Al Williams

6 days ago | rnz.co.nz | Al Williams

By Al Williams, Open Justice reporter of Police decided not to charge an officer who stomped on a man during an arrest, saying that despite having enough evidence to prosecute, it wasn't in the public interest to do so. The alleged assault happened during a family harm callout at a home in Ōtara, South Auckland in 2023. According to a summary from the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA), two police officers were trying to handcuff the man but he resisted by keeping his arms at his sides.

1 week ago | nzherald.co.nz | Al Williams

Diane Baumann used the driver's licence details of a stranger in a different city to create a fictious carer and receive payments while collecting ACC benefits. Photo / NZPADiane Marie Baumann used a stranger’s driver’s licence to create a fictitious carer for herself and receive payments. She collected nearly $30,000 in payments and racked up debts, affecting the victim’s credit rating. Judge Gerard Lynch sentenced Baumann to six months’ home detention and ordered her to pay $7500 reparation.

2 weeks ago | hackaday.com | Al Williams

If we asked you to think of a device that converts a chemical reaction into electricity, you’d probably say we were thinking of a battery. That’s true, but there is another device that does this that is both very similar and very different from a battery: the fuel cell. In a very simple way, you can think of a fuel cell as a battery that consumes the chemicals it uses and allows you to replace those chemicals so that, as long as you have fuel, you can have electricity.

2 weeks ago | odt.co.nz | Al Williams

By Al Williams, Open Justice reporter“Delete all of your conversations and stop ringing and calling people Mum; you’re going to put us all in jail bro, they’ve already got the big KO in jail, we’re trying to get him out.”That’s what Tribesmen MC gang member Michael Erikson told his mother Sherryn Elizabeth Erikson as they arranged for close to 2kg of methamphetamine to be dropped off and picked up from her Auckland home.

2 weeks ago | nzherald.co.nz | Al Williams

Sherryn Elizabeth Erikson was sentenced in the Christchurch High Court for her role in Operation Italian Sky. Sherryn Erikson, her sons Michael and Jaxxon Erikson, along with her nephew Jordan Rapana were involved in the multimillion-dollar drug operation. Sherryn’s Auckland home was used as the key dispatch point for methamphetamine and cocaine. Now she’s been sentenced to nine months’ home detention for her role in the network.