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Timeline: Crime

20 May 1863

  • Rev H M Turton is tried in the Supreme Court on a charge of sodomy (Nelson). One of Turton's servants had accused him of an incident in October 1862. The jury found Turton not guilty. Link: Papers Past

30 April 1886

  • Amy Bock is convicted of obtaining goods by false pretences (Christchurch). Link: Papers Past

6 April 1895

26 May 1895

  • Oscar Wilde is convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to two years hard labour (London, United Kingdom). Links: Papers Past, Wikipedia

20 December 1906

  • Bertha Victor (a.k.a Bert Rotciv) is arrested (Sydney, Australia). The NZ Truth headline reads "Boy Bertha, a Perplexing Puzzle.". Links: Papers Past, Te Ara

22 April 1907

  • Bertha Victor appears in court charged with drunkenness, vagrancy, and using obscene language (Auckland). Link: Papers Past

28 August 1908

  • Dennis William Quill appears in court charged with being idle and disorderly (Wellington). Quill was arrested wearing female attire near Pirie Street. He assured the judge that he bought the clothing out of "sheer devilment" and was wearing them for a similar fantasy. The charge was dismissed. Link: Evening Post

27 April 1909

5 April 1912

  • The Northern Advocate reports on the "romance of two girls" (London, United Kingdom). The report headline reads "one poses as a man - the other as the wife". The couple come before the courts for disorderly conduct. "Why couldn't they have left us alone? We were so happy together weren't we, darling?" said Adelaide Dallamore, "Yes love, but they shall never, never part us!" replied her partner. Link: Papers Past

4 December 1912

  • James Townsley (a.k.a. Evelyn Hartwood) is jailed for 5 years (Sydney, Australia). Referred to as the "king of burglers" in South Australia, Townsley is also known for his skill at female impersonation. He is jailed for escaping custody in Adelaide. Link: Papers Past

October 1914

  • Dr Hjelmar von Dannevill is accused of being a German spy (Wellington). Link: The Spin Off

20 January 1915

  • The Evening Post reports Lindsay Campbell pleads guilty to unlawfully wearing female clothing in a public place (Adelaide, Australia). Link: Papers Past

6 February 1915

  • Albert Edward McGurk is sentenced to 7-years imprisonment for committing an unnatural offence (sodomy) (Auckland). John Leslie Lander (24) testified against him. McGurk (34) would later testify against Lander - seeing him also convicted of an unnatural offence and sentenced to life imprisonment. McGurk was released from prison on 24 June 1920. He would later marry. Link: Papers Past

18 April 1915

  • The Taranaki Daily News reports on the court case of Ellehan Eppheam (a.k.a Miss de Vien) who has posed as a woman for 15 years (London, United Kingdom). The report documents a court appearance where the chief constable believes Eppheam has symptoms of insanity. Link: Papers Past

17 May 1915

  • Music teacher John Leslie Lander pleads guilty to committing an unnatural offence (Auckland). Lander was sentenced to life imprisonment, plus 10-years hard labour on a charge of indecent assault. He was imprisoned in New Plymouth Prison. Lander had earlier been the primary witness in the trial of bootmaker and vocalist Alexander Edward McGurk (34). He hadn't himself been charged until the NZ Truth began reporting on the incident. McGurk would later "peach" (inform) on Lander. Gordon James Cunninghame (18) would also testify. Lander was described by the NZ Truth as a dainty-looking "chappie" and the willing victim of the offence. Justice Chapman observed that "the prisoner was not a safe man to be at large in a free community." Lander would later die in jail. Links: Papers Past (1), Papers Past (2), Papers Past (3)

27 October 1916

  • The Ohinemuri Gazette reports on the court appearance of Frederick Wright (a.k.a Kathleen Woodhouse) (London, United Kingdom). Wright is charged with "being an idle and disorderly person in female attire". Wright tells police that he wished he had been a woman. Link: Papers Past

26 May 1917

17 July 1917

  • Dr Hjelmar von Dannevill is released from Matiu Somes Island after suffering a severe nervous breakdown (Wellington region). Links: Papers Past, The Spin Off

1918

  • Report on Prisons 1917/18 is tabled in Parliament (New Zealand). The report notes (p.9) that "during the past year your directions regarding the more complete separation of the various classes of prisoners have been carried out as far as the structural arrangement of our building permitted. Our first step was to segregate the sexual perverts. This was accomplished by setting apart the New Plymouth Prison almost entirely for this class of offenders, and drafting thereto all the worst cases from other prisons." The report goes on (p.17) to state that the prison has been "set apart for sexual perverts sentenced under sections 153 and 154 of the Crimes Act, 1908, the first draft of prisoners from Auckland arrived in February, 1917, and other drafts followed from other prisons. The prisoners are employed in the quarry and are strictly under observation, and in my opinion the quarry is the most suitable place both for safe custody and observational purposes. I find this class of prisoners very mixed in temperament; some are of the vicious type, and others are weaklings, but the majority are nervous and excitable.". Links: Report on Prisons (1), (2)

