25 Jul 2012

Kahui inquest heads newspaper headlines

7:03 am on 25 July 2012

Wednesday's headlines: Kahui twins inquest findings released after end of legal attempt to stop the report being made public.

NZ Herald

The New Zealand Herald leads with the death of the Kahui twins. A coroner's report finds that the injuries which caused the death of the twins, happened while they were in the sole care of their father.

The findings of Coroner Garry Evans were issued on Wednesday, after Chris Kahui, who was acquitted in June 2008 of murdering the three-month-old twins, abandoned a legal attempt to stop the report being made public.

The paper also reports the police are considering whether to lay criminal charges against Mr Kahui for not taking his twins to hospital the night one of them stopped breathing.

Waikato Times

The Waikato Times also devotes its entire front page to Coroner Garry Evans' report into the deaths of twins Chris and Cru Kahui.

Recommendations made in Mr Evans' 77-page report include a call for the Government to establish child protection teams across the country, as well as possible amendment to both the Education Act and the Health and Disability Services Act to give health and education authorities "statutory responsibility" for child protection.

The Dominion Post

The Dominion Post continues full page coverage of Coroner Garry Evans findings.They were due to be made public before Christmas, but Mr Kahui took legal action to force alterations.

He dropped that challenge earlier this week.

Lawyer, Rodney Harrison, QC, said on Tuesday that Mr Kahui still "strongly disputes and is most dissatisfied with the outcome of the inquest".

The Press

The Press leads with four men were being taken to Christchurch hospital on Tuesday night with injuries sustained in a bloody street fight in the suburb of Spreydon. The brawl involved a group of men, thought to be in their early 20s, in Simeon St about 8pm.

The paper also reports the High Court has ruled Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee "stepped outside the legal limits" of his earthquake powers in decisions redrawing Canterbury housing boundaries.

ODT

The Otago Daily Times reports ratepayers across New Zealand could be left to foot the bill as local government reforms drive up the cost of borrowing for councils.

And sex, rather than food, may be on the minds of Alexandra's wild pigeon population. Attempts by the Transport Agency to cull a 400-strong flock of pigeons that roost on the Alexandra bridge and the old bridge piers were deferred on Tuesday after the pigeons refused to take the bait.