Relief at end of NCEA exams

The academic year is over for senior secondary school students in Marlborough and around the country. They let out a collective sigh of relief as the last NCEA exams finished yesterday.

For some, the coming summer months will be filled with dread awaiting their results to be posted in January, but for others, like year 11 Marlborough Girls' College student Lee Stewart, it is time to relax with family and play music.

The 15-year-old sat her Level 1 music exam yesterday, which she said was challenging but her study had paid off.

She found theoretical exams more difficult than the practicals.

The drama exam caught her off-guard because it was a different format from what she expected based on previous years.

Her friends had mixed feeling about the exams, she said.

"Some people thought they went quite well. Some were stressed over it."

Lee volunteered to play guitar and sing at John's Kitchen in Blenheim last night for people having their free weekly meal.

She was pleased the holidays had arrived and was looking forward to going sailing in the Sounds with her family.

She was also looking forward to playing at the New Year's celebrations on the Picton foreshore.

Marlborough Boys' College principal Wayne Hegarty said he hoped the results would show continued improvement in academic achievement at the college.

The focus for staff and students had been raising exam performance, with programmes during the year including students earning their study leave.

Marlborough Girls' College deputy principal Jude Young said the lead-up to the exams had been rushed because holidays had been delayed by the Rugby World Cup.

She was pleased with the layout of the new NCEA Level 1 exams, despite some students finding parts of the exams unexpected.

The new exams had fewer components, which covered a wider range and were worth more credits, she said.

Some of the exams were less predictable because it was the first year.

- The Marlborough Express

SIMON WONG

Last updated 16:00 01/12/2011

Pupils walk the red carpet

Four Renwick School pupils and teachers will experience a red carpet affair in Auckland tonight after two of their films were placed in the top 20 entries in a national competition.

The short films were among the top in The Outlook for Someday 2011 film competition which encourages entrants to have their say about sustainability and environmental issues.

All 20 winning films will be screened at the Aotea Centre and prizes will be awarded to each group, with special awards presented by actress Robyn Malcolm.

Teachers Monique Stevenson and Michelle Moran and pupils Jakob MacGibbon, 6, and Jono Poswillo, 9, will be winging their way to Auckland.

Jono said he was excited about the trip and the red carpet because he had never been to Auckland before. "I've been counting down the days."

Jono directed the year 3 and 4 group's movie The Renewables and also had a hand in the year 1 and 2 film The Greedy Little Huhu Grub.

He liked filmmaking because he got to use the computers and learn about the movie making software.

Miss Stevenson entered the competition with the year 1 and 2 group for the first time and was impressed and surprised to make the top 20 in an open competition for people under 24.

It was motivation to keep making movies with the pupils, she said. Most of the group's five-minute film about a huhu grub which eats everything around it was shot in Havelock.

Making the movie was a good learning experience for the pupils as well as her and allowed them to stretch their creativity, she said.

Fellow teacher Miss Moran, who entered with the year 3 and 4 group, had encouraged Miss Stevenson to enter because she knew she was interested in learning how to make movies.

The school is no stranger to getting accolades for their movie making.

Room 5 also made the top 20 in the Outlook for Someday competition last year.

TVNZ7 will broadcast the movies from Monday, December 12, to Friday, December 16, at 6.30pm and each programme will be repeated at 12.30pm the following day.

You can also watch all the movies at www.theoutlookforsomeday.net.

Watch Renwick film The Renewables

Watch Renwick film The Greedy Little Huhu Bug

- The Marlborough Express

SIMON WONG

Last updated 13:05 01/12/2011

BEN CURRAN

Environmentally friendly: Renwick School teachers and pupils, from left, Michelle Moran, Monique Stevenson, Ollie Pavey, 9, Jakob MacGibbon, 6, Jono Poswillo, 9, and Kate Strang, 7. Two groups from the school made the top 20 in a national sustainability film competition

Godsiff home after appeal

Jason Godsiff says he is pleased to be home.

Godsiff was released from prison this week after he won an appeal against a two-year jail sentence for killing 23 seals by bashing them on the head with a metal bar.

The 20-year-old Renwick man, who had been working as an apprentice builder when the offending happened, answered the phone at his parents home in the Wairau Valley last night.

He was happy his appeal had been successful, he said.

Justice Jillian Mallon has replaced his jail sentenced with eight months' home detention.

He was pleased to be out of prison and his family was delighted to have him home, too, he said.

He would personally thank his friends and family who supported him, he said, and did not want to make any further comment last night.

Family friend Alison Parr said family and friends were ''absolutely delighted'' with the result.

It was a huge relief and justice had been served, she said.

''All his supporters and friends and family agree that what Jason did deserved punishment, but prison was never the place for a young man of that character and that background, and we believe the original sentence wasn't the correct one.''

