Greens candidate
Women’s Minister Julie Anne Genter has announced she will stand for Green Party co-leader. Genter joins Green backbencher Marama Davidson in the race for the position vacated by Metiria Turei last year after her admission of benefit fraud and a subsequent political firestorm. Genter, 38, is also associate transport and health minister. She first entered Parliament in 2011 after emigrating to New Zealand from the United States in 2004.
Possible winners
The elusive holders of a $20 million Lotto ticket bought in the Christchurch suburb of Hornby appear to have finally figured out they’re the winners. Lotto spokeswoman Jessica O’sullivan said someone had approached them who could be the ticket holder. ‘‘We have spoken to someone who we believe to be the winner. We’re wanting to have a bit more of a chat with them.’’ The Hub Hornby Lotto store sold the ticket, which hit the $20m Powerball first division and picked up $200,000 from Lotto first division.
Victim named
The man who was shot in South Taranaki on Tuesday night was Maurice John Riddle, 78. He died at a farmhouse near Eltham. Police were alerted about 7pm and have charged a 68-year-old man with murder. Detective Senior Sergeant Philip Skoglund said the men had a professional relationship and had known each other for a number of years.
Murderer sentenced
Twenty-year-old murderer Johnnie Puna has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 14 years. Puna was 19 when he attacked Mark Beale at Haumoana, Hawke’s Bay, on February 5 last year. Puna was sentenced in the High Court at Napier yesterday, following a guilty verdict at the end of a week-long jury trial in November. The attack on Beale, 45, lasted 40-60 minutes. He was found critically injured near the Tukituki River mouth about 7am on February 6 and later died of his injuries.
Search for cat
Cat-catchers have been scrambled to Auckland’s Rangitoto and Motutapu islands after two possible sightings of a feline. Two people have reported seeing a black cat on the shoreline at Islington Bay, which lies in between the two islands in the Hauraki Gulf. Rangitoto and Motutapu are connected by a short bridge at the top of the bay. The islands have been free of cats, rats, possums and mice since 2011 and have become a haven for birds. Department of Conservation spokesman John Galilee said DOC was taking the reported sightings ‘‘very seriously’’. Two conservation dogs – trained to detect cats – and their handler were to arrive at Islington Bay yesterday morning. DOC would also utilise motion-sensitive cameras, cattracking devices and traps.