Southland Police settle out of Court for unjustified thuggery:

Inspector Lane Todd, Southland Area Commander, NZ Police

Southland Police have elected to settle out of Court with an Invercargill farmer after attacking him in his own home following a vague and apparently unsubstantiated allegation.  They also demonstrated why arming police with guns is a very bad idea indeed.

On 18 March 2012 Les Cooper of Greenhills, Invercargill, rang Police alleging that one of his neighbours, Corey Vreugdenhil  had threatened him as he drove past Cooper on his tractor.

The transcript of the phone call does not stand up to scrutiny, it's simply not credible that the words and gesture involved could have been distinguished at the distance, over the sound of the tractor's engine - the report states that Mr Vreugdenhil "said" the words, not 'shouted' or 'yelled' them, and pointing at a person is certainly not a criminal offence.

Mr Cooper seems to have a history of aggressive and violent behaviour toward Mr Vreugdenhil.

 In June 2007 Mr Cooper attacked and assaulted Mr Vreugdenhil as he was erecting a fence on his property.   In October 2007 Mr Vreugdenhil made a complaint to Police after Mr Cooper chased him at high speed in a vehicle and ran him off the road, ramming Mr Vreugdenhil's vehicle three times, as Mr Vreugdenhil was dropping his young daughter off at the school bus at 8 in the morning.  Apparently, local Police (Sgt Olaf Jensen) refused to press any charges against Mr Cooper, despite Mr Vreugdenhil making a formal complaint.  In fact, the Police tactical report (link below) states that there were around 15 previous incidents between the pair which involved the Police.

This incident occurred days after the local body elections in 2007 in which Mr Vreugdenhil stood against Tim Shadbolt, whose involvement with Mr Vreugdenhil also warrants scrutiny.  Mr Vreugdenhil was part of a group of farmers that battled the Invercargill Council for lower rates in 2009.  The Council used exactly the same tactics as they used against me - misleading the group regarding the Council meetings instead of engaging in constructive dialogue to achieve a solution.  It seems that many others shared Mr Vreugdenhil's concerns, protesting rates rises of around 400%.

Corey Vreugdenhil

This bears a disturbing similarity to the incestuous relationship between local politicians and police in the Wairarapa, and the matters involving myself and disgraced ex MP Georgina Beyer. Certain senior members of the NZ Police are clearly acting as private mercenaries in campaigns of politically motivated corruption, and demonstrating extreme prejudice and bias.

Back to Mr Vreugdenhil.  In 2011, someone deliberately vandalised a dam on Mr Vreugdenhil's farm, wasting about 250,000 litres of water.  This reminds me of the sort of thing Ewen Macdonald and his mate Callum Boe got up to while Macdonald's wife and children slept.  Again, police seem to have refused to investigate the matter and no charges were laid.

Following Mr Cooper's phone call to Police - for which it seems there is enough evidence to charge him with making a false complaint to Police, wasting Police time, perverting the course of justice, etc, local Police decided to launch a major operation and 'arrest' Mr Vreugdenhil - for some vague unspecified charge.  I'm pretty sure that if Police arrest you, they have to tell you what exactly it is that you're under arrest FOR.  This is even more or an insult to the intelligence when you read the Police tactical report, at the link in the next paragraph, in which Police allege that (as well as being "a very large statue") Mr Vreugdenhil "is very hard to reason with and explain to the reason for any Police procedures and actions that they undertake." (sic):

This report also demonstrates the lack of basic literacy evident among the NZ Police.  Literacy is very important when it comes to Court and highly underrated by the NZ Police.

So Police armed themselves with guns and tasers and went to Mr Vreugdenhil's home, where he and his wife were quietly going about their lawful business, not causing any disturbance or offence to anyone, refused to tell him what he was 'under arrest' for, pepper sprayed him, handcuffed him, THEN punched him in the face while he had his hands handcuffed behind his back, and tasered him and held him in the cells overnight.  It's unclear whether any formal charges were ever laid against Mr Vreugdenhil as a result of the incident, which seems to have been completely unjustified, and the result of a malicious and vexatious complaint.

Police alleged that Mr Vreugdenhil attempted to grab a Glock pistol from one of the officers, however the claim isn't credible when the documents are examined, it's clear that Mr Vreugdenhill was blinded by the pepper spray, was handcuffed, and that he "became compliant" when the taser was aimed at him - making it unnecessary to actually fire the taser - of course that didn't deter the Police from firing it.  The tactical report makes it perfectly clear that the Keystone Cops were panicking, that they had a very poorly thought out plan, and acted like a bunch of amateur thugs.  It's compelling evidence of the reasons why we should NOT routinely arm the NZ Police!