2 August 1918

  • The Colonist reports on the Noel Pemberton Billing libel case in the United Kingdom (New Zealand). Billing had implied that the actress Maud Allan was a lesbian associate of German sympathisers. The news report also mentions the Berlin Black Book. It's claimed that the Germans are blackmailing 47,000 highly placed "British perverts". The alleged aim is to exterminate the "manhood of Britain" by luring men into homosexual acts. Links: Papers Past, Wikipedia

16 August 1919

  • A youth is arrested in female attire (Auckland). The Evening Post reports that Norman (last name not published) had been arrested in well-made female attire. The probation officer told the court that the youth who went by the name Ada Reeve "exercised a disturbing influence over other inmates in the probation home". Link: Papers Past

15 May 1920

  • Charles Mackay shoots and wounds D'Arcy Cresswell (Whanganui). Mackay is the Mayor of Wanganui at the time. Links: GayNZ.net, Te Ara

27 May 1920

  • Charles Mackay is sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for the attempted murder of D'Arcy Cresswell (Whanganui). Mackay had earlier pleaded guilty to the charge. In the hope of mitigating Mackay's sentence, his defense lawyer pointed to how Mackay had been suffering from homo-sexual monomania for a number of years. Link: Papers Past

24 June 1920

  • Albert Edward McGurk is released from New Plymouth Prison (New Plymouth). McGurk had been convicted in 1915 of committing an unnatural offence and had been jailed for 7-years with hard labour

5 July 1920

  • Eugenia Falleni (a.k.a Harry Crawford) is arrested over the death of wife Annie Birkett (Sydney, Australia). Links: Wikipedia, Papers Past

6 October 1920

  • Eugenia Falleni is found guilty of murdering Annie Birkett (Sydney, Australia). Falleni is condemned to death but the sentence is commuted to detainment at the Governor's Pleasure. Links: Wikipedia, Papers Past

3 May 1921

  • George Rocake (a.k.a Winifred Wilson) appears in court charged with offensive behaviour (Sydney, Australia). Police had earlier raided Rocake's room and removed "female clothing, paints and powders". Link: Papers Past

12 October 1923

  • Hector Froggatt is sentenced to 8 years imprisonment for indecent assault on boys (Christchurch). A medical man giving evidence at the trial said Froggatt suffered from "homo-sexual abnormality". Link: Papers Past

23 May 1924

  • A parliamentary inquiry begins into Mental Defectives and Sexual Offenders (Wellington). Link: Parliamentary Papers

16 July 1925

  • A report into Mental Defectives and Sexual Offenders is tabled in Parliament (New Zealand). Links: Hansard, Report

2 October 1925

  • Kenneth James Dell is arrested on Queen Street and charged with behaving in a disorderly manner (Auckland). Dell is seen walking on Queen Street wearing woman's shoes, a hat, veil and neck scarf. Link: Papers Past

3 October 1925

  • Kenneth James Dell is hospitalised on the morning of his court appearance (Auckland). Link: Papers Past

10 October 1925

  • NZ Truth reports on the court case involving Kenneth James Dell (Auckland). Dell had been arrested in women's clothing on Queen Street. Dell was hospitalised on the morning of the court appearance. Link: Papers Past

1927

  • Henry Field conducts an investigation into homosexuality (New Plymouth). Field has an interest in the psychopathology of criminal behaviour and interviews 40 inmates at New Plymouth prison. The exact date of this investigation is unknown - circa 1926-1929. Link: Te Ara

20 April 1927

  • George Grace is convicted and sentenced to 3-months imprisonment for wearing female clothing (Napier). Grace had also gained admission to the local girls college. The Magistrate said "I will teach you to leave girls' clothing and girls' colleges alone in the future.". Link: Papers Past

1928

  • The Prisons Department report for 1927/28 is tabled in Parliament (New Zealand). The report notes (p.18) "Owing to the homo-sexual proclivities of of the prisoners detained here it is absolutely necessary that they be kept under constant observation during the periods of the day when they have to intermingle with one another, and, as the configuration of the quarry particularly lends itself to this end, the majority of the men have been kept employed there during the year.". Link: Prisons Department report

9 May 1929

  • The NZ Truth reports on a "man with female mentality" (Auckland). The news report documents the court case against Nikora Hune Haora. The prosecuting sub-inspector said to the court that Haora is actually wanting "an order to allow him to continue wearing female apparel". Link: Papers Past

1 October 1929

  • Leonard Hollobon is arrested and charged with indecently assaulting a male (Wellington). Norris Davey (a.k.a Frank Sargeson) is the other party. Both are charged, with Davey later testifying against Hollobon. Links: Papers Past, Te Ara

29 October 1929

  • Norris Davey is convicted of indecent assault on a male (Wellington). Soon after Davey begins using the name Frank Sargeson. Links: Papers Past, Wikipedia

31 October 1929

  • Leonard Hollobon is sentenced to five years reformative detention after pleading guilty to three charges of indecent assault on males (Wellington). Norris Davey had earlier testified against Hollobon. Hollobon was released from jail on 14 October 1933. Links: Papers Past, Police Gazette (1929), Police Gazette (1933)

