He was met by Siloata who took him home and then to a Happy Valley address where Siloata had storage. Siloata then took him to a car rental place where he hired a car and headed north along State Highway 1. Police stopped the car and searched it, finding over $190,000. A search of both Wellington addresses found 1.5kg of methamphetamine, cannabis and a multitude of loaded firearms and ammunition. Siloata also had four cellphones and refused to provide the codes to unlock them. Judge Ruth said while Siloata had submitted his role was that of a courier, “it doesn’t speak to me of a person who is a mere courier”.
The judge sentencing then said the fire was set recklessly with the storage unit door left open and a trail of petrol down the corridor, affecting 224 other personal storage units. On Friday Judge David Ruth said on several occasions during August last year Bitossi had grabbed his partner around the throat, once trying to lift her off her feet. She saw white lights and suffered bruising and pinpoint haemorrhaging in her mouth from it. During August last year different parts of New Zealand moved between level 1 and level 3. The judge said Bitossi had a fairly troubled past with offending from 1997 starting with dishonesty. His offending often had a drug link.
This is not the first time threats have been made against Ardern. Last month a 34-year-old man appeared in the Wellington District Court after he allegedly threatened to kill the New Zealand prime minister. In 2020, a man pleaded not guilty to a charge of sending threatening emails to Ardern between October 2019 and January 2020. Also in 2020, an Australian man was jailed for making threats against Ardern, Muslims and mosques. Cormac Patrick Rothsey pleaded guilty in a Newcastle court to charges of posting extremist threats on social media in September 2019. Matthew Burns, from County Armagh, admitted sending Ardern a photo five days after the March 15 Christchurch mosque attacks of a gun with a silencer with the message: “You re next.”
In her decision granting permission Justice Jill Mallon accepted a question of law arose. The ministry says the District Court judge wrongly thought Pitt would only have committed an offence if he held himself out as a “registered” osteopath, rather than just an osteopath. But Pitt’s lawyer said the Ministry of Health had taken the District Court judge’s decision on the evidence out of context. Justice Mallon said both positions were arguable, and she thought that the proper legal approach on the point was important. Pitt’s limited culpability and the likelihood of a very minor penalty, if any, would be matters that would be taken into account if the appeal was successful, she said.
Both are considered heritage buildings. A Wellington District Court judge refused to make an order that the council could undertake unspecified seismic strengthening. He said the council should get an order to enter the buildings so plans could be prepared, and then subsequent orders to do the work. The council also had the option to demolish the building. The building owner would ultimately pay for the work, or the building could be sold to meet the costs. The council appealed against the District Court decision. Whittington told Justice Rebecca Ellis at the High Court in Wellington on Monday that the process the District Court favoured would duplicate, or even triplicate, the hoops the council had to jump through.