Mr Vreugdenhil's wife was present at the time and made a statement to Police, which is at this link.

The officers involved were Inspector Lane Todd - Southland Area Commander, Senior Sergeant Terry, Sergeant Ng, Constable Terry, and Constable Elder, among others.  The $10,000 should come out of their severance pay - why should taxpayers have to fork out for this vicious thuggery!

This post will be updated shortly.

Michael Murphy, Tracy Feast and Corrupt PC Cunningham Pervert the Course of Justice:

Here are the "statements" taken by corrupt police Constable Peter Cunningham about the violent attack on me in my home on 11 February 2009.  Note how they waffle on about all sorts of trivial rubbish that has absolutely nothing to do with the attack on me, and a pack of lies about me allegedly taking a child to the supermarket without permission, what Tuakana Greig was cooking for tea, etc - this was a violent home invasion exactly like the one police corruptly ensured Gary McPhee got away with!

Also note that the matter originates with Tracy Feast and her mate "Lee Ann" and their lies about me leaving Tuakana Greig's daughter "alone" in the supermarket - but when I insisted police obtain the CCTV footage from the supermarket the lies magically change into another story about me taking her to the supermarket "without proper permission" - as if this is some sort of excuse for the violent attack!  Tracy Feast and her partner are responsible for the death of a local woman called Donna Thompson.  Donna's death was classified by Police as suicide, although many believe that there is evidence to suggest she was murdered, and every single person I have spoken to believes that Feast and her partner are directly responsible for her death.  Feast discovered that her partner had been having an affair with Donna Thompson and blackmailed him into extorting $20,000 from her to get them out of the financial mess they were in and buy another house for Feast to live in.  Feast's partner found the body, and had ample opportunity to get rid of damning evidence, and it seems the suicide note disappeared during the "investigation".  Here's evidence of how Police perverted the course of justice AGAIN for Tracy Feast's best friend, Michael Murphy - these statements aren't about the attack on me they are a further attack by the corrupt local police and a clear attempt to pervert the course of justice!

The facts are that Murphy incited the attack by conspiring with Feast - who was paying him to look after Feast's daughter, making up the story about some vague non-incident in the supermarket and telling it to Greig.  This is the same little games they've been playing for years in the Wairarapa, and it's why there is so much child abuse, violent crime and suicide round here.  Here's what 2 witnesses said:

Clare Marie COOK: Handwritten statement -  PC Cunningham           12 February 2009

Last night I was out for a walk with my friend Kelly.  I had my dog with me.  We left from my house down Lincoln Road.  We went into Brooklyn Road.  We walked the length of Brooklyn Road and were on the corner of  Brooklyn Road and High Street on the left hand side of the road.

We heard a female and a male’s voice.  We couldn’t hear what was being said.  We heard a loud bang then several bangs.

We heard a female voice saying what the fuck have you done to my baby.  She said it again.  She sounded hysterical.

I went over to the house.  There was a male walking back and forward from the car to the porch way.  There was a female slumped against the door.  She was the one saying about her baby.  She was upset and crying.  She looked a mess and looked exhausted.

The male was saying move out of the way and I’ll fucken smash the door down.

I said excuse me what’s going on I can hear you down the street.

The male stopped and turned around and said that the lady inside has been abusing this lady’s 5 year old all day and she has just found out about it.

I said where is the baby now.

He said he is at home.

I said “This is not the way to deal with it you need to tell the police if someone hurt your baby.”

He said “I know I am trying to get her away from the door and get her home.

I was in front of the door and telling the lady to leave and go home.

The male said “We have been to the police and they don’t do anything about this lady.”

I said “This isn’t the way to do this.”

He said “We are going now.”

He took hold of the female and guided her over to the car.

The lady was sobbing.

They drove off.

Kelly came over after speaking to the police.

The lady in the house opened the window and asked for my details.

She then came out and said these people had been following her for ages.

She said that they have been driving past in the morning.  She started to go on about Fijians and how they were druggies.

She showed me some blood on her hand.

She said look, and showed me the blood on her arm.

It looked like a little scratch.

She never said she was assaulted.

To my knowledge the male and female didn’t get inside the house.

She kept going on about her lawyer in Wellington and the people and their family.

She said he was a druggie who lived in Wyndham St.  She said that she looked after her kid at the supermarket.

We said if the people are like this why are you looking after her kid.

She then got rude and said I don’t think you are in a position to comment.

She then said about children getting beaten.

