Dead paraglider named
The man who died when his paraglider crashed on Mt Roy, near Wanaka, was 54-year-old David Michael Jongsma. Emergency services were called after the Hawea Flat resident crashed his paraglider about halfway up the north side of the peak just before 3pm on Tuesday. The death has been referred to the coroner.
16 on poaching charges
Sixteen people are likely to appear in court for poaching seafood from a marine reserve near Gisborne. The alleged offenders were caught in a Ministry of Primary Industries operation on November 30 to December 2. They were caught with 621 illegal kina and 55 illegal crayfish taken from Te Tapuwae o Rongokako marine reserve. MPI spokesman, Adam Plumstead, said the reserve ‘‘protects over 2400 hectares of coastline and its marine life from any threats to its existence and when people intentionally disturb that, and take marine life from this area, they are destroying this very special habitat’’. The reserve was established in 1999 by local iwi Ngati Konohi and the Department of Conservation.
Body located
A body has been found near Titi Island in the Marlborough Sounds, where police have been searching for a missing free diver. The diver was named as 25-year-old Baden Pierce Mcnab from Owaka in south Otago. Senior Sergeant Peter Payne, of Blenheim, said the Police Dive Squad had recovered a body near the 32-hectare Department of Conservation reserve. A formal identification process had yet to be completed.
Gunshots lead to arrests
Four males have been charged in relation to gunshots fired in Napier. A police spokeswoman said residents in the suburb of Tamatea called police at 9pm on Tuesday after hearing gunshots. Police went to an address in Tamatea and confirmed nobody had been injured. A vehicle linked to the incident was later stopped by police. The four male occupants, aged 16, 17, 26 and 39, were arrested. A firearm and ammunition were recovered. The four have been charged with possessing an offensive weapon and unlawfully carrying or possessing a firearm or ammunition. They appeared in the Hastings District Court.
Charges may follow fire
Police have spoken to the couple who were staying at a historic homestead near Queenstown shortly before it burned to the ground. Detective Sergeant Derek Shaw said the couple contacted police on Tuesday and police were not seeking anyone else in relation to the fire at the Mt Aurum homestead at Skippers Canyon on New Year’s Eve. The couple had been interviewed and he was awaiting a report from a fire investigator. He hoped to know within two weeks whether charges would follow.