Tuesday, November 25, 2014
The Prime Minister's Office wags Cameron Slater's tale:
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Monday, November 17, 2014
Twisted Prosecution Tests Court of Appeal
Twisted Prosecution Tests Court of Appeal
“Justice will prevail” is a belief Vince Clayton clings fiercely to as his civil claim against a bent NZ prosecutor was given new life by a Court of Appeal judgment two weeks ago. Rather than relegation to the scrap heap of shattered ideals which such beliefs routinely earn, Clayton may be the first to successfully run the ‘old boy’ judicial gauntlet.The Court of Appeal judgment overturned High Court Justice Priestley’s strike out (on grounds it was hopeless) of Clayton’s misfeasance in public office cause of action against Christchurch Crown Prosecutor Philippa Currie (pictured). At the same time, the CoA judgment dismissed Currie’s cross appeal for strike out of Clayton’s remaining public law compensation claim against the NZ Attorney General.
Clayton v Currie seeks financial damages against Ms Currie and the Crown for concealing exculpatory evidence in the 2007 conviction of Clayton and his partner Linda Westbury on 34 charges of receiving stolen goods. The plaintiffs seek just over $2 million, including $100,000 in personal assets the Police have never returned.
Mr Clayton served 14 months in prison in 2007 before the Court of Appeal determined he and two co-defendants were victims of prosecutorial misconduct by Currie. Specifically, Currie withheld evidence that the Crown’s chief witness was given sentencing concessions for unrelated criminal offending in exchange for his testimony. Currie not only failed to disclose this inducement, she provided an assurance to the defendants her written statement no such inducement was given was a complete summary. In fact, Judge Radford had deferred sentencing of the witness until after Clayton’s trial, recording the agreed intent “of course significant discount (on sentence) for the matter which involves the Christchurch trial.”
The witness, for his part, stated repeatedly under cross-examination his only incentive to testify was one of conscience. The court granted the repeat offender name suppression to protect his reputation.
The Court of Appeal was delicate in its ruling, careful not to reveal the extent of Currie’s deception which included court transcripts proving Currie refused to divulge sentencing notes on her star witness and failing to respond to trial Judge Crosbie’s declaration from the bench that the prosecution owed the defendant such notes if they possessed them. The judgment concluded only that Priestley J was wrong to label the misfeasance case as hopeless, suggesting that determination must be left to the trial judge.
The evidence leaves little doubt Ms Currie repeatedly deceived the court and defendants in criminal prosecutions against at least five defendants. Peter Machirus, Nadia Peletio and Gary Morrell are other victims whose claim against Currie has been stalled in the High Court awaiting this Court of Appeal judgment. Machirus has claimed the tort of deceit and malicious prosecution against Ms Currie. Earlier, Machirus had summons issued against Currie in a private prosecution but the prosecution was thwarted when the Solicitor General used his executive power to stay prosecution. In 2007, Machirus was labelled, incorrectly as it now turns out, a burglary-ring ‘kingpin’ by Police in their three year, multi-million dollar Operation Rhino.
Deregistered barrister Devina Murray is exploring obtaining propensity evidence against Currie since her 2013 conviction for smuggling contraband to a high security prisoner.
Ironically, it is this broad level of offending by Ms Currie which now provides the greatest pressure on judges to cover it up. Christchurch Crown Solicitor Brent Stanaway in the High Court and John Pike QC at the Court of Appeal both claimed from the bar that sentencing notes on the witness were available directly to the defendants and on this basis alone the plaintiffs’ claim against Currie could not succeed. When Clayton’s lawyer refused to call out Mr Pike’s false claim the defendants had never asked Ms Currie for a copy, counsel and client had a stern discussion, ending with them parting ways.
A week before the Court of Appeal judgment, the Canterbury Law Society shocked observers in ordering Currie pay a $500 fine and $2,000 costs after its standards committee determined she had deceived the court. The offence carried the potential of striking Currie off as a lawyer.
Currie has refused to pay Clayton and Westbury the $8,000 costs awarded by the Court of Appeal, saying she has yet to decide on any appeal to the Supreme Court.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Investigators reveal Police incompetence or corruption in Guy murder:
Ewen Macdonald was acquitted of murdering Scott Guy in July 2012. In September 2012 Macdonald was sentenced to five years in prison after he was found guilty of a number of other serious crimes, which he strenuously denied until Police elicited a confession from his partner in crime - and in who knows what else - one Callum Boe, a vulnerable orphan with a brain injury who was considerably younger than Macdonald.
Boe was convicted of arson, theft and intentional damage, he was sentenced to two years in prison, it is unclear how much time he actually spent in prison, the real question is why was he not called to give evidence by the Crown prosecutor, Ben Van der Kolk, who is a good mate of Macdonald's brother, a local Police detective.
Macdonald was sentenced to:
The two sentences on the arson charges were cumulative and the rest were concurrent, which means the sentence amounted to a total of five years. Macdonald's lack of remorse and repeated denials were the subject of comment from the Judge. A few weeks after the sentencing Macdonald's lawyer, Greg King, appears to have committed suicide. Macdonald first application for parole was about a year after he was sentenced.
