thorndon Container Terminal, taking with it a large container and a large buoy. “The port will be working including, I understand, the ferry services,” she said. Rail services were back up and running to a half-hour schedule, Ms Wilde said. “Hopefully, subject to no more big shakes, will back on its ordinary timetable tomorrow.” Prime Minister John Key assured quake-hit people the Government would do its “very best” to ensure they get the support they needed. Mr Key was still to get an update on any fiscal impact of yesterday’s
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earthquake but said, in principle, New Zealand could afford to pay for the damage caused by another earthquake. “There’s nothing at the moment that’s been advised to me that would indicate there’s substantial fiscal risk to the Crown, we know that the Earthquake Commission fund really has nothing in it from the last time I looked at it,” he said. GNS Science seismologist Ken Gledhill said Sunday’s quake was a “one-in-several-decade event” but only a 10th of the size of the February 2011 Canterbury quake. Dr Gledhill said the many aftershocks still rocking the bottom of the North Island and top of the South were normal. “This is not unusual behaviour for the Cook Strait region. It’s following the pattern we would expect.” -APNZ
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his time next week the readers and the team at the Guardian will hopefully start getting into a nice rhythm for producing and enjoying your revamped newspaper. After the hype, excitement and adrenaline of the historic first edition has worn off, we all get up and do it all again. And again! The Guardian may be changing its Monday to Friday broadsheet size to the more convenient compact format but the core of our paper and its sections will remain very much like you are used to. Tuesday’s paper will, as usual, include our popular Heritage section and several pages of rural news. We will also have the wrap up of the weekend’s sports results alongside the traditional menu of local, national, The Guardian world, business and may be sport news. changing to Next Tuesday a compact it may be easier to format but find your the core of television, weather our paper and Family will remain Notices inside the very much back page, next to like you are the new used to expanded puzzle section. On Tuesdays we will also introduce a new column from the Federated Farmers board in our double-page Opinion section. Most weeks you will likely see the face of Mid Canterbury’s own Willy Leferink but he will alternate with other leading executives from other farming sectors. We hope the new opinion section will increase even more debate and we invite all readers of the Guardian to submit their own commentaries if you want to share your views.
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