Midday Report Essentials for Monday 21st July 2025
In today's episode, more expensive food, rents and power prices have driven inflation to a 12-month high; Hamilton police are still looking for the people and weapons involved in a deadly brawl in Hamilton over the weekend; Julia DeLuney's defence says there's no evidence of a breakdown in the relationship between her and her mother, Helen Gregory, that would explain a murder; Residents in an Auckland North Shore neighbourhood have a literal cat burglar on their hands.
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RNZ News
21 minutes ago
- RNZ News
'Four years is nothing': Grieving family of Emma-Jane Kupa fight for higher prison sentence
Emma-Jane Kupa, 11, was killed in January. Photo: SUPPLIED The family of a young girl who was killed by a drunk speeding driver high on meth have launched a petition appealing for a higher prison sentence. Mother of five Terina Pineaha, 34, fatally hit 11-year-old Emma-Jane Kupa with her car in January. Emma-Jane was biking to a dairy in Flaxmere, Hawke's Bay with her sister to spend her pocket money when she was killed. On Friday, Pineaha was sentenced to four years and five months in prison in the High Court at Napier. Pineaha previously admitted to a raft of charges including manslaughter, consuming methamphetamine, wilful damage, driving with excess breath alcohol, dangerous driving and failing to stop. Terina Pineaha during an earlier court appearance. Photo: RNZ / Alexa Cook Emma-Jane's family were devastated Pineaha was not jailed for longer, and some family members walked out of court saying it was "bullshit". Emma-Jane's mother, Shannon Davis, told RNZ the family launched a petition because they felt four years was not enough time to pay for the life of their little girl. "She was taken by a woman who had 29 convictions. "It's pretty much saying it's okay to drink drive, be on meth, be on the wrong side of the road speeding... take a young girl's life and you're only going to get four and a half years," she said. Emma-Jane Kupa was killed on the Chatham Rd crossing in Flaxmere. Photo: SUPPLIED A victim's family can not appeal a sentence, but the Crown can, and the petition was calling for action. "We ask the Crown to appeal this sentence. Emma-Jane's life mattered. Her family is broken, and our community deserves justice. "Please stand with us and demand the sentence be increased to better reflect the seriousness of the crime and protect future tamariki," the petition said. The petition had already gathered more than 2000 signatures. Emma-Jane Kupa's parents, Shannon Davis and George Kupa with photographs of their daughter. Photo: SUPPLIED Davis said they were hopeful there was a case for Pineaha's sentence to be increased. "We want anyone to re-look at it and fight for us. My baby didn't have a voice so I have to be hers. "It should be life for life. Four years is nothing." Davis said the whānau's fight for a higher prison sentence was also for others who had lost loved ones at the hands of a drunk driver. "It's not just for my daughter, it's for all the other young kids that have lost their lives to unreliable people who want to drink and drive. "Hopefully Aotearoa listens, help by signing this petition and raise awareness that it is serious." In May, the court heard how on 30 January, Pineaha was driving to the home of the woman she was convinced was sleeping with her partner when she fatally ploughed into the young girl, who was biking with her sister to the dairy. Just before the crash, Pineaha's car reached estimated speeds of up to 105 kph in a 50 kph zone. Shortly after the car's speed was recorded, she struck the 11-year-old on the Chatham Rd crossing in Flaxmere. Emma-Jane was cycling behind her 15-year-old sister, who was on a scooter, on their way to the dairy on Scott Drive. The impact threw Emma-Jane into the air, before she landed 25 metres away on a grass verge, beside Ron Giorgi Park. Pineaha's borrowed Holden Vectra slid on the wet road over the footpath and grass verge, striking 10 wooden posts on a chain fence before coming to a stop. A pedestrian approaching the crossing just before the crash felt the wind from Pineaha's car as it passed him. Members of the public rushed to Emma-Jane's aid, performing CPR until emergency services arrived. But she could not be revived, and died at the scene from head injuries. Emma-Jane Kupa died from head injuries after being hit by a car. Photo: SUPPLIED Emma-Jane's mother told the court on Friday how the traumatic event would live with them forever, especially her older daughter Saige, who witnessed the whole thing. "The sight and sound of your car striking her sister and watching her body get thrown into the air will be forever etched into her memory. "What gives you the right to take my baby's life? And further, inflict trauma on my other baby Saige?" Shannon Davis said to Pineaha in court. The court heard at the time of the incident, Pineaha was serving a one-year sentence of supervision for possessing methamphetamine and other charges. She was also convicted of possessing methamphetamine in 2018. 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
Police hope new dedicated shoplifting team will bring relief for frustrated retailers
