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Wednesday, March 27, 2013
FIRST PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 27, 1879
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Kirsty case sightings ‘ignored’ By Michelle Nelson A Methven resident thinks he has evidence relevant to the murder of Kirsty Bentley, and is frustrated with the lack of response from police. Kirsty was last seen with her dog on the walkway beside the Ashburton River on New Year’s Eve 1998. The dog was found tied to a tree on the riverbank the following day, along with Kirsty’s underwear. Around the same time a man who the Guardian has chosen to call Pete, to protect his identity, noticed a series of events in the Methven-Rakaia Gorge area. When Pete drove into Methven early on January 1, 1999, he noticed a Ford ute tucked in under some roadside trees near the Mt Hutt Station Road. As he entered the Rakaia Gorge, just before 7am, he saw a green Commer van, with a grey blanket concealing the back window. It was to be the first of several sightings that morning. Once it was parked alongside a rubbish skip in the car park of the Brown Pub. The driver, described as European with blond hair tied in a ponytail, was dumping items into the skip, and noticing a broken window Pete assumed the vehicle had been involved in a smash. In a local shop Pete saw the van driver again and enquired whether the vehicle was okay. He never responded. The driver left abruptly, crossing the road to the parked van. Thinking it an odd reaction, Pete mentioned it to the woman behind the counter. He then noticed another man, who he described as a Maori and heavily tattooed. This man glared at Pete and made a crude comment about people minding their own business. The van was spotted at a local fuel station and later heading back towards the Rakaia Gorge. He said it was distinctive. The Commer badge was painted bright red, and the sliding door opened on the driver’s side, whereas the majority open on the passenger side. About this time he learned that 15-year-old Kirsty was missing, but he made no connections until her body was discovered in a wooded area of the Rakaia Gorge 17 days later. Police called for information about a green van seen in Ashburton around the time the teenager disappeared. Pete gave a statement. Three months later he contacted police again; he was told there was no record of his original statement and was subsequently re-interviewed. In 2006 he saw the same van again. “I was outside my home when the van came by from the direction of the gorge – I’m sure it was
Kirsty Bentley the same van, it had the sliding door on the driver’s side and the grey blanket and the red badge.” But he said the van appeared to have had an amateur paint job, and was a muddy brown colour. At the time it was raining heavily and the rivers were rising fast. Again he contacted police. In March 2009 Pete was driving into Hororata on a regular trip he made on his job. “Here was this van again, this time it was silver or grey and tan – it had a two-tone paint job and was towing one of those trailers made from a cut-down ute. A month later I saw it near Darfield.” He had previously noticed a van sitting under a tarpaulin sitting outside a panel beater’s workshop at Glentunnel for some months. Pete is adamant it was the same vehicle he had seen on numerous occasions, and is exasperated that police have not followed up on the information he has given them. “The police could speak to the owner of the spray shop (panel beaters) and find out who picked up that van, or the guy who makes those cut-down trailers, but they don’t even return my calls.” He knows of other people who saw the van at the gorge and in Methven on January 1, 1999, who can verify his account, and he was interviewed by television journalist Brent Fraser for his documentary on the Kirsty Bentley case. He told his story to the Guardian because he plans to return to his homeland soon, and wants it on the record. Detective Inspector Greg Williams, who headed the case at the time, told the Guardian he was not aware of any contact from this informant in recent weeks. He said police have spoken to the informant on numerous occasions in the past, but the information provided has not been able to be validated.
Another day, another batch of hot cross buns as baker Matt Harvey counts down to Easter.
Photo Tetsuro Mitomo 260313-TM-005
Matt to pull an all-nighter to bake buns By Sue Newman Matt Harvey is going for a record breaker this Easter. By the time the lights go out in his Ashburton bakery tomorrow afternoon he will have mixed, kneaded and baked 300 dozen hot cross buns. Each one of those will have found its way into homes around the district, ready for consumption on Good Friday. Matt’s a master baker when it
comes to hot cross buns. He’s very particular about what goes into the mixture and while he might call on staff to lend a hand with the massive bake-a-thon, he likes to be the man on site for every batch. And that means tonight will be a long one, but when the last bun’s baked he won’t be hanging around to see it being sold. “From lunchtime today until lunchtime tomorrow I’ll be doing 24 hours of baking. I won’t get any sleep but as soon as I finish
I’m out of here, on a plane to the Gold Coast.” This year, hot cross buns began selling much earlier than in previous years and business had steadily increased as Easter loomed, he said. “I guess I’m lucky here, the smell goes down the arcade as soon as they come out of the oven. If I time it right, I can take a batch out about morning tea time and they’re all sold before we have a chance to get them in the packs.” However, he no longer shares
his customers’ enthusiasm for hot cross buns and butter. “I’m over them now. A couple of weeks ago I ate them but now I’m over it.” The secret to successful buns lies in the spice mix – plenty of it – and in the time you allow the yeast to do its work. “A lot of bakers cut down on the spice because too much kills the yeast and they take a lot longer to rise. I add extra spice for flavour and I’m happy to allow the rising to take longer,” he said.
Having the freedom to take time with your baking is the upside of being a smaller baker, but the downside is not having the oven capacity the big boys have, Matt said. His baking speed is limited by the number of trays he can stack in his oven. If he wants to work out the amount of flour he’ll use baking those 300 dozen buns, Matt has to grab his calculator. One batch is 21 dozen and that’s 10kg of flour; 300 dozen – that’s a lot of flour.
Some hurdles to alternative drop-off point By Myles Hume Disabled pupils at Ashburton College will have to wait until at least the beginning of next term to have better access to their classroom. Ashburton College deputy principal Grant Congdon met with Ritchies Bus and Coach for two hours yesterday to discuss an alternative drop-off point for disabled pupils. Currently, the pupils are being dropped off at least 300 metres from their classroom at the bus
bay on Creek Road, which has parents worried about the safety and health of their children. One parent had to transport her son to school because if he got wet walking to his classroom, it would be likely he would be hospitalised. Others had concerns over powered wheelchairs which could be damaged in the rain. An alternative entrance being investigated was on Middle Road so the bus can get closer to the classroom. Those attending the meeting inspected the alternative drop-off point. Mr Congdon said it could
mean pupils would be dropped off 37 metres from the classroom. He said the college expected to have made appropriate alterations to the Middle Road entrance by the beginning of term two, which is on May 6. But there are “a number of criteria that need to be met before it goes ahead”. Those criteria include ensuring the bus was not too low to access the driveway, the removal of staff car parks and tree branches, and informing staff and pupils of the process before it goes ahead. The bus has an onboard cam-
era which would assist the driver who would have to reverse the bus up the driveway. Mr Congdon said it was a realistic timeframe, and hoped the weather would continue to hold out for pupils. However, a long range Metservice forecast is predicting it will rain early next week. Mother Faye Blackburn, whose son James has a kidney disorder, said it was relieving to hear that progress was being made. “They are doing the best they can do, and at least they are trying to solve it,” she said.
Mr Congdon said addressing the distance pupils in wheelchairs and with other disabilities had to make to class was the final hurdle to jump after Ritchies took care of issues surrounding uncertified wheelchair restraints, unsuitable pick-up and drop-off times and the long periods of time some children were travelling on the bus. “Addressing this is just as important as the other issues, particularly with a powered wheelchair there are all sorts of ramifications that can happen in wet weather,” Mr Congdon said.
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