Man on charges
A 31-year-old Northland man will appear in the Kaikohe District Court today facing serious charges including kidnapping and shooting at a police officer. Police were carrying out a search warrant at an address in Maromaku, south of Kawakawa, on Friday morning when they were fired at. No one was hurt, police said. They had visited the property to investigate a kidnapping and assault that happened on November 29. The victim received non-life threatening injuries in the assault. The man is charged with kidnapping, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, unlawfully possessing a firearm, and using a firearm against law enforcement.
Trucks back at port
Trucks were back at Northport at 6am this morning with the operation to offload 1200 containers back under way. Northport reported the well-signalled break was to give operational staff rest to comply with safety standards - a single forklift operator worked the last two hours of the Saturday shift loading containers onto ships. The trucking sector was advised on Wednesday, December 9 that Northport would be closing its gates to trucks for container pick-ups at 3pm on Saturday December 12, and that the port would not open again for collections until 6am on Monday December 14. Around 10 to 11 containers were loaded on 117 trucks every hour on Friday.
Faneva to lead NorthTec
NorthTec have appointed Toa Faneva as the new chief executive of the polytechnic.
Toa (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu ki Whaingaroa and Niue) is an experienced iwi and Māori development chief executive.
NorthTec chairwoman Ripeka Evans said Toa is an exceptional leader who has a track record of leadership, relationship building and managing transformation. She said all of those are attributes NorthTec needs to deliver on the government-mandated reform of the vocational education and training sector.
Evans also acknowledged acting chief executive Jon Smith, who has led NorthTec since July 2020.
Liquor sold to underage volunteers
A police sting on off-licensed Northland premises resulted in two sales to underage volunteers.
Northland DHB and New Zealand Police recently conducted four controlled purchase operations in the region. During the operation, underage volunteers aged 16 and 17 years attempted to purchase alcohol from 53 off-licensed premises in Whangārei, Kaipara, Mid North and the greater Bay of Islands areas. While there were no sales in the Whangārei and Kaipara areas, two sales were made to the underage volunteers in the Mid North and Bay of Islands areas.
Constable Rasau Kalivati, Kerikeri police alcohol harm prevention officer said the two sales were disappointing and the community needed to have confidence that licence holders will not sell alcohol to youth.
Police are following up with those premises that sold alcohol to the volunteer.
Magic lights at Selwyn Park
A touch of magic will descend on Selwyn Park as the retirement village launches their Christmas Magical Light Display. People of all ages, eager for some festive cheer, are invited to attend the opening ceremony at 9pm tonight at the village. The site, 7km from Whangārei city centre, will have its park-like grounds adorned with well-lit spectacles to entertain the family.