In November 2013 Ewen Macdonald was denied parole for a second time, the Parole Board said he had a "significant personality disturbance". Strangely, nobody ever suggested he be examined by a psychiatris. He bears all the marks of a psychopath, and a sociopath. After the murder Macdonald sought - and gained - a position on a local school Board of Trustees.
Recently investigator Mike Crawford sent cell phone data obtained from the Police file on the murder to UK based intelligence analyst. The investigators claim a series of mystery phone calls were made to slain farmer Scott Guy on the night prior to his death, and on the day of his killing, which may hold the key to the four-year-old murder.
Shortly after Macdonald's trial the Sensible Sentencing Trust approached four private investigators in a bid to bring Scott Guy's killer to justice.
The team has uncovered calls from a mystery phone number which were made to Scott Guy's phone the night before he was murdered. They believe he received another call from the unidentified number on the day of his death. He was murdered early in the morning, around 5 am, so these calls would appear to be significant and relevant to the investigation, and it is outrageous and incredible that the Police have been unable or unwilling to find out who made them!
Investigator Mike Crawford said the evidence provided by police was "incomplete ... text messages were not there, there was an absence of cell-site data and three numbers did not have subscriber details attributed".
"We asked for raw telecommunications data from the cellphone sites in the area. The police came back and told me they never got that data, they overlooked it. I mean that is crucial evidence especially in a small rural area. You would then be able to see the phone numbers, who was texting or leaving messages - they never did that."
Crawford said after their probing, he and his team believe the main offender in the Scott Guy murder may have had an accomplice. Callum Boe and Ewen Macdonald used to boast about their night time "missions", and there was speculation that Scott Guy became aware that there was an inappropriately close relationship between Boe and Macdonald, and fearing exposure, and filled with hatred, a sense of entitlement, and a desire for revenge for perceived slights, Macdonald murdered his brother in law. Boe would be the obvious suspect as an accomplice.
After the jury found Macdonald not guilty of murder, police stated that they had no other suspect.
Crawford and his team believe there are still new lines of inquiry to be explored, but they are hamstrung because of a lack of funding. It is outrageous that we are paying taxes to fund an incompetent and corrupt Police force, while so many killers walk free, thanks to a dysfunctional and corrupt 'justice system', while victims are forced to pay private investigators after Police appear to have destroyed evidence or deliberately failed or refused to obtain the evidence of who it was who rang and texted Scott Guy in the hours before his murder!
Boe was convicted of arson, theft and intentional damage, he was sentenced to two years in prison, it is unclear how much time he actually spent in prison, the real question is why was he not called to give evidence by the Crown prosecutor, Ben Van der Kolk, who is a good mate of Macdonald's brother, a local Police detective.
Macdonald was sentenced to:
- nine months for poaching the Hocken family's prize stags,
- nine months for emptying the milk from Nigel Sexton's vat,
- twelve months for bludgeoning nineteen calves to death with a hammer, which was prosecuted as "willful damage",
- two years for burning down Mr Sexton's duck shooting mai mai (camouflaged hut used by duck hunters),
- three years for burning down Scott and Kylee Guy's farmhouse,
- two years for vandalising Scott and Kylee Guy's new home.
The two sentences on the arson charges were cumulative and the rest were concurrent, which means the sentence amounted to a total of five years. Macdonald's lack of remorse and repeated denials were the subject of comment from the Judge. A few weeks after the sentencing Macdonald's lawyer, Greg King, appears to have committed suicide. Macdonald first application for parole was about a year after he was sentenced.
In November 2013 Ewen Macdonald was denied parole for a second time, the Parole Board said he had a "significant personality disturbance". Strangely, nobody ever suggested he be examined by a psychiatris. He bears all the marks of a psychopath, and a sociopath. After the murder Macdonald sought - and gained - a position on a local school Board of Trustees.
Recently investigator Mike Crawford sent cell phone data obtained from the Police file on the murder to UK based intelligence analyst. The investigators claim a series of mystery phone calls were made to slain farmer Scott Guy on the night prior to his death, and on the day of his killing, which may hold the key to the four-year-old murder.
Shortly after Macdonald's trial the Sensible Sentencing Trust approached four private investigators in a bid to bring Scott Guy's killer to justice.
The team has uncovered calls from a mystery phone number which were made to Scott Guy's phone the night before he was murdered. They believe he received another call from the unidentified number on the day of his death. He was murdered early in the morning, around 5 am, so these calls would appear to be significant and relevant to the investigation, and it is outrageous and incredible that the Police have been unable or unwilling to find out who made them!
Investigator Mike Crawford said the evidence provided by police was "incomplete ... text messages were not there, there was an absence of cell-site data and three numbers did not have subscriber details attributed".