I said We have just come over to help and now you are being rude.

We then walked off.

We went to the police station but there was no one there so we went home.

I have read this and it is true and correct.

Clare Marie Cook: Handwritten statement -  PC Cunningham           12 February 2009

Note: This statement contains several inaccuracies, one obvious one is that when Cook asked me why I was looking after their children I said that it was obvious to anyone that they were both violent people who had anger management problems, and looking after their kids was what any normal person would do.  What kind of person calls that rude?  Cook and Wilson are both employed caring for children and when I requested their permission for access to the audiotape of their call to emergency services they refused, saying I should just "get over it."  It's obvious to most people that Cunningham has perverted the course of justice to cover up for Feast and Murphy, a careful read of the documentation reveals the corruption to anyone with half a brain!  This isn't an attempt to resolve a crime, this is a corrupt cover up and Cunningham should have been sacked years ago.

The cost of not sacking him is that he has now corrupted so many other police officers, dragging them into this, like Constable Rhymer, who said to me "You are going to be charged" because she wasn't stupid enough to risk her career for arresting me for something I didn't do in the face of all the evidence of this corruption, while violent child abusers were protected by this blatant corruption.  Cunningham and his corrupt fellow officers have created an environment where corruption flourishes, the blatant cover up of corruptly 'elected' Mayor Gary McPhee involved other Carterton officers Pope and Cadwallader, all conspired to pervert the course of justice and cover up McPhee's serious violent home invasion, none of this has been addressed.

Here's Murphy's lies - he never once came to the farm where I lived to pick mushrooms - what a liar! 

Michael Francis MURPHY: Handwritten statement -  PC Cunningham           12 February 2009

I have known Kate Raue since May last year.  We went and picked mushrooms from her farm.  When I first met Kate she convinced me that Gary McPhee was a bad person.

She use to come around lots.  She would say I have a sore back and am tired I’ll burst into tears if you don’t agree with me.

Malcolm Swanson is a mate of mine.  Kate was in our group as a friend.  We all shifted Kate from Moreton Road to Brooklyn Road

She didn’t have enough room at her new property in Brooklyn Road for all her stuff.  I let her put some of her property in my garage.

When she is stressed she talks really fast.  Malcolm and Kate became interested in each other.  She stopped talking fast and stopped going on about the Council.

Malcolm started to go out with Kate.

When we went to Auckland we all left out house keys with Kate.  When we came back from Auckland about the second week of January 2009, Kate and Malcolm had broken up.

Since then Kate has blamed me for breaking them up.  She has decided that all her problems were caused by me.

I decided to convert some of my garage to a gym.  I had a lot of Kate’s property stored in the garage and decided to take it back to her.

I took one load in the car around to Kate’s house.  Her landlord Hayden was there.  I put the stuff in the shed.  He was sweet over this.

I went around the next day to work out how to shift the rest of her stuff.  It was too big to fit in the car and I didn’t have a trailer.

Kate came running out and looked angry.  She was saying get off my property.  I didn’t want a confrontation with her.  She was calling out to a mate called Aaron across the road.

She was saying look Aaron he is assaulting me look at his face remember his face.

I left and came home.  I decided to go to talk to Gary McPhee to see if he could help.  He wasn’t in his office but  phoned me back saying he was going to be in his office at 3:15 pm.  I went and asked if he could help get her property out of my garage.

Gary made an offer to help move the property and drop it off at Kate’s place.

He also said he would ask the police to come with him

We had tried to get Kate to come and pick up her property but she didn’t.

Gary and I took the property around to Kate’s house.  Constable Cadwallader came with us.  We dropped the property off.  I felt that Kate was inside her house but she didn’t come out.  When we finished dropping it off Constable Cadwallader asked me to text Kate to say her property had been dropped off and to take responsibility for it.

Later Malcolm came over and showed me a letter that Kate gave him the letter was upsetting because it referred to me not looking after my daughter and talked about me hurting her horses.  I would never hurt any horse.

I later learned that Tiare who is Tuakana’s daughter had been to the supermarket with Kate.  I heard from Lee Ann that Tiare was left in the supermarket and was found wandering around by herself.

Tuakana was at her home.  I went around with Mitch.  I told Tuakana what I had heard about Tiare and the supermarket.

I wanted to go and tell Kate to stay away from all of our friends.  Tuakana wanted to go and ask her what happened at the supermarket.

We drove to her address.  I had to get out the passenger side of the car because the drivers door is broken.  Kate ran into the house.  Tuakana was on the door step asking Kate what had happened at the supermarket.

