As requested by some who attended, find the photos of Police dog Cody, and his handler courtesy of Upper Hutt Library. Part of the school holiday programme, good on you Upper Hutt Library the kids loved it.
All photos courtesy of the Upper Hutt Library find them here
The 84-year-old man missing in the Upper Hutt suburb of Trentham has returned home safe and well.
Police had just begun widening the search for the man who went for a walk Sunday night at 9 o’clock thinking it was morning and failed to return. There were concerns he may have become confused.
Searchers scoured the area overnight on foot, bicycle and by car. The man was fairly fit and had carried out a 10 kilometre walk last week, so rescuers believed he could have wandered quite a distance.
The man returned home this morning.
This weekends fine weather has enabled KiwiRail to complete the recovery of the Train Engine derailed on Thursday night following the atrocious weather and the resulting landslip that caused the derailing.
The complete story from the Sunday Times who today released the story that the Rarimu massacre gunman Stephen Anderson 37 is now living in Upper Hutt, in the suburb of Clouston Park. The Rarimu massacre cost the lives of six people. Anderson was found not guilty due to insanity. His earlier limited releases away from care also caused concern in 2008.
The issue is around his public release, Anderson’s continuing treatment and getting him back into the community under strict release conditions which should rehabilitate him according to Mental Health officials concerns both local residents and those effected by his original actions.
A 15 metre high wind turbine to be installed on private land (situated next to the trig station) at Emerald Hill owned by Adam Blackwell has past its first hurdle after being accepted by the Upper Hutt City Council.
It will provide power to the owners Main Road North property with its generated net power fully used by the house.
The decision by the council is the first stage in the planning process and sees the council acting as the “requiring authority” only. It will be subject to normal resource consent requirements.
Emerald Hill is a dominant landscape feature for residents of Maoribank, Brown Owl, Emerald Hill, Parkdale, Birchville and for users of State Highway 2.
An earlier report commissioned with regard to recent cellphone tower installation at the Emerald Hill site says
“Although the ridgeline has been comprised by power lines running across its northern face, the presence of a cluster of cellphone towers close to the summit will increase the visual encroachment into the skyline.”
The cellphone towers are regarded as utilities and as such have dispensation within the Councils District plan, this private installation of a wind tower will now facing normal Resource Consent processes which call for public input.
The question is will the public dispute its installation.
Inland Revenue staff in Upper Hutt had to be decontaminated after an envelope containing white powder was opened by a mailroom employee this morning.
The building, in Jepsen Grove, was evacuated about 7.20am, police said. Cordons were put outside the building to stop members of the public entering.
Sergeant Steve Dearns said staff were allowed to return about 9am after the package was removed and taken to ESR for forensic analysis.
Upper Hutt area commander Inspector Michael Hill said preliminary analysis suggested the powder was not a dangerous substance. But Inland Revenue staff who had contact with the package went through a Fire Service “decontamination process” as a precaution.
Police were investigating.
Police are speaking to the owner of a vehicle that crashed into a power pole, sending power lines faling across tracks in Upper Hutt.
The accident happened about 8.45pm on Sutherland Avenue Trentham.
No one was injured, no power outages reported and debris cleared within an hour. Witnesses are sought.
Monday 15 June
A Rimutaka prison guard, accused of dealing cannabis to inmates, has been remanded to appear in court in two weeks.
Jeffrey Mark Reid, 43, was arrested on June 4 and charged along with three prisoners and two women following a month-long cannabis investigation by the Corrections Department.
Reid, a unit manager in a high-security section of the Upper Hutt prison, was excused from appearing at Wellington District Court today, and remanded without plea on bail to reappear on June 29.
He faces charges of selling cannabis, conspiring to sell cannabis and cultivating cannabis
Saturday June 6
A senior prison manager charged with dealing cannabis to inmates was running one of the toughest units in Rimutaka, and an alleged accomplice is a career criminal who once beat a guard.
Jeffrey Mark Reid, 43, was arrested on Thursday and charged along with three prisoners and two women outside the wire following a month-long investigation, Operation Wire.
Police say Reid was part of a fledgling drug ring that was growing cannabis outside the prison and smuggling it inside to give to inmates.
They do not believe any cannabis was grown on prison grounds.
Reid was a unit manager, in charge of Unit HM7 and 8, a high-security section known to house a lot of gang members. He is a veteran of about 20 years in Corrections but has now been suspended from his job.
He appeared in Wellington District Court on Thursday charged with selling cannabis to Matthew Kidman, who sparked a two-day manhunt last November when he skipped bail on firearms charges.
He escaped from Hawke’s Bay Prison in 2004 while serving a six-year sentence for aggravated robbery, and once beat a prison guard during another botched escape attempt.
Kidman, two other prisoners and the two women will appear in court on Wednesday.
Reid was also charged with conspiring to sell cannabis and cultivating cannabis. He was remanded without plea, on bail, and will reappear on June 15.
Together, the six people face more than 20 supply, conspiracy and cultivation charges.
Six children were referred to Child, Youth and Family after being found in homes raided during the investigation.
Guards inside Rimutaka Prison were told of Reid’s arrest at a meeting on Thursday. A source said they were shocked because Reid was high up in prison management.
“He’s a unit manager, no one searches him,” said the source. “He can walk in loaded with dope. Who is going to search him?”
Reid’s Cuba St apartment and prison office were searched this week, along with addresses in Wellington and Hutt Valley and other areas inside the prison.