The Department of Conservation declined to comment on the appeal.

Godsiff had admitted killing 23 seals near Ohau Point by hitting them over the head with a galvanised pole on November 26 last year and Judge Ian Mill sent him to prison when he appeared in the Blenheim District Court in September.

His defence lawyer Gary Sawyer appealed the sentence in the High Court at Wellington on November 1, arguing the prison term handed down was excessive.

Judge Mill had not given Godsiff enough credit for his youth, good character, remorse and co-operation with police, he said.

He ''over-weighted'' the scale of the offending and did not take into account the lack of sadism and extended cruelty to the animals in comparison to other cases, Mr Sawyer said.

Judge Mill also had not considered home detention when he sentenced Godsiff, he said.

Those serving home detention sentences stay at an approved residence, wear an electronic bracelet and are electronically monitored at all times and are under close supervision by a probation officer.

Judges can consider home detention if the end sentence is two years in prison or less.

Crown prosecutor Jodi Ongley said at the appeal the starting point of the sentence was appropriate given the number of seals Leg 1killed which was at the ''middle to upper range of seriousness''.

Judge Mill had given enough consideration to Godsiff's personal circumstances, such as his age and previous good character, she said.

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Godsiff did not show genuine remorse for his actions and his cooperation with police was limited, she said. Those factors were taken into account with the credit given for his guilty plea, she said.

Justice Mallon agreed with Mr Sawyer in her decision, released to the ifMarlborough Expressnf yesterdayntsGtuesday nte, and quashed the prison sentence.

Judges set a starting point for imprisonment based on previous cases and the Sentencing Act and as part of sentencing have to take into account the aggravating and mitigating factors unique to the case.

Judge Mill agreed with Godsiff's pre-sentence report which did not recommend home detention because Godsiff's job as a builder's apprentice required travelling.

He also said home detention was not an adequate sentence for the ''deliberate ill-treatment on this scale''.

Justice Mallon said the reason for not recommending home detention was not relevant and the practicalities of travel could be worked out with the probation officer.

''He [Godsiff] is in all respects a suitable candidate for home detention. He is a hard working young man who will contribute better to society the sooner he is back working as a builder.''

''It seems that he has learnt from the reaction to his offending that his behaviour was unacceptable,'' she said in the decision.

The man with Godsiff the night of the offending, Jemaal Peter Roy Large, 36, a driver of Wairau Valley, has denied the same charge as well as a charge of possessing an offensive weapon. He is due to appear in court again on February 14.

- The Marlborough Express

SIMON WONG

Last updated 06:45 30/11/2011

Tusk returned, then stolen again

The first time one of a pair of tusks was taken ... in 1992, one of them ended up buried at the Kapiti home of convicted drug dealer Jack Webber, 49, also known as "Island Jack" and now presumed drowned.

The case of the stolen elephant tusks has been solved. Sort of.

The Express called for information after a Dominion Post story last week mentioned that an elephant tusk was stolen from Marlborough in 1992.

Marlborough Sounds bone carver Norm Clark phoned to say the tusk belonged to him and was stolen from him twice.

The first time one of a pair of tusks was taken from an art gallery in Rai Valley in 1992, it ended up buried at the Kapiti home of convicted drug dealer Jack Webber, 49, also known as "Island Jack" and now presumed drowned.

The tusk was among items found by police at the property several years later and Mr Clark went to Porirua police station to identify the tusk and take it back.

The second time was in 1997 when tenants of a house he was renting out in Renwick had taken antiques from a shed on the property and sold them.

The items included the pair of tusks along with whale teeth, jaw bones and other antiques belonging to his father and grandfather. None of the items were recovered, he said.

Police raided the house of a man who was thought to have taken the items, but they could not get a search warrant for another house where Mr Clark thought the tusks would be stashed. He had not seen the tusks since.

The tusks were mentioned in an article about an upcoming inquest on December 19 into the deaths of Webber and his friend Hamish Kronfield.

The pair went missing in May 1999 when their boat overturned near Passage Rocks, off the eastern side of Kapiti Island.

The article said police dug from the lawn a 40-kilogram elephant tusk, one of a pair stolen in 1992 from a Marlborough art gallery.

Chief coroner's office spokesman Steve Corbett said the inquest was one of several that were part of a joint initiative by the chief coroner and the police missing persons unit to review older files to check whether there was any new information and wrap them up.

- The Marlborough Express

SIMON WONG

Last updated 11:30 30/11/2011

Carver Norm Clarke: An elephant tusk belonging to him was stolen twice

Chairman says he favours dissolving hall committee

The chairman of the Renwick Community Hall committee would welcome Marlborough District Council and the Education Ministry dissolving the committee.

James Cresswell said he favoured the action so progress could be made on deciding if the hall should be transferred to Renwick School.

"They've got to do it."

