Waimea Weekly Locally Owned and Operated
Wednesday 10 February 2021
Page 14
New happenings at Sprig & Fern
Page 23
Page 16-17
Support local businesses who support our community
Waimea rowers earn medals
Convicted fraudster sells cars locally Jacqui Rawson Reporter
jacqui@waimeaweekly.co.nz
Anthony Hendon played a lead role in a 2013 scam where advertisers in genuine publications were approached to place similar advertisements in publications to be printed by Anthony. To encourage purchase, the magazines were titled in a way that suggested support of worthwhile causes such as road safety, parenting or family support. Anthony grossly misrepresented the number of magazines to be printed and failed to circulate those magazines
as promised. Anthony attempted to obtain more than $1 million under the scam between October 2009 and October 2012 and did successfully obtain funds in excess of $750,000. The magazines the victims were conned into buying advertisements in had titles suggesting worthy causes such as “Road Awareness”, “Safer Children”, “National Drug and Crime Review”, and often titles very similar to legitimate magazines. He was also involved in a takeaway business in Motueka called Mot Hot Roasts. Anthony received four
years imprisonment for reproducing documents with intent to cause loss - charges resulting from a major joint investigation with OFCANZ, the Commerce Commission, New Zealand Customs and Inland Revenue, led by the SFO. Crown Prosecutor of the fraud case Grant Burston had also said Hendon’s only work was to be a parasite, targeting victims who could not afford the loss, or exhausted their advertising budgets for no gain. Hendon’s whole life was built around targeting 884 individuals, some of them repeatedly.
see page 2
anna Bawi with son Noah Biak Nun sang Bawi. Photo: Jacqui Rawson.
Murchison’s uncertainty over ambulance services Jenny Nicholson Reporter
jenny@waimeaweekly.co.nz
Over one hundred local residents turned out to a meeting on 1st of February to discuss the future of their paid ambulance officers after hearing that St John New Zealand is considering removing the paid positions. Simon Blakemore from Mur-
chison and Districts Community Council’s understanding is there are currently two ambulance officers (EMTs) both on call 96 hours on and 96 hours off and one is paid a 0.2 percent of a wage, the other 0.3 percent. There are also around eight volunteers. “My understanding is that they are not legally paying enough and probably exposing themselves to a claim so won’t continue paying
anything at all,” says Simon. West Coast Tasman MP Damien O’Connor attended the meeting and said that St John New Zealand has determined that the service as it is is unsafe and unsustainable. “Covering such long hours is unrealistic and the salary and legal obligation to employees can’t be met. Effectively they have legal obligations and health and safety
and payment that they feel they can’t sustain,” says Damien. “Changes to both our operational requirements and the legislative environment means that the current approach cannot continue,” says St John Buller Territory Manager Joelle Fox. Simon Blakemore says Murchison has very good support from PRIME, which is where a doctor or nurse attend serious
callouts. “Currently ambulance services in Murchison rely heavily on the commitment of two retained staff, supported by St John volunteers and our partnerships with PRIME and Fire and Emergency New Zealand,” says Joelle. “Murchison is lucky to have a basic health centre and a doctor in
see page 3
shade sails made for your space wave shades umbrellas awnings shade sail repairs
Additional copies $1
100% locally owned and operated
www.waimeaweekly.co.nz