One dead after two-vehicle crash near Pahiatua
RNZ / Tom Kitchin
One person has died following a crash on State Highway 2 near the North Island town of Pahiatua on Thursday.
The two-vehicle crash happened at about 3pm.
The police say one of the drivers died at the scene, but no one else was seriously injured.
The Serious Crash Unit has examined the scene and police are still investigating the cause of the crash.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Forestry company, director fined $112k for continued pollution of stream
Slash and spoil damming a tributary of the Waitaheke Stream. Photo: Supplied / Waikato Regional Council Slash and sediment polluted an important stream in Waihī for over a year and despite six inspections, and two abatement notices, a logging company refused to change its behaviour and continued to cause environmental damage. Forestry company Seaview Logging Limited and company director, Graeme Howard Savill, who carried out the harvest, were convicted and sentenced by Environment and District Court Judge Lauren Semple in the Huntly District Court in April on five charges of breaching National Environmental Standards for Commercial Forestry and fined $112,500. After the conviction the defendants appealed the sentence to the High Court however, this week that appeal has been abandoned and RNZ can now report the original sentence. The summary of facts showed that on 6 October 2022, Waikato Regional Council enforcement officers visited the 18-hectare plantation forestry block on Thorn Road, Waihī to inspect the harvest operation. The council found several breaches of the National Environmental Standard for Plantation Forestry, including a lack of stormwater and water run off control, exposed areas of soil which had not been stabilised, and unmaintained and ineffective erosion and sediment control measures. This was the first of six inspections over 2022 and 2023 which all found sediment and erosion control measures were deficient in protecting the environment from discharges. In her sentencing indication, Judge Semple said during each visit to the site the council told the defendants that the sediment and erosion control measures were unsatisfactory to prevent the discharge of sediment to waterways. "Rather than work with the council to ensure that appropriate sediment and erosion control measures were put in place and appropriately maintained, Mr Savill determined that such measures were unnecessary or could be undertaken in a perfunctory manner or at a later date." Judge Semple also wrote that Savill was an experienced operator who knew, or should have known, that effective sediment and erosion control mechanisms are a fundamental component of a forestry harvesting operations. "I accept the prosecutor's submission that the offending was deliberate and sustained. I find the defendants' actions to be highly careless bordering on reckless and the culpability in this matter to be high." Waikato Regional Council's acting regional compliance manager Evan Billington said the Waitaheke Stream, which was affected by the failure to control sediment and erosion, should be protected. He said the effects of sediment and forestry slash on waterways was widely known. "The harvest and earthworks management was done very poorly, with Mr Savill failing to take his responsibilities seriously, despite the intervention of council officers," Billington said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Khandallah murder trial: Murder-accused Julia DeLuney will not give evidence
Julia DeLuney is on trial for the murder of her 79-year-old mother. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii The defence has chosen not to call any witnesses, nor will Julia DeLuney give evidence, in the trial in which she is accused of murdering her 79-year-old mother, Helen Gregory. DeLuney denies the charge and faces a jury in the High Court in Wellington, with the trial nearing the end of its fourth week. Cross-examination of the Crown's final witness, detective senior sergeant Tim Leitch who led the police investigation, wrapped up earlier on Thursday afternoon. Julia DeLuney (L) and Helen Gregory on 9 January, 2024, in a photo retrieved from DeLuney's phone by police. Photo: SUPPLIED Defence lawyer Quentin Duff then told Justice Peter Churchman that the defence would not call any witnesses, nor would DeLuney give evidence herself. The court has also not heard from DeLuney's husband, Antonio, who was there that night. He is not charged with any crime relating to these events. It is the Crown's case that DeLuney, who traded cryptocurrency, was financially struggling, and on 24 January when she visited her mother to book ballet tickets, she fatally attacked her before staging it to look like a fall from the attic. But the defence says there was a 90-minute window of opportunity in which DeLuney left her mother to fetch help after the elderly woman fell from the attic. On Thursday, lead Crown prosecutor Stephanie Bishop began closing the Crown's case, urging the jury to put aside feelings of sorrow or sympathy for the people involved, or their family. The defence will take its turn to address the jury and close its own case after the Crown. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
Police cordons removed in small Hawke's Bay community after hunt for person
Police say the public are not at risk. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly Two streets in the Hawke's Bay town of Whakatu were cordoned off on Thursday as police tried to track a person down but the cordons were later removed. Police earlier blocked off Buckingham Street and Ngaruroro Ave in Whakatu, between Napier and Hastings. Police said the person of interest was not found and further routine enquiries would be made.