Nothing could be done until the members of the committee were elected properly, he said.

Earlier Marlborough Mayor Alistair Sowman told the Express the council and ministry would be prepared to take the action if the existing committee could not agree on who should represent the hall.

Council lawyer Peter Radich said the community representatives on the committee were not elected properly, but community representative Rata Harper believed otherwise.

There was no problem with the other members representing the Renwick RSA and the Renwick School board, he said.

The committee was trying to decide whether the hall should be transferred to the ministry, but was split over the move. Mr Cresswell said the publicity around the hall was not good, and that it needed money spent on it for maintenance and upgrades.

"It's basically a school hall now. They're the main users and they should pay their way," he said. Members of the community were afraid if the hall ownership was transferred they would lose the use of it.

- The Marlborough Express

SIMON WONG

Last updated 11:30 25/11/2011

Council ready to settle hall dispute

The Marlborough District Council and Education Ministry will step in to dissolve the Renwick Community Hall Committee if it cannot agree on the makeup of the committee, Mayor Alistair Sowman says.

Mr Sowman said the action would be a last resort and was "not where we want to go", but no progress was being made on determining whether the community representatives need to be re-elected.

"We'd like to see them [the committee] resolve it themselves," he said.

"If they can't agree on how the hall committee is to be constituted it leaves us with little option.

"Up to now we've been trying to find a local solution – that's always the best way, but that doesn't appear possible," Mr Sowman said.

The deed for the hall has an option for the ministry and council to disband the committee, he said.

Mr Sowman had not spoken to the ministry yet because he was waiting to hear from the hall committee after council lawyer Peter Radich's memorandum, which says committee community representatives had not been elected properly.

Mr Radich says in the memo that the next steps needed to reform the committee were "quite clear".

The existing committee should stay until it makes arrangements to elect new members.

The ministry and council should consider the future management of the hall and change the criteria for community representatives.

The committee is made up of 12 people – three elected from the community, three from the Renwick Returned Services Association, three from the Renwick School board and three appointed by the council.

According to the deed, community representatives need to be householders, live in the Renwick School district, be elected at a public meeting and not be members on the board, RSA or council, Mr Radich says.

Committee community representative Rata Harper was adamant the hall would not be transferred to the ministry.

She would not consider the ramifications of a transfer of ownership for the community because she believed the transfer would not happen.

The council and ministry had powers to dissolve the committee under the deed, but only if the committee had done something wrong, which it hadn't, Ms Harper said.

"I don't care how long it goes on for. It doesn't worry me. I know it's not going to be sorted overnight."

"We want the hall for [future generations] – a community hall adjacent to the school that the school can enjoy and community can enjoy. Why do we need to change it?"

She and other committee members were still seeking legal advice on the ownership of the hall, she said.

- The Marlborough Express

SIMON WONG

Last updated 11:30 24/11/2011

Bodice restraint might have saved woman

The death of a retirement village resident could have been avoided if staff had used a loose bodice, instead of a lap belt to restrain her, Coroner Carla na Nagara says.

Gertrude Slape, 96, died at Wairau Hospital on December 11 after being found on the floor in the lounge at her resthome in Blenheim the previous night.

Mrs Slape was sitting in a reclining chair, restrained by a lap belt before she slipped out, stood up, fell over and hit her head, all while unsupervised, the report says.

On December 10, the duty nurse was away from Mrs Slape for about 20 minutes attending to another resident in the dementia unit.

Mrs Slape was frail and prone to falling and when the nurse returned, Mrs Slape was face down on the ground with blood running from her forehead.

In her decision, Ms na Nagara ruled Mrs Slape died of the head injury suffered after falling out of the lap belt she was in while the nurse was attending to an emergency situation elsewhere.

During the inquest, Ms na Nagara questioned why a lap belt was used over a loose bodice.

"The bodice would have been more secure and would require more effort to get out of," she said.

"The fall may have been avoided if Mrs Slape was in a bodice, because even if the lap belt was fastened as tightly as possible, she would have been able to slip out of it because of her small size."

The resthome manager could not say why a lap belt was used or how often Mrs Slape was restrained.

Ms na Nagara said the decision seemed to boil down to which restraint method was available on any given day.

In her recommendations, which will be forwarded to the Ministry of Health, Ms na Nagara said the rest home should have a clear and demonstrable decision-making process on restraints.

She has suppressed details which would identify the resthome or the three staff involved.

"While the issue is finely balanced, I have reached the view that it is appropriate to make the directions sought in the interests of protecting the witnesses' personal privacy.

"The circumstances of Mrs Slape's death do not give rise to a valid public interest in the identity of the staff from whom I heard evidence, and the distress caused to them through publication outweighs any such interest."

- The Marlborough Express

SAM MORTON AND SIMON WONG

Last updated 11:00 21/11/2011