"We asked for raw telecommunications data from the cellphone sites in the area. The police came back and told me they never got that data, they overlooked it. I mean that is crucial evidence especially in a small rural area. You would then be able to see the phone numbers, who was texting or leaving messages - they never did that."
Crawford said after their probing, he and his team believe the main offender in the Scott Guy murder may have had an accomplice. Callum Boe and Ewen Macdonald used to boast about their night time "missions", and there was speculation that Scott Guy became aware that there was an inappropriately close relationship between Boe and Macdonald, and fearing exposure, and filled with hatred, a sense of entitlement, and a desire for revenge for perceived slights, Macdonald murdered his brother in law. Boe would be the obvious suspect as an accomplice.
After the jury found Macdonald not guilty of murder, police stated that they had no other suspect.
Crawford and his team believe there are still new lines of inquiry to be explored, but they are hamstrung because of a lack of funding. It is outrageous that we are paying taxes to fund an incompetent and corrupt Police force, while so many killers walk free, thanks to a dysfunctional and corrupt 'justice system', while victims are forced to pay private investigators after Police appear to have destroyed evidence or deliberately failed or refused to obtain the evidence of who it was who rang and texted Scott Guy in the hours before his murder!
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Māori and Iwi Say No to Bay of Islands Marine Reserves:
Māori and iwi fish representatives combined to send a clear message to promoters of a marine reserve in the Bay of Islands they wouldn’t support the idea.
Individual fishers, lobby groups and representatives of iwi and hapū gathered under the umbrella of the Hokianga Accord and met in Paihia today (August 7) to consider the idea of the Bay of Islands marine reserve being promoted by Fish Forever.
Te Rūnanga-Ā-Iwi-O-Ngāpuhi Chair Rāniera (Sonny) Tau said a marine reserve would prohibit Māori access to gather kai moana and fish.
“With marine reserves you can’t go out and get your kai when you want,” he said. “On the land we can practice our traditions of gathering food when we want.”
Sonny said a better solution was a mataitai reserve where the tangata whenua manage all non commercial fishing by making bylaws. A mataitai also gave locals the ability to keep the commercial fishers out of a given area.
“The fact for our iwi and hapū is that when you lock up a place like that forever [put in place a marine reserve] you move the fisheries pressure point from that to other areas,” said Sonny.
“The fish don’t know where the boundaries are [for marine reserves]. Just because you say it’s a marine reserve doesn’t mean the fish know its boundaries.”
Greenpeace representaive Mike Smith supported Sonny’s comments, even though he noted he had seen firsthand the benefits of marine reserves.
“There was a time when I was young with a family and I couldn’t afford to feed my kids and I had to rely on the sea. It’s the difference between your kids eating or not,” said Mike.
“The last thing we want to be doing is criminalising our people because it doesn’t work.”
Waitangi resident Albie Apiata said he had seen a lot of bad practices, especially by commercial fishers and chartered boat operators.
“It hurts,” said Albie. “The commercial operators and the charter boats exceed the bag limits for the sake of overseas tourists and then when they’re finished or can’t eat what they’ve caught they dump it in our water.”
“Four years ago we told Fish Forever not to shut our cupboard [access to the sea]. If you do that then you better have another cupboard,” he said.
“Our people don’t want our cupboard shut down.”
Ngāti Kuta and Patukeha representative Jackie Rewha said a comprehensive mana moana fisheries management plan was in place in Te Rawhiti, including a rahui in Maunganui Bay.
Fish Forever spokesman Vince Kerr said marine reserves were not new and had been supported by other iwi, including Ngāti Porou and Ngai Tahu.
Their proposal is to establish marine sanctuaries in Waewaetorea Reserve and Maunganui Bay.
He said marine reserves slowly increase productivity in the natural ecosystem.
“So the ocean floor resembles that that existed thousands of years ago. Even though there’s displacement coming out of the marine reserve, the productivity outweighs the displacement... it’s like throwing a turbo charger under the environment where restoration can take place.”
Bay of Islands marine reserves were necessary to return the area to its natural state and replenish the marine biodiversity.
Fish Forever’s objective is to protect approximately 10% of the enclosed waters in the Bay of Islands as a network of no-take areas.
Friday, August 1, 2014
Planet Key - Electoral Commission censors freedom of speech:
The Electoral Commission has issued a statement banning the broadcast of a song because it deems the song to be "an election program."
The hypocrisy is breathtaking - this decision follows the refusal to uphold complaints about John Key's hour long show on Radio Live.
Radio Live is owned by Can West and Mediaworks, and the free showcasing of Key's propaganda broadcast was no doubt influenced by Key's forty three million dollar interest free loan to Mediaworks, which was made against legal advice.
The hypocrisy is breathtaking - this decision follows the refusal to uphold complaints about John Key's hour long show on Radio Live.