Kate was inside the house laughing at us.

Tuakana yelled what did you do to my baby.

I was standing behind Tuakana.  I went down the steps and started to walk back to the car.

I was yelling as well.

A lady with a dog came up to me.  She asked what was going on.  I told her that Kate was abusing Tuakana’s child.

She said to go to the police.

I said the police are not doing anything.

I went up and grabbed Tuakana and pulled her back to the car.

We left and went back home.

The police officer came to number 14 Wyndham St where I had parked my car in the driveway.

He came up to the back of the car.  I had to get out the passenger door again.

I told him the drivers door was broken.

He asked what had happened in Brooklyn Road.

I told him that Tuakana was upset because Kate Raue had taken her daughter without permission to the supermarket.

I admitted going to the address and yelling and I was also upset at Kate.

I told him that I didn’t hit Kate and the door was shut and she was inside and we were outside.  I didn’t see Tuakana hit Kate either.

I know it was silly to go around there but with all that has been going on we were both upset.

After the lady with the dog talked to me I realised that I had played into Kate’s hands by going there.

I went and got Tuakana and left.

I have read this statement and it is true and correct.

Michael Francis MURPHY: Handwritten statement -  PC Cunningham           12 February 2009
___________________________________________________________________________

"We left and went back home" - Murphy and Greig went straight back to Tracy Feast's house - paid for with Donna Thompson's money.  The car wasn't even in warrantable condition, and I doubt it was road legal.  Compare Cunningham's lack of concern over any of this with his zeal in issuing me with hundreds of dollars worth of tickets for not wearing a bike helmet.  Methamphetamine addict Wayne Friend was pulled over by police recently in the same car, still unlicensed and unwarranted, but after a brief discussion with the officer's supervisor, Wayne Friend was allowed to drive away without even a ticket!

In the Wairarapa you can get away with murder if your name's Tracy Feast.  Read Cunningham's corrupt "Offence Report" - this isn't an offence report at all, it's an orchestrated litany of lies!  Cunningham didn't even speak with me, his focus was on covering up what Tracy Feast and Michael Murphy had done.  I didn't demand that police repair my door immediately as he states - I insisted that they arrest Murphy because I had made a number of complaints about him stalking and harassing me in the weeks and days before the attack, including that very morning.  I pointed out that while he was still at large and the door was unable to be secured I was at risk of another attack from him during the night while I slept.  I've since been introduced to another local woman who made a formal complaint to police about Murphy making almost identical threats to her a few years ago.  Police are of course saying they can't find the file.

More psychiatric reports for Alice - Cunningham, Murphy, Brook and Rhymer need psych reports much more than me!

23.10.2010

Went to Wellington again yesterday for Court, accompanied by a fellow member of Transparency in New Zealand and the FOCCers, who kindly offered to act as my McKenzie Friend.  Hopped on the train, and as it swept around the bend and onto the waterfront, rolling round the harbour and into the little city I love so much I felt slightly less sick and depressed and anxious about the Court hearing (or whatever it was called) at 2:15.  

We noticed the difference immediately as we cycled round the waterfront to some very sweet music from the buskers.  There were people everywhere, walking, jogging, on skateboards, rollerblades, a rickshaw, and all manner of wheeled contraptions.  As usual, there was a happy and peaceful mingling of everybody.  Everyone was smiling, quite a few cycists weren't wearing helmets, and certainly not the rickshaw riders, skateboard riders or anyone on the other wheeled contraptions.  

What a contrast to the Wairarapa, where locals feel obliged to shout out "Where's your helmet?" at me ad infinitum, and police feel obliged to carry on the way they do - issuing hundreds of dollars worth of tickets one after another for not wearing a cycle helmet, and a campaign of malicious and vexatious litigation and corruptly laid charges against me. 

 There is some strong feeling against cyclists in Wellington, but in my own experience most drivers there are considerate of cyclists when driving, and when opening car doors when parked, and there is mutual tolerance, and deference to, pedestrians.  There is a markedly different attitude in the Wairarapa.  Most motorists in Wellington have a reasonably considerate attitude to cyclists, and most cyclists have a reasonably considerate attitude to pedestrians, we all have to share the same space and there are few problems.

We went to check out the new bus lanes in Manners Mall - scary stuff!  The road is clearly too narrow for buses to pass each other, and bicycles will be forced onto the footpath.  Six cyclists killed on the roads in a week!  I bet all six were wearing their helmets too.  75% of accidents involving cycles and cars are caused by the car and cyclists suffer far serious injury than drivers in these cases which are often fatal to the cyclists.
So, off to Court it was at 2:15 pm; I was the last person called, and had to stand in the dock trying to balance my papers and diaries and write on a thin shelf in mid air as the prosecutor and amicus curiae carried on, perverting the course of justice with this utter travesty of justice, based on an orchestrated litany of lies.  It was as surreal as ever.

