The 20-year-old forestry worker charged with beating up a man who he says put faeces in his girlfriend's handbag entered no plea in the Blenheim District Court today.
Lance James Mackel was charged with injuring 58-year-old Andrew Carman, of Wellington, with reckless disregard for the safety of others after the incident at Cow Shed Bay Camp ground in Marlborough Sounds on November 28.
He was bailed at large to reappear on January 17.
The Marlborough Express
Residents of Anakiwa did not need an envelop when they sent their rural delivery man Adam Coleman a message of congratulations on his secret wedding.
They spelt it out across a seven- metre-long banner and stood in the drizzle at the roadside as he made his 9am delivery run yesterday.
The banner congratulated Mr Coleman and his new wife, Melissa, who married on the Grove Wharf in Okiwa Bay before a handful of friends and family on Saturday night.
Tirimoana House co-owner Michele Hotham said Mr Coleman's delivery van was then "liberally daubed" with streamers and tin cans tied to the back.
The residents got together on Monday night to make the banner after Mr Coleman bragged about keeping it under wraps.
Mr Coleman, who has done the mail run to Queen Charlotte Dr and Anakiwa for nine years, said the stunt was embarrassing but sweet.
"It's really actually just very touching that the locals think so much of me," he said.
The couple wanted to keep the stress of planning the day to a minimum.
"At the end of the day we figured that day isn't meant to be stressful," he said.
The wharf had sentimental value because he proposed to Melissa there and Mr Coleman's mother grew up and died in the area and spent her youth fishing off the wharf, he said.
The couple were both working for NZ Post when they met about a year ago – Mrs Coleman was a relief postie and worked with Mr Coleman helping him sort mail.
"I used to think what a nice girl she was, but I didn't think I'd end up with her," he said. "Just before Christmas last year she said `You'd better take me out to lunch one day' and I said `Yes' ... from then it never stopped."
MESSAGE OF SUPPORT: Residents of Anakiwa and Tirimoana made a banner congratulating rural delivery man Adam Coleman on his wedding. From left are Lesley Pincombe Heidi Wallace, Judy Bool, Isobel Richards, Gloria Murray, Kath Fishburn, Leith Manson, Glenys Norton, Andy Pincombe and Tony Daken.
Bug man Ruud Kleinpaste didn't have any of his multi-legged friends with him when he visited Rapaura School yesterday but that didn't seem to matter to the pupils.
They were treated to an impromptu ecology lesson.
Mr Kleinpaste was at the school to inspect the site for the new outdoor classroom the school has won as part of a national competition.
The Marlborough Express reported last week that the school was one of four selected throughout the country to receive the Treemendous makeover, run by the Mazda Foundation and the Project Crimson Trust.
During his visit yesterday, Mr Kleinpaste gave principal Helen Williams design tips and ideas about how to attract birds and insects, including "bamboo motels" hanging from trees to attract weta.
Attracting bugs and native birds back to the site was about re-building an ecosystem from the ground up, he told the pupils. They were excited when he said falcons may eventually settle nearby or moreporks could nest in the trees as a result of improving the habitat.
Although the outdoor classroom would be small, it was a "blank canvas" with potential to expand further into the school, he said.
Vineyards close to the school and throughout the region were not fit for many native birds or bugs, he said.
"From a biological point of view it [the vineyards] is a really poor habitat. If you do want to stimulate native birds you need to give them back what was here," he said.
"If Marlborough can do this with school after school, you can get a really good restoration [of habitat] going."
Mr Kleinpaste flew to Wellington yesterday afternoon to report back to the Mazda Foundation and the Project Crimson Trust on what he saw at the school.
NURTURE NATURE: Bug man Ruud Kleinpaste was at Rapaura School yesterday to inspect the site for the school's outdoor classroom, which he expects will attract native insects and birds.
Five people accused of being involved in a fight in Havelock in October in which several volunteer firefighters were assaulted have elected trial and will defend the charges.
They appeared in the Blenheim District Court yesterday.
Kevin Alistar Norgate, 40, of Havelock, denied assault with a weapon, possession of an offensive weapon, namely a baseball bat, behaving in a threatening manner likely to cause violence and possession of cannabis.
Dylan Luke Norgate, 24, of Picton, denied two charges of assault and one of disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence.
Aloma Denys Norgate, 32, of Waipukurau, denied a charge of disorderly behaviour.
John Richard Watts, 48, of Waipukurau, denied charges of assault and disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence.