Radio Live is owned by Can West and Mediaworks, and the free showcasing of Key's propaganda broadcast was no doubt influenced by Key's forty three million dollar interest free loan to Mediaworks, which was made against legal advice.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Beyer the Liar - election by deception:
Disgraced former MP Georgina Beyer should be in prison for interfering in a Police investigation into serious allegations of fraud and corruption at the former Carterton Community Centre, of which she was Patron at the time. The committee was comprised of a group of people associated with the Carterton District Council, a major funder of the Centre. This involved serious conflicts of interest which were the subject of a number of petitions and letters of complaint to Police from myself and a number of senior lawyers and other taxpayers and ratepayers.
These complaints were dealt with by Police, IPCA and a number of other taxpayer funded organisations tasked with addressing such complaints, with utter contempt and indisputably corrupt responses.
The media are yet again trying to con the public while the leader of the so called Mana party has lost the plot - and any credibility or integrity he ever possessed - by putting up a bunch of convicted criminals, thieves, liars, and incompetent and corrupt has beens to stand for the so called Mana Party instead of any of the many capable and competent potential candidates. Minto, Bradford and Sykes are being silenced and threatened in favour of Donna Awatere-Huata, Georgina Beyer and dodgy Kim Dot Con.
Disgraced former MP Georgina Beyer was deeply involved in the cover up of the massive fraud and other malfeasance at the former Carterton Community Centre, Beyer interfered in the Police investigation into the formal complaints about these matters - which is why 'she' was booted out of parliament the day after there was a vote of no confidence in the government after we faxed the EVIDENCE of Beyer's corrupt interference to all other sitting MPs - the funding ceased immediately the funders became aware of it - Beyer is a FRAUD - those thefts were from the most vulnerable members of our community! The media created a cult of celebrity around Beyer and thug Gary McPhee that is nothing like the reality - Beyer should be in prison - and WILL be, it's only a matter of time!
I made another formal complaint at the Masterton Police station just the other day about these matters and others and Beyer's involvement in them. I was told to piss off and threatened, as usual.
Beyer's involvement in not only that matter, but the sale by MAF of infected horses to a local meat works and other matters is evidence of serious corruption - which is why Beyer was booted out before 'she' could collect lifetime perks!
Beyer is guilty of fraud and serious corruption! The son of a thieving policeman who was jailed for theft - Beyer will be jailed for fraud and corruption before EVER being sworn into parliament again - people in the Wairarapa are SICKENED by this utter BULLSHIT! - Trying to prop up lying losers like Beyer and Awatere-Huata who was jailed for EXACTLY THE SAME THING - THIEVING FROM VULNERABLE CHILDREN!
The Wairarapa regularly has over twice the national rate of suicide and local Police have been found to have been deliberately covering up a massive amount of paedophilia and child abuse in order to protect the perpetrators - in many cases the Police officers themselves and their mates. Many people swallowed the media version hook line and sinker - but those who bothered to look at the real story are well aware of who Beyer REALLY is - and that's why Beyer has never held a job since being booted out of parliament in disgrace the day after a vote of no confidence in the government. And that's why Beyer is unemployed and broke, instead of working at the UN with aunty Helen and touring the world on whirlwind of acclaimed speaking engagements - Beyer is a fraud - after being booted out of parliament there was the business of the cancelled show in Dunedin - letting everyone down again, the media fawned and grovelled - the Dancing with the "Stars" footage is truly cringeworthy, Beyer is just a silly old drag queen who used to lip synch and posture in my husband's strip club back in the day, and then go and stand on the street corner afterwards - no offence to prostitutes either - but Beyer was quoted recently saying that the legislation was a mistake because it hasn't made things better. Beyer tried to introduce another Bill (to confirm that 'she' was a woman basically), and it was thrown out with ridicule, like a petition Beyer initiated.
The picture painted by the media of Beyer and 'her' mate Gary McPhee was nothing like the reality. Both turned a blind eye to fraud, suicide, child abuse, both achieved their positions by bribery and blackmail and fraud.
Kiwis need to wake up - there is no shortage of good role models with "gender issues" or whatever the pc term is and that's got nothing whatsoever to do with my criticism of Beyer - Beyer failed the three strikes test - useless and incompetent regarding the MAF issue, and outright corrupt regarding the Community Centre/District Council matters, suicide, child abuse - South End school - Kelvyn Alp did what Beyer and the rest of the 'professional politicians' couldn't be bothered doing - writing to the Ombudsmen and demanding that the so called investigation into the shutting down of the program that was REALLY feeding the kids - helping and empowering the kids to grow their OWN kai as well as actively preventing the child abuse and suicide, creating employment, strengthening communities, etc, and it paid off.
Beyer and his mate Jevan Goulter are an insult to democracy and justice! Corruption, greed and incompetence need to be challenged - the National Business Review reported there is an alarming amount of bribery in New Zealand, Beyer bleated about having to abort the last political attempt because 'her' Taiwanese financial backer died - who needs politicians who are controlled by dodgy anonymous Taiwanese bakers and hypocritical deranged and deluded rent boys who seem to be above the law?!
