Mining protest damages awarded

Solid Energy has decided not to push its $229,990 reparation claim against demonstrators who blocked the Lyttelton railway line to protest against West Coast mining and to protect kiwi and giant snails.

But two protesters who effectively chained themselves to the railway to block coal trains were ordered to pay reparation claims from OnTrack and Toll New Zealand of $1019.67, plus $260 court costs each.

In a reserved decision yesterday, Christchurch District Court Judge Colin Doherty convicted Daniel Peter Rae, 30, a builder, and Frances Mountier, 18, an office worker, on charges of trespass and interfering with the rail line. The reparation relates to staff wages and the cost of freeing them from the track.

Rae and Mountier went to the railway line on August 13 last year, and placed their arms inside a metal tube which had been previously buried under a sleeper and cemented in place.

They then clipped carabiner clips to a cross-member inside the tube, tying themselves in place with lines from the clips to their wrists.

The pair had to be dug out after the sleeper had been removed and the concrete chipped away so that the tube could be taken out of the ground. Digging them out took 30-40 minutes, and the railway line was closed from about 12.30pm to 3pm.

They said their actions were necessary to increase public awareness of the mining operation at Happy Valley and to try to save the great spotted kiwi, the giant snail and other valuable and protected flora and fauna.

Judge Doherty said the prosecution had failed to prove the requirement under the Railways Act that the pair had been asked to leave by a "licensed" access provider. But he amended the charges to trespass under the Trespass Act, which referred only to an occupier.

He also said Rae and Mountier had failed to prove their defence that their actions were a "necessity" to protect property that was in imminent danger.

There was no physical work under way at the mine, apart from prospecting and pegging, and the proposed mining had been lawfully consented to by the appropriate authorities. Both protesters said the purpose was to raise awareness of the issue.

- NZPA