Felicity Dear

1 week ago | odt.co.nz | Felicity Dear

An Oamaru businessman will have to continue paying his estranged wife, whom he fired amid an acrimonious split, after dropping an appeal. Phil Scott, of Scott’s Brewing Ltd, was forced in a 2024 interim decision by the Employment Relations Authority to continue paying his wife, Tyla Scott, after she filed a personal grievance against him. She filed the grievance after she was made redundant from their brewery business.

1 week ago | odt.co.nz | Felicity Dear

A Southland dairy farmer fined $215,000 for ripping off his migrant workers is appealing the penalty, which he says he cannot afford to pay. Following a complaint at the end of 2020, a labour inspector found Reza Abdul-Jabbar, owner of Rural Practice Ltd, breached multiple employment standards. A nine-day hearing revealed he used "invented' records to cover up that he was underpaying his three Indonesian staff.

2 weeks ago | odt.co.nz | Felicity Dear

A few beers before driving home has landed a Balclutha man behind bars. But John Ruffell knew he was running that risk — he had been caught drink-driving eight times before. The 69-year-old appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday and was jailed for 17 months. The court heard the defendant had racked up eight drink-driving convictions between 1986 and 2020. On December 3 he was stopped by police and blew 441mcg despite being on a zero-alcohol licence.

2 weeks ago | odt.co.nz | Felicity Dear

You are not permitted to download, save or email this image. Visit image gallery to purchase the image. NewsDunedinAfter strangling his partner, a Dunedin man attended more than 70 Stopping Violence sessions, but it did not save him from being locked up. Dean John Middlemass, 44, was sentenced to two years and three months’ imprisonment when he appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday. He previously admitted assaulting a female and later a jury found him guilty of strangulation.

2 weeks ago | odt.co.nz | Felicity Dear

A Dunedin man has admitted attacking three police officers at an alcohol checkpoint, forcing them to Taser him. In the Dunedin District Court yesterday, Antonio Steven Moataane, 34, pleaded guilty to injuring with intent to injure, assault, refusing to give a blood specimen and refusing to accompany an enforcement officer. The court heard that on December 8, Moataane was driving in Brighton Rd where an alcohol checkpoint was being conducted. He pulled over about 50m before the checkpoint.