Here's who's behind Beyer - in more ways than one - Hone Harawira's "Executive Assistant and Press Secretary", Jevan Goulter. :
As for "feed the kids" - Goulter used to post this sort of thing daily until he was recently reined in a bit - he's a selfish lying hypocrite who is completely self focused as the emails below prove, not to mention the updates which are coming shortly - this is par for the course when daddy's pulling the strings:
These complaints were dealt with by Police, IPCA and a number of other taxpayer funded organisations tasked with addressing such complaints, with utter contempt and indisputably corrupt responses.
The media are yet again trying to con the public while the leader of the so called Mana party has lost the plot - and any credibility or integrity he ever possessed - by putting up a bunch of convicted criminals, thieves, liars, and incompetent and corrupt has beens to stand for the so called Mana Party instead of any of the many capable and competent potential candidates. Minto, Bradford and Sykes are being silenced and threatened in favour of Donna Awatere-Huata, Georgina Beyer and dodgy Kim Dot Con.
Disgraced former MP Georgina Beyer was deeply involved in the cover up of the massive fraud and other malfeasance at the former Carterton Community Centre, Beyer interfered in the Police investigation into the formal complaints about these matters - which is why 'she' was booted out of parliament the day after there was a vote of no confidence in the government after we faxed the EVIDENCE of Beyer's corrupt interference to all other sitting MPs - the funding ceased immediately the funders became aware of it - Beyer is a FRAUD - those thefts were from the most vulnerable members of our community! The media created a cult of celebrity around Beyer and thug Gary McPhee that is nothing like the reality - Beyer should be in prison - and WILL be, it's only a matter of time!
I made another formal complaint at the Masterton Police station just the other day about these matters and others and Beyer's involvement in them. I was told to piss off and threatened, as usual.
Beyer's involvement in not only that matter, but the sale by MAF of infected horses to a local meat works and other matters is evidence of serious corruption - which is why Beyer was booted out before 'she' could collect lifetime perks!
Beyer is guilty of fraud and serious corruption! The son of a thieving policeman who was jailed for theft - Beyer will be jailed for fraud and corruption before EVER being sworn into parliament again - people in the Wairarapa are SICKENED by this utter BULLSHIT! - Trying to prop up lying losers like Beyer and Awatere-Huata who was jailed for EXACTLY THE SAME THING - THIEVING FROM VULNERABLE CHILDREN!
The Wairarapa regularly has over twice the national rate of suicide and local Police have been found to have been deliberately covering up a massive amount of paedophilia and child abuse in order to protect the perpetrators - in many cases the Police officers themselves and their mates. Many people swallowed the media version hook line and sinker - but those who bothered to look at the real story are well aware of who Beyer REALLY is - and that's why Beyer has never held a job since being booted out of parliament in disgrace the day after a vote of no confidence in the government. And that's why Beyer is unemployed and broke, instead of working at the UN with aunty Helen and touring the world on whirlwind of acclaimed speaking engagements - Beyer is a fraud - after being booted out of parliament there was the business of the cancelled show in Dunedin - letting everyone down again, the media fawned and grovelled - the Dancing with the "Stars" footage is truly cringeworthy, Beyer is just a silly old drag queen who used to lip synch and posture in my husband's strip club back in the day, and then go and stand on the street corner afterwards - no offence to prostitutes either - but Beyer was quoted recently saying that the legislation was a mistake because it hasn't made things better. Beyer tried to introduce another Bill (to confirm that 'she' was a woman basically), and it was thrown out with ridicule, like a petition Beyer initiated.
The picture painted by the media of Beyer and 'her' mate Gary McPhee was nothing like the reality. Both turned a blind eye to fraud, suicide, child abuse, both achieved their positions by bribery and blackmail and fraud.
Kiwis need to wake up - there is no shortage of good role models with "gender issues" or whatever the pc term is and that's got nothing whatsoever to do with my criticism of Beyer - Beyer failed the three strikes test - useless and incompetent regarding the MAF issue, and outright corrupt regarding the Community Centre/District Council matters, suicide, child abuse - South End school - Kelvyn Alp did what Beyer and the rest of the 'professional politicians' couldn't be bothered doing - writing to the Ombudsmen and demanding that the so called investigation into the shutting down of the program that was REALLY feeding the kids - helping and empowering the kids to grow their OWN kai as well as actively preventing the child abuse and suicide, creating employment, strengthening communities, etc, and it paid off.
Beyer and his mate Jevan Goulter are an insult to democracy and justice! Corruption, greed and incompetence need to be challenged - the National Business Review reported there is an alarming amount of bribery in New Zealand, Beyer bleated about having to abort the last political attempt because 'her' Taiwanese financial backer died - who needs politicians who are controlled by dodgy anonymous Taiwanese bakers and hypocritical deranged and deluded rent boys who seem to be above the law?!
