Santa Clause visited the Waitakere Family Court on Christmas Eve to deliver a present for the Judges and court staff. In some European traditions, children who are very badly behaved are said to get a lump of coal instead of presents – this Family Court received a whole bag! Afterwards, Santa joined Union of Fathers […]

Police have issued a domestic violence checklist to help people assess whether potential victims will be hurt — or even killed — over the Christmas period. The rest of the 12 points not mentioned in yesterday’s post: There has been recent separation, issue of a court order or divorce, or responding in a dangerous manner. […]

Potential for family violence increases over the festive season, police warned today. While the number of murders in New Zealand has been falling since the late 1980s, family violence homicides have not followed this trend. National Violence Reduction manager Inspector Rob Veale said over half of all murders countrywide in 2001 were family or domestic […]

High ranking man’s name suppressed in sex case 19 December 2004 By TONY WALL and EMILY WATT The Sunday Star-Times is fighting to unmask a high-ranking foreigner accused of a sex crime but whose identity is being protected by the courts. The paper is prohibited from revealing anything more about him, including where he lives […]

By using her expiring Attorney-General powers to promote unsuitable candidates, Speaker-designate Margaret Wilson raises memories of President Bill Clinton’s last days, when he effectively pardoned a batch of crooked supporters, ACT Justice spokesman Stephen Franks said today. Mr Franks was commenting on the appointment of Ms Jan Walker as a District and Family Court Judge. […]

Men afflicted with erectile dysfunction and too scared to discuss it with their doctor are turning to the internet for answers to hard questions. Pieter Watson, Men’s Clinic general manager, said their website is getting huge amounts of traffic. Men are not prepared to sit back and suffer any longer, he said, and are finally […]

British teachers accused of abusing pupils should be given anonymity while claims are investigated, the Tories say. One former Lancashire headmaster, who now works for the campaign group Falsely Accused Carers and Teachers, explains how such protection would have helped him when he was arrested in 1998. I was interviewing some parents when my secretary […]

Mobile phones can be a useful safety device for children, but also make them vulnerable. 11.12.04 by Chris Barton Whoever thought it was a good idea to equip mobile phones with cameras probably didn’t anticipate people taking photographs of their genitals and transmitting the images to websites for all to see. But having places on […]

Amnesty International welcomes an Inaugural Human Rights Parliamentary Dinner in the Grand Hall of the Parliament Buildings on Tuesday 14 December which will highlight the issue of violence against women. From the battlefield to the bedroom, women are at risk. Violence threatens women in multiple forms during conflict. Amnesty International’s latest report Lives blown apart […]

Tuesday, 14 December 2004, 9:56 am Press Release: Men’s Coalition Redressing The Balance: The Men’s Manifesto The social landscape of New Zealand will be need to be changed dramatically if men are to have a “fair go” in New Zealand society, according to James Nicolle, Coordinator of the Men’s Coalition. Mr. Nicolle was commenting on […]

LONDON: Teenagers and young men should keep their laptops off their laps because they could damage fertility, an expert says. Laptops, which reach high internal operating temperatures, can heat up the scrotum which could affect the quality and quantity of men’s sperm. “The increase in scrotal temperature is significant enough to cause changes in sperm […]

09 December 2004 An All Black who tried dragging his pregnant wife back to their home at night has won the right to keep his name secret – provided he keeps out of trouble until his next court appearance. Yesterday, the player appeared in the Waitakere Family Violence Court – a special pilot court being […]

Children involved with Child, Youth and Family (CYF) are 15 times more likely to commit suicide than other New Zealand children, according to studies. Between 1994 and 1999 almost half of the 129 children under the age of 17 who killed themselves were in contact with CYF. But the new programme changed all that. Towards […]

In a letter to her daughter, published in Cosmopolitan in 1978, feminist Betty Friedan said: “I hope there will come a day when you, daughter [of] mine … can truly afford to say ‘I’m not a feminist. I’m a person’ – and a day not too far away … when I can stop fighting for […]

As investigations continue into three separate homicides, anti-violence groups are warning people to be more careful around the holiday period. The National Network for Stopping Violence Services says the holiday period is a difficult time and people should ask for help if they need it. Network manager Brian Gardner says there are steps which can […]

Christchurch police Detective Inspector Malcolm Johnston, an officer for 25 years, said yesterday witness intimidation happened in most violent-crime cases, and while the Noble/Samson situation was extreme, intimidation was not unusual. “It is very, very (common) and I know other staff have experienced similar levels. Intimidation can be as little as chocolates and flowers and […]

Manukau homes with a history of domestic violence will receive a Christmas card and a visit from police in a bid to prevent abuse during the festive season. Operation Merry Family Christmas will target up to 125 households throughout Otara, Otahuhu, Mangere, Papatoetoe, Howick and Pakuranga that police have been called to in the past […]

MEN’S CONVOY 2005 : (Child Support,Family Law……… ) Men don’t like this! Just a reminder to all New Zealand – Following on from the success of MEN’S CONVOY 2004 we’re on the road again in 2005! Starting Auckland and Invercargill : Sunday 6 March 2005 Converging on Parliament Buildings Wellington : Friday 11 March 2005 […]

by James Hickey Aspects of human behaviour, often has parallels within the animal world. Individual members of a dingo pack when they are hunting down their prey work as a team, taking it in turns to chase the prey until it is finally cornered. Each individual member then takes it in turn nipping at the […]

by Dr Felicity Goodyear-Smith The methodology of the study reported by Fanslow and Robinson (Violence against women in New Zealand: prevalence and health consequences, New Zealand Medical Journal, 2004, 117:1206) is sound. They used a rigorous randomly selected population-based cluster-sampling with interviews in Mandarin or Cantonese (2%) as well as in English. Their sample size […]

Shared Parenting Council of Australia – Media Release At last some support for separated fathers who have always known in their hearts that seeing their children once a fortnight was meaningless, both for them and for their children. Last year, at a summit on fatherhood in Oxford, England, two internationally recognised parenting experts, Adrienne Burgess […]

A packed public gallery erupted in cheers, tears and high-fives as a schoolteacher cleared of sex charges walked from Palmerston North District Court a free man today. It took the jury – comprising 10 women and two men – 12 hours to reach its verdicts over the charges against Michael Warren Neville, after being sent […]

Tuvaluan overstayer Senee Niusila has been granted a reprieve, after appearing in court on charges of threatening to kill his wife. The kidney dialysis patient has been discharged without conviction. In the Waitakere District Court, Judge Philip Recordon took into account the argument that Niusila may die if he was convicted and deported to Tuvalu, […]

UK Fathers are to be given better access rights to their children in the event of family break-ups, under new proposals from the Government. New “parenting plans” for custody arrangements will be drawn up with the help of counsellors. The plans will assume that fathers should have reasonable access. Mothers could be ordered to attend […]