Former foster carer jailed for child abuse

Edible wrapping could help solve the global plastic packaging plague – if the researchers who created it can prove it is non-toxic.

The new clear plastic-wrap-like film combines by-products of corn oil production and the seafood industry with a common food additive that dissolves in water.

Because the product is made from natural sources it can theoretically be eaten by anyone.

Currently in the proof of concept stage, the product has the potential to replace common petroleum-based products, which can take hundreds of years to break down. It is estimated the oceans are polluted with more than 150 million tonnes of plastic, and if current trends continue plastic will outweigh fish in the seas by 2050.

The project is led by Professor Indrawati Oey at Otago University, which has already funded the project to assess the product’s toxicity. ‘‘This toxicology test is a crucial step before we use it either for food or feed,’’ Oey said.

‘‘In theory biomass materials are edible because it’s coming from food – it’s protein and carbohydrate.’’

It was the combining of the two and the process used to make the film that could prove to be an issue.

Oey described the hunt for lowcost biodegradable and edible packaging as ‘‘a global priority’’.

The product could be available for production within a couple of years. ‘‘At this moment we are looking for New Zealand companies hopefully who can adopt this technology.’’

PhD student Stephen Giteru, who is also working on the project, said future development could turn the film into hard packaging like milk bottles.

Efforts to combat the mountains of waste plastic building up around the world have increased in recent times.

Researchers in the UK and US recently created an enzyme that ate plastic.

The mutant enzyme takes a few days to start breaking down the plastic – far faster than the centuries it takes in the oceans. ‘‘I hate you and I hope you burn in hell,’’ a sex abuse victim told former Child, Youth and Family Services caregiver Rex Lawrence Wilson before the 64-year-old was jailed for 12 years.

Wilson’s two victims – he was found guilty at an eight-day Christchurch District Court jury trial in January – both read emotional victim impact reports at his sentencing in the same court yesterday.

Judge Paul Kellar said the two women, now aged in their 20s, had been done ‘‘incalculable harm’’ over six years of his offending. ‘‘I was singularly impressed with both of them during the course of the trial, and even more so today.’’

He said the offending was ‘‘about as serious as it gets’’.

A jury had found Wilson guilty of 15 charges: two charges of rape, 12 of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection and indecent assault on a child aged under 12. The Crown case detailed oral sex, touching, digital penetration and full sexual intercourse.

One complainant said she refused to be a cowering ‘‘rape victim’’ and asked how Wilson felt now that he was a ‘‘victim’’ himself of the criminal justice system. She said she saw no remorse or shame from him.

After his offending, which ended when she was aged 13, she had turned to drugs, alcohol and self-harm and she had tried to kill herself more than once. She was now a mother.

The other complainant, also now a mother, told of turning to drugs and alcohol to try block out what he had done.

‘‘You ruined my life,’’ she told him, but now said she had an amazing partner and beautiful children.

She said she hoped that what she had done in reporting Wilson to the police would inspire other victims to speak up and be heard.

‘‘I have no idea when the nightmares will stop and the depression will go away,’’ she said.

At the end of her statement, she abused Wilson across the court room, telling him: ‘‘I hate you and hope you burn in hell.’’

Defence counsel Andrew McKenzie said Wilson faced a long jail term at an advanced age and he would not be released until he no longer posed a risk.

‘‘He will have to move a long way from his stance now, for that to be no longer the case.’’

He told the court Wilson planned to appeal the convictions.

Judge Kellar made an allowance for Wilson having no other relevant convictions, and for his age, which reduced his sentence by four years, to 12 years. He imposed no non-parole term, but said the likelihood was that Wilson would not be eligible for parole unless he showed some significant remorse.