Here's who's behind Beyer - in more ways than one - Hone Harawira's "Executive Assistant and Press Secretary", Jevan Goulter. :
Friday, July 11, 2014
Conspiracy to scuttle the Ady Gil. Captain's Blog March 20 2014 at 9:05pm:
This is the account of the sinking of the Ady Gil. After Pete Bethune won a historic victory against Japanese whalers in the International Court of Justice he decided it was time to stand up and tell the truth about the sinking of the Ady Gil. This is the Captains Blog:
"After Watson's recent post, I cannot let all his half-truths and lies about the sinking of Ady Gil go unanswered. Watson claims the vessel was doomed, however this is simply not true. Four of us, including Watson, were involved in a conspiracy to secretly scuttle the vessel to garner sympathy from media and the public, and all done without the permission or knowledge of its owner.
After the Ady Gil was rammed by Japanese whalers in Antarctica, we got the order from Paul Watson to covertly scuttle (sink) her, but also to pretend we tried our best to save the vessel. Only 3 people on the Bob Barker were initially aware of this. Chuck Swift, Luke Van Horn and myself. Crew spent 30 hours removing everything from the Ady Gil because we planned to abandon her. Chuck, Luke and myself then went aboard, I opened up the sea cocks and hatches, and we then connected the tow lines. We started the pretend tow some 30 hours after the initial ramming. Over the next 6 hours she slowly got deeper in the water until the tow rope broke. I was asleep when the rope broke. Chuck ordered the Bob Barker to continue. No effort to reconnect the tow ropes was made. Nor did anyone go back aboard. The Bob Barker just continued on in the direction of where we thought the whalers were. This was in the middle of the night when it was dark. I awoke several hours later when it was light. We then filmed me supposedly making the decision to abandon her.
There are only 6 people who were definitely privy to what happened. Paul, Chuck, Luke, myself, and 2 of the Ady Gil crew. The problem for Sea Shepherd is the vessel was owned by Ady Gil. In sinking her, we had basically destroyed his property, something Ady Gil is extremely upset about. In his recent and other posts, Watson makes a series of false claims.
Watson says the vessel was already destroyed, however this was simply not the case. It was a composite vessel that needed a new bow and this is not a difficult engineering challenge. Composite boats broken completely in half have been repaired numerous times. The Designers (Loomocean) and the original boatbuilder (Calibre Boats) all stated the vessel could be easily repaired.
Watson says she was difficult to tow. This is not true. The vessel was easy to tow backwards. She towed better in this direction in any case. Also, given the damage was in the bow, towing her backwards would drain water from inside.
Watson says we towed her for 36 hours. This is not true. We spent 30 hours removing gear and preparing her for abandonment. We then opened the sea cocks and towed her for 6 hours as she sank. The sea cocks were opened before we had towed the vessel even one inch.
Watson says we had to sink her because she was a navigational hazard. This is not true, simply by fact she was in a sea full of ice posing much greater threats to vessels than a carbon fibre race boat.
Watson says I am on camera making the decision to abandon her. This is true, but it was simply filmed as part of the charade to make it look like we tried our best to save her. Note this footage is in broad daylight, while the abandonment was done in darkness. There is also footage of Watson being shot by the Japanese, and yet only the most naive of people would ever believe this event actually took place.
Watson says it would tie up the Bob Barker for an excessive period to tow the Ady Gil to Australia, however the proposed plan was to tow her to the French base, just a short distance away.
Now if the best course of action was to abandon her, then Ady Gil (the man) should have been made aware of this. He owned the vessel after all, and would probably have agreed. The vessel had a satellite transponder that could be switched on. This would have revealed her position for years to come, and Ady Gil or Sea Shepherd could have mounted a recovery operation when time and resources suited. Instead we removed the transponder and all batteries, thereby removing any chance of the vessel being salvaged.
I have a few regrets in life. One of them was ever obeying Watson's orders to scuttle the Ady Gil. We lied to the crew of Sea Shepherd, sponsors, donors, Ady Gil, media and our families, and I am ashamed to have been part of such a dishonest act. I suspect if I'd stood up to Watson then the vessel probably would have been towed to Antarctica. I made a mistake and I apologise for it. What appals me now is Watson is intent on continuing with the lies, and he continues to malign me and others over it. I am tired of all the deception and dishonesty.
Ady Gil just before we commenced towing. 30 hours after ramming she still sits high in the water. 6 hours later she was abandoned.Ady Gil just before we commenced towing. 30 hours after ramming she still sits high in the water. 6 hours later she was abandoned.
Since September 2010, Watson has attacked Ady Gil (the man) on numerous occasions. His attacks have been unwarranted, especially given how generous Ady Gil was in providing his vessel to Sea Shepherd. If Watson had apologised to Ady Gil in 2010, I suspect Ady Gil would have let it slide. Instead Watson has continued spewing forth his vitriol and bile, and it is no surprise Ady Gil is now biting back with a lawsuit. Sometimes we reap what we sew. And in this case, Sea Shepherd is facing a difficult lawsuit from a man resourced enough to take it to completion.