File photo. Photo: 123RF Police say they hope a new team targeting repeat shoplifters in several central and west Auckland suburbs will bring some assurances to frustrated retailers. The team is looking at retail offending in the areas around Mount Roskill, Mount Albert, Avondale, Point Chevalier and Ponsonby. RNZ has reported on Auckland supermarket staff who have been confronted with aggressive and armed shoplifters - including ones who bring in knives and machetes. In recent months, there's been controversy over a police directive to staff saying it will no longer be investigating allegations of shoplifting below $500, which was later canned and criticised by the Police Commissioner as "confusing and unhelpful". Auckland City West Area Prevention Manager, Inspector Wayne Kitcher, told Morning Report that the new initiative has been successful in its first week - where a couple were charged with stealing more than $250,000 worth of goods. "This is a dedicated team that is solely looking at recidivist retail offenders, and I absolutely appreciate that the retailers out there are very are frustrated with how things are going," he said. "And this is our response to hopefully make them feel a bit better, and know that we are actually targeting these people." He said staff on the team would be looking at CCTV footage after reports of shoplifting. Kitcher said usually the offenders would already be known to police and could be tracked down "relatively quickly". When asked by Morning Report whether some officers on this team would be at supermarkets, Kitcher said this team is specifically responding to following up with offending reported. Kitcher was unable to say whether the initiative will be rolled out across wider Auckland or other centres. 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
Miramar homicide victim Abdulhassan Nabizadah was 'set up' to be robbed
Police think more than one person was involved in the plan to lure and rob Abdulhassan Nabizadah. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Police believe Abdulhassan Nabizadah was "set up" to be robbed - but the incident took a violent and ultimately tragic turn. Nabizadah, 63, was found critically injured on a street corner of Camperdown Road in the early hours of 17 March, shortly after police were called to a home invasion a block away on Darlington Road. He died in hospital the next day. Detective Inspector Nick Pritchard - the head of the investigation into Nabizadah's death - told RNZ that police had identified and spoken to a woman linked to messages which drew Nabizadah to the suburb of Miramar and the assault which cost him his life. He said police believed there were people who knew exactly what happened and he has called on them to do the right thing and come forward. Pritchard told told RNZ this week that police had spoken to the woman known to both Nabizadah and another man - who is currently facing charges over the aggravated burglary of the Darlington Road address. Pritchard said a cellphone found near the scene of the home invasion had been linked to the woman and contained communications with Nabizadah. "[Nabizadah] was going there to meet a female known to him. From the evidence we've gathered the motive - we believe - was to rob him and its been taken to far and led to an unprovoked, violent assault on him that has ultimately led to his death," he said. Pritchard said police believed more than one person was involved in the plan to lure and rob Nabizadah. Nabizadah had been assaulted about 12.30am - before residents in the Darlington Road home were disturbed by an intruder. Pritchard said police were unsure as what had led to the burglary that followed the assault. "We don't understand the motive for the burglary. They are separate incidents that happened to be linked through persons and a cellphone. Why someone would go and commit a burglary? We don't have any logic behind that one. "I think it was an opportunist event [and] there's no evidence to suggest that family or that address was singled out," Pritchard said. Pritchard said he had no doubt there were people who knew exactly what had happened, but police were yet to get the full story. "We've engaged with a number of persons - some who have provided accounts to us, some who are reluctant. I know there are people out there who know what's happened. "Persons who have information - think of the family, think of the heartache. Losing someone in such violent, unprovoked [and] needless actions. Cutting someone's life short - and the impact on his family - just from wanting to rob someone who's a law abiding citizen, who just happened to be in wrong place at the wrong time... Have a conscience and just come forward," he said. Pritchard said many people in the community had provided information, some of which had enabled police to get in touch with a vehicle and two individuals of interest spotted in the area at the time. He said he was grateful for the community's efforts and wanted to assure residents that crimes at the centre of the investigation were not indicative of unchecked criminal activity in the suburb. "We're confident they are isolated incidents and don't represent a pattern of offending in the area," he said. Pritchard said a dedicated team was determined to hold the people behind Nabizadah's death to account. "The team is working really hard to provide the family with some justice. "There is a lot of data and material that they are reviewing, and they are attempting to speak to persons who have information and they'll keep being persistent with that because we know people have got the answers out there so we won't give up," Pritchard said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
