VTNZ staffer tipped off Head Hunters

Privacy Commissioner John Edwards is investigating after a Vehicle Testing New Zealand employee gave personal details about a motorist to the Head Hunters gang.

The employee ran the motorist’s licence plate through a database to obtain their address, which was passed on to the gang.

Justice Matthew Palmer mentioned the incident on Monday at the sentencing of six men over the kidnapping and manslaughter of Auckland woman Jindarat Prutsiriporn.

Justice Palmer noted that in an earlier attempt to kidnap Prutsiriporn, the group had been able to get the details of a passing motorist who reported them for behaving suspiciously outside her home. They were able to do this through a VTNZ employee who had access to the VTNZ database.

Edwards said he was ‘‘very concerned’’ about the breach. He said he would be asking VTNZ for details of the incident, and for an explanation of the security processes and procedures in place at the vehicle testing provider.

Prutsiriporn died when she fell, bound and gagged, from the boot of a moving car in Papatoetoe, South Auckland, in 2016.

Auckland man Seng Lek Liev had engaged a group within the Head Hunters, known as the ‘‘Ghost Unit,’’ to kidnap her. Liev had had a falling out with Prutsiriporn – a drug dealer of Thai descent – but reasons for the kidnapping remain unclear.

Police called the death an example of the havoc created by the Head Hunters.

VTNZ has yet to respond to requests for comment.

Euthanasia drug case

A Hutt Valley woman charged with aiding a suicide will be making applications to the High Court ahead of her scheduled February 2018 trial. Susan Dale Austen, a retired teacher, 66, appeared in court in Wellington yesterday. She faced one charge of aiding Annemarie Niesje Treadwell to commit suicide and two charges of importing Pentobarbitone, a sedative that could be used for euthanasia. Both Austen’s lawyer, Donald Stevens, QC, and the Crown lawyer, Kate Feltham, are likely to have applications to be dealt with at a hearing in October. Treadwell, 77, died in Wellington in June 2016. Austen’s trial was due to start in February 2018, and last for about three weeks, Justice David Collins confirmed.

Young voters tardy

Young people on the North Shore are keener than most of their peers to exercise their democratic right to vote. As of September 12, only 67.47 per cent of the estimated population of 18 to 24-year-olds across all of New Zealand had enrolled to vote – a figure of 310,960 enrolments. All four electorates that cover the North Shore have a higher percentage of young voters than the national average. The North Shore electorate leads with 71.38 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds enrolled to vote. That means, in the North Shore electorate, 5011 out of a possible 7020 young people have enrolled. Across the country, the highest percentage of enrolments comes from the 70-plus age range, at 97.48 per cent. Nationally, a total of 89.69 per cent of the estimated total population, across all age groups, has enrolled to vote.

Ardern’s grandmother dies

Labour leader Jacinda Ardern’s grandmother has died in hospital. Ardern is understood to be attending the funeral on Friday. She confirmed her loss to reporters yesterday. Her grandmother is understood have died on Monday.

Students win film prize

Cerebral palsy students from Auckland have been awarded a top prize at an international film festival. Carlson School for Cerebral Palsy in Three Kings scooped the Judge’s Choice Award and a $15,000 prize at the Focus on Ability Short Film Festival in Australia earlier this month. Cerebral palsy is a term used to describe a group of disabling conditions, which affect movement and posture. The film festival is an Australian-based competition, open to entrants worldwide, which aims to raise awareness of the abilities of people with a disability.

Trucks crash

A 40-year-old male has been flown to Wellington Hospital in critical condition following an accident involving two trucks on State Highway 65, south of Murchison. The accident occurred about 7am yesterday. The road is part of the alternate highway from Picton to Christchurch following the Kaikoura quake.