A few years ago Watson said he was tired of all the accusations against him, and that people should take him to court if we really believed we had a case. I took his advice, took him to court and won. He was forced to pay me the $500k plus interest I was owed, exactly as I had stated all along. SSCS should have just accepted we had a binding contract and paid up - instead they wasted tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees in a case they were always going to lose.
It would seem Ady Gil is now taking Watson's advice and also taking them to court. I don't know anything about Ady Gil's case, aside from what is posted by Watson. I have not met with Ady Gil's lawyers, nor have I been asked to testify. But I do know if Watson really believes in his fairy tale about the sinking of the Ady Gil, he should subpoena us all and have us testify. He won't of course. He will just continue to whine and whinge that everyone else is to blame for the problems of his own making.
Those of you intent on attacking Ady Gil, few of you have ever met the man, and because he refuses to get involved in all the slander, you have not heard his side of events. Watson's post had all manner of nasty comments from people wishing Ady Gil was dead, abusing him and posting his home address. Thankfully the worst were removed. But it is still disgraceful. Ady Gil donates to so many Animal Rights causes, most of which you never hear about. There are few enough wealthy people donating to Animal Rights as it is, and many of the people making the vindictive comments have probably donated jack shit. At least Ady is prepared to put his money where his mouth is.
Ady Gil is not a close friend of mine, nor does he financially support my work. However I do know he contributes so much to many animal rights causes, and he doesn't deserve to be pilloried like he is now. He is simply taking legal action against Watson who has spent the last 3 years attacking him, that suggested if anyone had problems with him to take him to court, and that dishonestly ordered the covert scuttling of the Ady Gil when it was perfectly salvageable.
I don't know how this will play out. The best would be SSCS simply issue an apology to Ady Gil and come to an agreement over the deliberate sinking of his vessel. In reality I doubt this will happen, it will go to court, and SSCS will in all probability lose another court case. Watson will also continue to attack others. He spent 30 years attacking Greenpeace. In recent times he's moved onto Ady Gil, Martyn Stewart, myself and others. It is a shame he cannot focus on the real enemy.
As for the claim that Ady Gil wants to see Sea Shepherd destroyed, I don't know if this is true or not. I hope not. Sea Shepherd have done a lot of good over the years, and I doubt the case has any real chance of destroying what is a very powerful and well-resourced organisation. At the same time, recent events might be a wake-up call to the Sea Shepherd board to ensure the organisation moves forward with a new commitment to honesty and integrity, and to see its employees (namely Watson) refrain from personal attacks on others. One can but hope…"
Source -
https://www.facebook.com/notes/pete-bethune/conspiracy-to-scuttle-ady-gil-captains-blog-30/10152275700235867
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| Ady Gil just before we commenced towing. 30 hours after ramming she still sits high in the water. 6 hours later she was abandoned. |
"After Watson's recent post, I cannot let all his half-truths and lies about the sinking of Ady Gil go unanswered. Watson claims the vessel was doomed, however this is simply not true. Four of us, including Watson, were involved in a conspiracy to secretly scuttle the vessel to garner sympathy from media and the public, and all done without the permission or knowledge of its owner.
After the Ady Gil was rammed by Japanese whalers in Antarctica, we got the order from Paul Watson to covertly scuttle (sink) her, but also to pretend we tried our best to save the vessel. Only 3 people on the Bob Barker were initially aware of this. Chuck Swift, Luke Van Horn and myself. Crew spent 30 hours removing everything from the Ady Gil because we planned to abandon her. Chuck, Luke and myself then went aboard, I opened up the sea cocks and hatches, and we then connected the tow lines. We started the pretend tow some 30 hours after the initial ramming. Over the next 6 hours she slowly got deeper in the water until the tow rope broke. I was asleep when the rope broke. Chuck ordered the Bob Barker to continue. No effort to reconnect the tow ropes was made. Nor did anyone go back aboard. The Bob Barker just continued on in the direction of where we thought the whalers were. This was in the middle of the night when it was dark. I awoke several hours later when it was light. We then filmed me supposedly making the decision to abandon her.
There are only 6 people who were definitely privy to what happened. Paul, Chuck, Luke, myself, and 2 of the Ady Gil crew. The problem for Sea Shepherd is the vessel was owned by Ady Gil. In sinking her, we had basically destroyed his property, something Ady Gil is extremely upset about. In his recent and other posts, Watson makes a series of false claims.
Watson says the vessel was already destroyed, however this was simply not the case. It was a composite vessel that needed a new bow and this is not a difficult engineering challenge. Composite boats broken completely in half have been repaired numerous times. The Designers (Loomocean) and the original boatbuilder (Calibre Boats) all stated the vessel could be easily repaired.
Watson says she was difficult to tow. This is not true. The vessel was easy to tow backwards. She towed better in this direction in any case. Also, given the damage was in the bow, towing her backwards would drain water from inside.
Watson says we towed her for 36 hours. This is not true. We spent 30 hours removing gear and preparing her for abandonment. We then opened the sea cocks and towed her for 6 hours as she sank. The sea cocks were opened before we had towed the vessel even one inch.
Watson says we had to sink her because she was a navigational hazard. This is not true, simply by fact she was in a sea full of ice posing much greater threats to vessels than a carbon fibre race boat.
Watson says I am on camera making the decision to abandon her. This is true, but it was simply filmed as part of the charade to make it look like we tried our best to save her. Note this footage is in broad daylight, while the abandonment was done in darkness. There is also footage of Watson being shot by the Japanese, and yet only the most naive of people would ever believe this event actually took place.
Watson says it would tie up the Bob Barker for an excessive period to tow the Ady Gil to Australia, however the proposed plan was to tow her to the French base, just a short distance away.
Now if the best course of action was to abandon her, then Ady Gil (the man) should have been made aware of this. He owned the vessel after all, and would probably have agreed. The vessel had a satellite transponder that could be switched on. This would have revealed her position for years to come, and Ady Gil or Sea Shepherd could have mounted a recovery operation when time and resources suited. Instead we removed the transponder and all batteries, thereby removing any chance of the vessel being salvaged.
I have a few regrets in life. One of them was ever obeying Watson's orders to scuttle the Ady Gil. We lied to the crew of Sea Shepherd, sponsors, donors, Ady Gil, media and our families, and I am ashamed to have been part of such a dishonest act. I suspect if I'd stood up to Watson then the vessel probably would have been towed to Antarctica. I made a mistake and I apologise for it. What appals me now is Watson is intent on continuing with the lies, and he continues to malign me and others over it. I am tired of all the deception and dishonesty.
Ady Gil just before we commenced towing. 30 hours after ramming she still sits high in the water. 6 hours later she was abandoned.Ady Gil just before we commenced towing. 30 hours after ramming she still sits high in the water. 6 hours later she was abandoned.
Since September 2010, Watson has attacked Ady Gil (the man) on numerous occasions. His attacks have been unwarranted, especially given how generous Ady Gil was in providing his vessel to Sea Shepherd. If Watson had apologised to Ady Gil in 2010, I suspect Ady Gil would have let it slide. Instead Watson has continued spewing forth his vitriol and bile, and it is no surprise Ady Gil is now biting back with a lawsuit. Sometimes we reap what we sew. And in this case, Sea Shepherd is facing a difficult lawsuit from a man resourced enough to take it to completion.
A few years ago Watson said he was tired of all the accusations against him, and that people should take him to court if we really believed we had a case. I took his advice, took him to court and won. He was forced to pay me the $500k plus interest I was owed, exactly as I had stated all along. SSCS should have just accepted we had a binding contract and paid up - instead they wasted tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees in a case they were always going to lose.
It would seem Ady Gil is now taking Watson's advice and also taking them to court. I don't know anything about Ady Gil's case, aside from what is posted by Watson. I have not met with Ady Gil's lawyers, nor have I been asked to testify. But I do know if Watson really believes in his fairy tale about the sinking of the Ady Gil, he should subpoena us all and have us testify. He won't of course. He will just continue to whine and whinge that everyone else is to blame for the problems of his own making.
Those of you intent on attacking Ady Gil, few of you have ever met the man, and because he refuses to get involved in all the slander, you have not heard his side of events. Watson's post had all manner of nasty comments from people wishing Ady Gil was dead, abusing him and posting his home address. Thankfully the worst were removed. But it is still disgraceful. Ady Gil donates to so many Animal Rights causes, most of which you never hear about. There are few enough wealthy people donating to Animal Rights as it is, and many of the people making the vindictive comments have probably donated jack shit. At least Ady is prepared to put his money where his mouth is.
Ady Gil is not a close friend of mine, nor does he financially support my work. However I do know he contributes so much to many animal rights causes, and he doesn't deserve to be pilloried like he is now. He is simply taking legal action against Watson who has spent the last 3 years attacking him, that suggested if anyone had problems with him to take him to court, and that dishonestly ordered the covert scuttling of the Ady Gil when it was perfectly salvageable.
I don't know how this will play out. The best would be SSCS simply issue an apology to Ady Gil and come to an agreement over the deliberate sinking of his vessel. In reality I doubt this will happen, it will go to court, and SSCS will in all probability lose another court case. Watson will also continue to attack others. He spent 30 years attacking Greenpeace. In recent times he's moved onto Ady Gil, Martyn Stewart, myself and others. It is a shame he cannot focus on the real enemy.
As for the claim that Ady Gil wants to see Sea Shepherd destroyed, I don't know if this is true or not. I hope not. Sea Shepherd have done a lot of good over the years, and I doubt the case has any real chance of destroying what is a very powerful and well-resourced organisation. At the same time, recent events might be a wake-up call to the Sea Shepherd board to ensure the organisation moves forward with a new commitment to honesty and integrity, and to see its employees (namely Watson) refrain from personal attacks on others. One can but hope…"
Source -
https://www.facebook.com/notes/pete-bethune/conspiracy-to-scuttle-ady-gil-captains-blog-30/10152275700235867
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