Goddard returns to Wellington
Dame Lowell Goddard is back home in Wellington, two months after resigning from her role as head of a major inquiry into child abuse in Britain.
When approached by the Weekend Herald yesterday, she said she did not wish to comment.
Last week she vehemently rejected claims in the Times newspaper about her professionalism and competence and said the allegations were part of a “vicious campaign” against her.
Goddard suddenly quit in August as head of the inquiry after 18 months in the £ 360,000- a- year ($ 611,000- a- year) role.
She was the third inquiry chairwoman to quit.
She had previously faced scrutiny about her understanding of English law, periods of leave and her pay.
Goddard has said she resigned to enable the British Government to revisit what she saw as the unworkable framework of the inquiry set up to examine allegations of child abuse across public and private institutions.
Downing St has revealed Prime Minister Theresa May was aware of “tensions” “some weeks before” an official complaint was made. May was Home Secretary when Goddard was appointed.
The Home Office had previously said it was only informed of concerns about Goddard when they were formally made on July 29 — six days before she resigned. Assaults on prison guards by inmates have increased by more than 100 in the last year. But the Department of Corrections say that a three- year staff safety plan will “directly contribute to making prisons a safer environment”. The Department of Corrections Annual Report put out yesterday afternoon revealed that in the 2015/ 16 year, just under 20 staff were seriously assaulted by inmates while on the job, and more than 450 minor and non- injury assaults were reported. The real estate watchdog is gunning for a high- flying agent’s licence, saying his repeated infringements prove he was only motivated by lucrative commission money. But West Auckland agent Aaron Drever — who was earning more than $ 1 million a year in sales — is pleading for one last reprieve. Drever fronted a penalty hearing yesterday before the Real Estate Agents Disciplinary Tribunal having admitted a misconduct charge linked to the 2013 sale of three West Auckland homes. Drever accepted responsibility for his repeated failures, but blamed the sheer volume of sales work for his mistakes and a lack of supervision while working for now defunct RE/ MAX franchise Hedgman Realty. He told the tribunal he was effectively doing the work of up to 12 salespeople. The tribunal reserved its decision. Family of Kiwi woman Mary Dean who was fatally shot by her estranged partner in the Cook Islands this week are still trying to find out when they can bring her body home. Chris Rimamotu, who was serving a prison sentence for abduction and sexual assault, escaped on Wednesday and is believed to have killed Dean, 47, and her boyfriend, 45- year- old Roger Tauarea, in the Titikaveka district in Rarotonga. Rimamotu, 41, is believed to have then killed himself. Dean, who had a 9- year- old son, grew up in Tokoroa and had lived in Rarotonga for the past 20 years. Auckland Council and its contractors have been ordered to pay $ 255,000 in fines and reparations over the death of a 19- year- old woman. Refuse worker Jane Devonshire was killed in August last year when a rubbish truck, owned by Auckland Council contractor Onyx, went over a cliff in Birkenhead on the North Shore. Devonshire was crushed after being thrown from the truck.