James Tama Rangitakatu, 35, a factory hand of Picton, denied two charges of assault.
The charges relate to an incident on Mahakipawa Rd, Havelock, about 1.20am on October 17 after an 18th birthday party got out of control.
Police allege one firefighter was knocked to the ground and kicked in the head as he lay there while another one was hit in the face.
Watts, Rangitakatu, Kevin Norgate and Dylan Norgate were granted bail and will reappear in the Blenheim District Court on December 20. Aloma Norgate was remanded at large and will reappear on February 23.
A cellphone call ended a warehouse storeman's ordeal after he was held to the ground during a knifepoint robbery.
The man was the victim in the armed robbery at the Cloudy Bay Business Park near Blenheim on October 30.
In the Blenheim District Court yesterday, Francis Bronson Freemantle, 24, deckhand, admitted conspiring to commit a burglary. He also admitted receiving stolen items, and two charges of being a party to receiving.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Steve Frost said Freemantle sent text messages to co-accused Daniel Winiata Kemp, 22, of Blenheim, to organise the robbery and theft of electronic items. Freemantle later told police that he gave Kemp a pair of boltcutters, knowing he was planning the robbery.
The victim was working alone and was unloading a truck at the warehouse when Kemp and another man approached him about 2.30am on October 30, Mr Frost said.
Kemp forced the man to the ground, and a knife was jabbed into his left side. The man was told to keep his head on the ground, cover his eyes and not look, Mr Frost said.
Kemp stood over the man while his associate backed up a stolen white Toyota van and more than $20,000 worth of electronic equipment, including 13 flat-screen televisions, was loaded inside.
The men left the warehouse in the van when someone called the victim's cellphone.
About four hours later, Freemantle sent texts to Kemp offering to sell some items for him because he "knew people who knew people", Mr Frost said.
Freemantle sold two TVs for $750 and bought one himself for $350.
Freemantle was remanded on bail to be sentenced on February 8.
Kemp, who faces a charge of aggravated robbery, will remain in custody until January 10, when he is due to apply for electronically monitored bail.
Rapaura School has won a Treemendous Makeover which will transform an out-of-bounds area into an outdoor classroom.
The school was one of four selected throughout New Zealand to receive the makeover, which is run by the Mazda Foundation and the Project Crimson Trust.
Principal Helen Williams said the area would turn over a new leaf and be transformed into an area pupils could use for both leisure and learning.
Although plans for the area were not finalised, it would include a path and flax planting, and it was hoped that native birds such as tui would be attracted.
Work on the "blank canvas" would require little construction but much recycled material, Mrs Williams said.
It was expected the area would be completed in June or July next year.
Mrs Williams said the makeover fitted in well with the vision of the school, which already had a vegetable garden, citrus and feijoa trees and this year was accredited as an Enviroschool.
The school's focus on the environment and sustainability was important partly because it taught children where their food came from.
"Some kids don't know what some vegetables are. You give them seeds and they don't know what to do with them."
The school would have undertaken the project regardless, she said, but the makeover was the "icing on the cake".
SIMON WONG - The Marlborough Express
A man who admitted stealing $2700 from his mother while she was in hospital was ordered to pay reparation and sentenced to 12 months' supervision when he appeared in Blenheim District Court, yesterday.
Raymond Allan Coster, 50, was charged with theft after his incapacitated mother lent him her eftpos card and told him to spend up to $100 on clothes to "tidy himself up" in Christchurch on June 21.
However, between June 21 and June 22 he withdrew up to $2700.
Judge Carrie Wainwright took into account Coster's early guilty plea, his offer to take part in a restorative justice programme and keenness to pay reparation.
Coster's offending was linked with his heavy use of alcohol and he was ordered to continue drug and alcohol counselling, Judge Wainwright said.
"It's obviously a critical point in your life where things could go a lot better or a lot worse," Judge Wainwright said.
A Picton man who admitted receiving methadone in the post from friends to feed his addiction was sentenced to 12 months' supervision when he appeared in Blenheim District Court yesterday.
Craig Duncan Webber, 34, an ACC beneficiary, admitted possession of cannabis, possession of a class B drug, and possession of needles after police raided his home in Lincoln St, Picton, on August 13.
Police searched Webber's house and found a courier post parcel containing three small bottles of methadone, a small amount of cannabis, and five syringes.
Judge Wainwright said the focus of the supervision would be rehabilitation for his drug addiction.
Webber said he was committed to getting off drugs.
The Marlborough Express
