New option for custody possible

A pilot programme for parents involved in custody disputes is being launched, to allow families to appear before a mediator, rather than a judge.

The $1.5m trial will take place on Auckland's North Shore from February, for parents involved in custody, access and guardianship cases.

The Minister for Courts, Rick Barker, says at the moment parents who can't agree on custody arrangements have to appear before a Family Court judge. He says under the new system, parents will see a mediator, who will make a recommendation to the court on custody arrangements for the children.

Barker says this will speed up the process, and will be a less scary experience for children.

Anger over wife-beater home-detention ruling

Concerns for the safety of a woman and her children were raised last night after a Christchurch judge allowed a convicted wife-beater to apply for home detention.

Eru Morete, 22, was sentenced to one year behind bars after being found guilty of assaulting his pregnant girlfriend, but after a ruling on Thursday he could serve part of his sentence at home.

The move has angered domestic violence support groups who say judges and parole boards will have blood on their hands if home detention prisoners reoffend.

The man is alleged to have knocked the 36-week pregnant woman to the ground and threatened her with a knife, causing her to go into premature labour.

He then refused to telephone for an ambulance, although she screamed for help.

Brian Gardner, the national manager of the National Network of Stopping Violence Services, said the man should never have been allowed to apply for home detention.

"If he gets home detention his partner will effectively be his jailer," he said.

"Courts are abdicating their responsibility for care and protection by sending an abusive man back to the house with his victims."

Home detention orders are only served with the consent of the woman involved, but Sheryl Hann, the policy research adviser of the National Collective of Independent Women's Refuges, said victims might agree because they were fearful of retaliation.

"Victims feel tremendous guilt after their partner has been arrested and convicted," she said.

"The reality of the violence fades and they feel hopeful that things will be different but this is not borne by statistics. We know that when there is a serious assault like this there has usually been a history of abuse and it's not likely to change without intense intervention.

"Judges need to realise that domestic violence is a life and death situation and that home detention should never be allowed under any circumstances."

Applications are assessed by parole boards and Hann said campaign groups lobbied the Government this year to ban domestic violence offenders requesting home detention.

Pilot scheme should be more successful

There are hopes a pilot scheme for resolving child custody issues will be more successful than the current system.

Early next year families on Auckland’s North Shore will be given the option of accepting mediation not led by a judge.

Courts Minister Rick Barker says currently families referred to mediation can wait weeks or even months to be appointed a Family Court judge.

He says this way, properly trained mediators can speed up the process and help families find their own solutions.

Family Court Scheme Could Be Success

31/10/2004 10:53 AM
NewstalkZB

The Union of Fathers believes a new Family Court pilot scheme will be a huge success, if it is well resourced.

A non judge-led mediation service is being trialled to resolve custody and access issues on Auckland's North Shore.

Union of Fathers spokesman Jim Bagnall says it is critical highly skilled mediators are used, so parents understand what is best for their children.

Mr Bagnall says interest in the pilot is huge because New Zealanders want change in the Family Court.

Woman cries rape for revenge on abuse

A Rotorua woman lied to police about being raped and kidnapped by her partner to get revenge on him for seriously assaulting her, the Rotorua District Court was told.
The 55-year-old, who has interim name suppression, pleaded guilty to a charge of fabricating evidence and will be sentenced in December.
The woman alleged her partner held her captive at a Rotorua house this year before taking her to a beach where she was assaulted, raped and violated.
The man was committed to trial after a depositions hearing but the woman later signed an affidavit saying the rape and kidnapping allegations were false.

Wipe my tax debts or I'll shoot

A Westport man who threatened to shoot people unless his tax debt was wiped was jailed for two years when he appeared in the Westport District Court.
Wayne William Anderson, 45, was sentenced to two years in jail for drink-driving, possessing a rifle and ammunition and holding a firearm without a licence.
On July 22, Anderson was phoning Inland Revenue when he threatened to go out and start shooting people within 30 minutes if his debts were not cleared.
Police found Anderson 50 minutes later with a loaded rifle, 72 rounds of ammunition and bottles of spirits in his car.
His lawyer, Doug Taffs, said Anderson's offending followed the tragic death of his son. His stress was exacerbated by the tax department trying to recover child support debt.

Protest at Counsel for Child Workshop

The New Zealand Law Society’s October 2004 Advanced Counsel for Child Workshop at Waipuna Lodge in Auckland was the target of a Union of Fathers protest last Monday.
Men have long complained that counsels for child often act as a second lawyer for the mother, and typically fail to protect the father/child relationship. Union of Fathers members say that the generous fees paid to lawyers who help remove fathers from families would be better utilised in mediation, conflict resolution and communication courses, and other interventions which aim to allow children continuing contact with both their parents following a relationship break-up.
One reporter from a local paper turned up to cover the protest, but as none of the superheros present were prepared to undertake dramatic or disruptive actions, television reporters were not interested. Fortunately, menz.org.nz has obtained video footage of the event for your entertainment:
Download Counsel for Child protest video here [486KB .wmv]

Traditional Kiwi Male Threatened

Well away from pig hunting and jugs of beer, in the halls of Waikato University, psychology lecturer Dr Darrin Hodgetts says for the last couple of decades men have been told that there’s something wrong with expressing the sort of manly traits idealised by brewery and ute adverts…
A couple of decades of feminism has negatively influenced the thinking of universities and the public sector towards the traditional Kiwi male, Hodgetts says.
He has published research on women’s health, but has also studied post-feminist theory and says the academic view of masculinity has been skewed too far to the negative.
Women’s studies academics at Auckland University have sensed anti-feminist attitudes in his research topic, and challenged him to a debate. The glint in his eye indicates he’s looking forward to it.
It shouldn’t be sacrilegious to question why there isn’t more male gender research being done, he says, particularly in the field of men’s health.

Worried father can’t find his 15-month-old son

Wiping away tears, Hamilton man Wayne Pruden talks about how he went to pick up his 15-month old son yesterday and came home without him.
He should have had his 15-month-old son returned to him after a four-week holiday in Vietnam.
But Mr Pruden, 42, has no idea where his son is, though it is believed he is back in Hamilton.
The toddler left a month ago with his Vietnamese mother and was to have returned to New Zealand last week.
The boy’s passport has since been surrendered to Hamilton District Court in accordance with a Family Court ruling and Mr Pruden expected to see his son yesterday as part of a shared custody agreement.
But Mr Pruden – who hid his son in a Hamilton motel in a bid to prevent him from leaving New Zealand last month – waited in vain at the usual meeting place in the city and wonders whether his son is in New Zealand at all.

Are Dads Getting A Fair Go?

First it was Wayne Pruden who kidnapped his son, now another father has taken the law into his own hands abducting his son, so is the Family Court giving fathers a fair go, or are some Dads out of control?
Streaming video of Holmes interviewing Jim Bagnal from Union of Fathers

Toddler safe after police drama

A 20-year-old man who allegedly snatched his two-year-old son from his former partner in the Far North yesterday will appear in the Kaikohe District Court today.
Up to 50 police, including the armed offenders squad, were involved in the operation from about 7.30am.
The boy and his mother were the subject of a protection order.
A hunting rifle was in the vehicle but Mr Swann said his understanding was that the firearm was not carried during the alleged abduction.
After the kidnap, the man eventually made his way to Teal Bay where he parked his dark green 1997 Ford Falcon station wagon under a pohutukawa tree at a reserve at the end of the beach, near an estuary.