The arrests come 18 months after an inquiry found no systemic corruption at Rimutaka. It followed complaints from staff that a group of guards known as “the bro club” was smuggling in drugs, cellphones and food for prisoners.
At the time, 11 guards were suspended while the allegations were investigated.
Corrections Minister Judith Collins has asked for a report but said yesterday she was confident drug use was not rampant within Rimutaka.
“It is correct to say there is no systemic corruption,” she said. “It’s a prison full of criminals, and I think people should realise that.”
Corrections chief executive Barry Matthews said Reid’s arrest did not reflect the work of most prison guards.
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A Rimutaka prison unit manager, three prisoners, and two other people are facing a range of cannabis-related offences following a Police and Corrections Department bust.
Four men – one of whom is the Rimutaka unit manager – and two women will be charged with more than 20 offences relating to cannabis supply, cultivation and conspiracy. The unit manager was charged yesterday, and the three prisoners are due in court later today. As part of the operation police raided several addresses in Wellington and the Hutt Valley.
Detective Senior Sergeant Darrin Thomson said close liaison with Corrections had allowed police to be “very effective in disrupting this syndicate”. The charges were the result of information provided by Corrections in April indicating some people were supplying cannabis to Rimutaka Prison inmates. “This is an excellent example of inter-agency cooperation that has enabled police to move quickly and effectively,” Mr Thomson said. “We believe the supply of cannabis was intended for Rimutaka inmates and the wider drug community”.
Corrections Department chief executive Barry Matthews said he expected “a high level of honesty and integrity from staff”. “The actions of one person should not detract from the hard work, dedication and professionalism shown by staff at Rimutaka Prison and across the country.”
The Upper Hutt Council is planning an upgrade to the tune of $800,000 in the area around the railway station the problem being that it is a minimum of 4 years away not planned until 2013-14.
The direct responsibility of the station building and platform belongs to the Greater Wellington Regional Council which also has the station on an upgrade plan to roughly coincide with the UHCC plans.
A recent submission by Ms Tamsin Sommerville (UHCC Policy Mgr) to the GWRC highlighted the need for a coordinated approach
“The attractiveness and usability of this train station is of vital importance to Upper Hutt economic development and community well being. The problem is the station has been in a bad state of repairs for many years. It has been identified and highlighted by police, youth surveys and older adult forums as a major hot spot for crime.”
Recently UHCC upgraded the subway but without a coordinated approach the public perception of safety in using public transport is hindered. 2014 is a long time away.
It would appear that the Hutt Valley region has suffered strongly from under investment in Rail infrastructure as has been highlighted here before. The arrival next year of the new trains will mitigate this situation. Given the current economy one can but hope that several plans for rail are fast tracked to help the vast majority of commuters who use this service.
Friday 8th May
Two men accused of murdering an Upper Hutt transvestite known as Diksy can be named after a judge rejected a plea for name suppression.
Richard Milton Jones, 64, was found by police at his Totara Park Rd unit last Wednesday afternoon with severe injuries and could not be resuscitated by emergency services.
Phillip Christopher Sanders, 41, and David Shaun Galloway, 18, have been charged with murder.
Galloway was refused bail by Judge Pat Grace yesterday after he made an application in Upper Hutt District Court. A further application for name suppression was also refused. Both men are due back in court on May 12.
Verity Jones, 23, who attended her father’s funeral in Wellington this week, said: “He was a gentle person who lived a really peaceful life. That’s why the way he died . . . it’s devastating.”
He was a cabinet maker and she recalled his “unique” creations, his love of old cars, cricket and cats.
But he was better known around Upper Hutt as Diksy. A close friend, Myrie Beck, called him a “beautiful person”, with a great sense of humour. “Everybody who knew Diksy loved her. There was name-calling and, whenever she got on a bus, people would look and look again. But she wasn’t bothered by that.”
Friday 1st May
Distraught friends and family of a 64-year-old man murdered in his Upper Hutt home cannot believe that anyone would want to kill him.
The man was found in his Totara Park Rd unit about 3.20pm on Wednesday after police and emergency services were called by a neighbour.
Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Thornton said the man died of “severe injuries” after attempts to resuscitate him failed.
Police arrested two Upper Hutt men, aged 41 and 18, at the house and charged them with murder.
The accused men and the victim have interim name suppression.
A relative of the dead man was still in disbelief at his death yesterday. “I can’t think why anyone would want to kill him. He was such a placid guy, so little. He couldn’t even defend himself.”
Myrie Beck, a friend of the man, described him as a “beautiful person”, with a great sense of humour. “I can’t believe any one would want to hurt [him].
Mr Thornton said there had been a disturbance, possibly a fight, outside the block of units before the man was murdered.
Neighbours were shocked at the killing, especially as the block of units was full of elderly people.
One man, who alerted police, said he heard a scream and then silence. “A few guys had barged into his place a week ago and taken his money and things. He was too scared to go to the police.”
The men accused of the murder did not enter pleas when they appeared in Upper Hutt District Court yesterday, and were remanded in custody.
Two men aged 41 and 28 will appear in the Upper Hutt District Court today charged with murder.
via Stuff
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Thursday April 30th
Upper Hutt police were called to a disturbance at house in central Upper Hutt yesterday afternoon and found a seriously injured 64-year-old man.
Police and Fire Service staff performed CPR on him but he died at the scene.
The name of the victim will not be released until next of kin have been notified.
A homicide investigation has now been launched.
huttnz.co.nz 