The amicus curiae got up and started going on about me having two more psychiatric reports!  Saying I needed two more done!  This is an outrageous abuse of taxpayers money - something needs to be done about recovering whatever money Dr Justin Barry-Walsh was paid for cobbling together the orchestrated litany of lies he came up with in support of the corrupt attempts to have me declared insane or written off as a hysterical and pitiful nutter.  The amicus curiae knows this perfectly well.  His communications with everyone except me are here for all to see.  Except that I didn't ask him for the transcripts of the calls to 111 on the 11th February - I asked for the audiotape of the call, which records Murphy's mad threats and the sound of him smashing down my door!  Yeoman has been asked to provide all communication he has received from me regarding these matters, which will show these communications of his to Pearl Christian and Michael Snape to be corrupt and inaccurate rubbish.  Yeoman deliberately refused to ask Murphy "Did you or did you not go to Katherine Raue's house on the 11th February 2009 and attack her, smashing down her door and bashing her with the door handle which you ripped off the outside of the door, violently in a sustained and violent rage?"  He also refused to ask Rhymer why she refused to charge Murohy with the attack on me of which there is indisputable evidence, unlike the basis for the Crown case in this matter which is an orchestrated litany of lies.

Then the Judge looked at me and said "Mrs Raue, do you think you need to have a psychiatric report done" - what a question to ask someone!  Especially if they're suspected of being mental!  Of course I responded by pointing out that the only reason I'd had to have one done in the first place was because of the notes written by a certain lawyer who was representing me at the time and was actually present in the Wellington Court yesterday as well but who shall remain nameless, who wrote  the notes at left, which include the comment that "everyone agrees that she's a bit marginal!"  It is perfectly obvious to anyone with a functioning brain that I'm the last person involved in these proceedings who needs a psychiatric report.  This matter is an abuse of process and it's obvious that it should never have made it into the Court in the first place - it is further evidence of police corruption in the Wairarapa and a refusal to investigate child abuse allegations if they are against mates of the police or police informers.  The Evidence of Aaron Brook, Peter Cunningham, Laura Rhymer and Michael Murphy makes it perfectly clear that I am the last one involved in this matter who needs a psychiatric report!

More evidence of why Murphy and Brook need psychiatric reports tomorrow!

Aaron Grimwood, shot and killed aged 17 on 15 November 2008, killer gets 4 months:

This article was published in the Wairarapa Times-Age in October 2010.  Read it carefully.  Note that police considered it unlikely that the gun discharged "accidentally".  On 22 October 2010 the Dominion Post published a report of a very similar incident, the killer was 12, the victim was just eleven years old.

Andrew Dean Kupa Caudwell was 17 years old when he and his mates, aged 15 and 25 went on an orgy of violence, fuelled by methamphetamine, boasting to friends that they were going to look for someone to bash.  The found poor, defenceless - harmless - Paul Irons, and beat him to death savagely, over many hours.  The attack was planned, and utterly cruel and degrading.  It was absolutely horrifying in its sheer brutality and sadism.  Kupa Caudwell is the son of the local police officer, and was a regular methamphetamine user.  Police are controlling the distribution of methamphetamine and other drugs in the Wairarapa, and protecting violent offenders.

The prosecution of Raven Walters for careless use of a firearm was an absolute travesty, like the prosecution of the vigilantes in South Wairarapa, ex police Vizor and Sullivan, who went out looking for a fight, armed  with police issue weapons, discharged a gun and left a 13 year old with a gaping head would and then got off when police stuffed up the prosecution deliberately.  In Walters' case the Judge made disturbing comments about the police case for the prosecution and the lack of "evidence" presented, serious discrepancies in the "evidence" presented to the Court and other serious irregularities that caused the Judge great concern.  It was clear from the Judges comments that he was of the opinion that the shooting may well not have been an "accident" at all and may well have been deliberate.  Why else would Raven Walters show absolutely no remorse whatsoever?  

Aaron Phillip Grimwood's father Phil was manager of the Carterton Community Gardens, their family lived in Tubby Rose's farmhouse before I lived there.  Aaron was a good boy, a nice boy, and he's sadly missed.  Thinking of him today, 15 November 2010 the anniversary of his killing two years ago.

Coroner calls for gun law review: