SPCS

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

Former Anglican dean admits fraud – Otago Daily Times

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The former dean of Dunedin’s Anglican cathedral has admitted seven fraud charges involving $665,000 missing from the Auckland University of Technology (AUT).

Kirkpatrick is the former partner of former Labour MP Tim Barnett.

In 1996 he was made the 10th Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in Dunedin, working with the country’s first female bishop, Penny Jamieson.

 Wednesday, 17 Aug 2011 Otago Daily Times

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/173920/former-anglican-dean-admits-fraud

Jonathan Kirkpatrick pleaded guilty when he appeared in the Auckland District Court today and was remanded for sentence on October 6. [Read more…]

CEO of registered charity – Womens Refuge – criticises Judge’s decision

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Womens Refuge is a charity registered with the Charities Commission and receives considerable government financial assistance. Its Chief Executive, Heather Henare, has attacked a decision issued by a Judge in the Wellington District Court relating to a man charged with a “degrading” assault. She claims the decision “reeked of double standards”. 

A Te Papa manager has escaped conviction for a “degrading” assault on his pregnant former partner after claiming it would hamper his international travel for the museum.

Noel James Osborne, 47, is a collections manager of Maori artefacts. In a video on Te Papa’s website in which he presents the museum’s collection of taiaha, he says he is a carver.

Women’s Refuge chief executive Heather Henare said Osborne’s discharge without conviction reeked of double standards. “Effectively what this says is it is OK if you happen to be in a privileged position.”

Osborne, appearing in Wellington District Court yesterday, had previously pleaded guilty to common domestic assault.

Prosecutor Blair Piper described the attack as quite a degrading act. “It does have emotional ramifications beyond the physical. There’s simply no excuse for taking that action against a woman who was pregnant.”

But Osborne successfully argued that the effects of a conviction outweighed the gravity of the offending.

For more see:

 http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/5425894/Te-Papa-manager-avoids-assault-conviction

Registered charity challenges Court of Appeal’s child porn ruling

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Stop Demand Foundation, a registered charity (CC 30599) with the Charities Commission, has attacked a Court of Appeal decision granting name suppression to a 50-year old Manawatu man found guilty of possessing images of child rape. The charity’s founder, Denise Ritchie, who was interviewed on TV One’s Breakfast programme about the matter this morning, says the Court’s decision is a blow to child rape victims in New Zealand and to lobby groups like hers around the world fighting sexual violence against children.

The Manawatu man, who admitted 21 charges of possessing objectionable material, was sentenced to six months home detention and fined $5250 at the end of last year.

In a decision only made public yesterday, the Court of Appeal ruled that his name should be kept completely secret to protect his family members.

Ms Ritchie, who has read and studied the decision, pointed out on TV One’s Breakfast programme that the convicted man has not lived with or had close association with any of the “family members” whose reputations and privacy the Court of Appeal Judges have sought to protect. She argues that granting name suppression to the offender merely to protect the reputation of these people sets a dangerous precedent. [Read more…]

Jail sentences had a ‘chilling effect’ on company directors – NZPA

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Last year’s jailing of two directors of a finance company had a chilling effect on boardrooms, Serious Fraud Office head Adam Feeley told MPs.

Two directors of failed finance company Five Star were jailed in December for more than two years for misleading investors, some of whom lost millions. [Both have also been banned for five years from directing a company].

Former managing director Nicholas George Kirk was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison and former director Marcus Arthur MacDonald to two years and three months.

Mr Feeley told Parliament’s law and order select committee that jail was a strong deterrent,

“It really works with white-collar criminals. They don’t like going to jail,” he said.

“We had … the first imprisonment sentence for a finance company director. The level of consternation among company directors as a result of that was palpable.”

He said many who raised concerns were not doing anything wrong but feared potential action.

“There is no doubt that even one imprisonment sentence of a finance company director had quite a chilling effect on the corporate boardroom.” [Read more…]

Timaru drink-driving – all in the family

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Three members of a South Canterbury family were booked for drink-driving on the same night.  At 12.15 am on Saturday, a boy, 15, was stopped and arrested for drink-driving on State Highway 1 near Timaru. He blew 529 micrograms per litre of breath, more than three-and-a-half times the youth limit. He was taken to Timaru police station and his mother was called to collect him, but she was stopped about 2.14 am and arrested for drink-driving after blowing 776 mcg, nearly twice the adult limit of 400. The woman rang her partner to come and pick them both up, but he was stopped about 3 am and arrested when he blew 559 mcg.

Source: Dominion Post 13 June 2011, p. A3.