2 November 1929

  • Harold Mather and Walter Robinson are found not guilty of indecent assault (Wellington). Both were charged with attempted buggery and indecent assault (on each other). The principal witness was Constable W Ritchie who the judge described as a "straightforward, capable witness". Links: Papers Past, Police Gazette

9 June 1933

  • Te Ahurangi Matene (a.k.a. Rosanna Laihae) appears in court charged with falsely representing himself to be a woman (Auckland). Matene's lawyer submits that Matene had every intention of paying money owing, and so therefore a fraud charge could not stand. The case is dismissed. Link: Papers Past

14 October 1933

  • Leonard Hollobon is released from prison (New Zealand). Link: Police Gazette

1935

  • The Prisons Department report 1934/35 is tabled in Parliament (New Zealand). The report notes (p.7) that homo-sexual prisoners in New Plymouth are segregated and "the majority of them are either emotionally unstable or suffering from some degree of mental abnormality.". Link: Prisons Department report

15 April 1935

  • Eric Mareo murders his wife Themla Mareo (Auckland). Themla was also in a relationship with dancer Freda Stark. Links: Papers Past, Te Ara

1936

  • The Prisons Department report 1935/36 is tabled in Parliament (New Plymouth). The report notes (p.22) "the desirability of keeping the mental outlook of the homo-sexual prisoners detained here as bright and sound as possible [...] Many evening entertainments and lectures have been provided by members of the public [...] It is helpful to see each prisoner trying his very best to excel. It is felt that these exercises and the effort put into the preparation of songs, music, recitations for concerts have an uplifting effect on the men.". Link: Prisons Department report

26 February 1936

  • Eric Mareo is found guilty of murdering Themla Mareo (Auckland). Mareo is sentenced to death. His sentence is later commuted to life imprisonment on 5 August 1936. Links: Papers Past, Te Ara

5 August 1936

  • Eric Mareo's death sentence is commuted to life in prison (New Zealand). Mareo was earlier found guilty and sentenced to death for the murder of his wife Thelma Mareo. Link: Papers Past

26 September 1936

  • Phillip Stewart is arrested in an Auckland hotel "dressed as a girl" (Auckland). Link: Papers Past

1937

  • The Prisons Department report 1936/37 is tabled in Parliament (New Zealand). The report notes (pp.13-14) that "the Rotary Club have paid fortnightly visits and have provided first-class entertainment. The fact that homo-sexual prisoners are allowed to see an audience from the outside world and listen to their effort to uplift and benefit them has a wonderful anti-depression effect. Men here are encouraged to take an active part in entertainments, and it is decidedly noticeable what a beneficial effect it has on their demeanour. At first they are shy, nervous, and backward, but this gradually wears off, and in time they are able to stand before an audience and do their part in a manly way.". Link: Prisons Department report

26 January 1942

  • William Preen is arrested in the women's waiting room of the Timaru Railway Station (Timaru). Preen is suspected of being a spy when he is seen dressed in women's clothing. The court later hears that Preen's "lapse was the result of some craze to see how it would feel to dress like a woman". Link: Papers Past

24 September 1945

  • Police interview two women about their recent marriage to each other (Auckland). The Evening Post headline reads "Strange Masquerade, Woman as Man.". Link: Papers Past

7 November 1945

  • Garth Gilmour is arrested for breaking and entering (Dunedin). Gilmour is arrested dressed in female clothing. In a police statement Gilmour said it gave him a certain amount of satisfaction to dress in girl's clothes and he liked "flitting about from house to house.". Link: Papers Past

22 November 1945

  • Two women appear in court after being found to be married and living as husband and wife (Auckland). The court orders both women to submit themselves to psychiatric treatment. Link: Papers Past

1952

  • Paul De Rungs is court martialed after being charged with buggery (New Zealand). De Rungs, a 16-year old army cadet, had made a formal complaint about being raped. He was subsequently charged himself. Link: LAGANZ

22 June 1954

28 August 1954

  • Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme are convicted of murdering Pauline's mother Honora Rieper (Wellington). Parker and Hulme were given indeterminate sentences in different prisons and released after five years. Links: Te Ara, Wikipedia, Guardian, PrideNZ.com

1962

  • Two men are discharged without conviction for indecent acts (New Zealand). The Magistrate comments that the law "is soon to change". Police prosecutors appeal, and the decision is overturned

23 January 1964

  • Charles Aberhart is beaten to death by a group of teenagers in Hagley Park (Christchurch)

11 May 1964

  • The six teenagers accused of killing Charles Aberhart are all acquitted by a jury (Christchurch). Those acquitted were Zane Leslie McDonald, Anthony Dennis O'Connor, Frank Leicester Reynolds, Raymond Clive Neither, Brian Francis Johns and Roger Malcolm Williams. Links: Spinoff, GayNZ.net

9 January 1966

  • Carmen Rupe is arrested with behaving in an offensive manner in a public place (Auckland). The offensive manner was because Carmen was wearing female clothing: a black frock, black silk stockings and high-heeled shoes. "His face was made up with cosmetics and his hair was dressed in a feminine style.". Links: WorldCat, Google Books

24 January 1966

  • Carmen Rupe appears in court charged with behaving in an offensive manner (Auckland). The charge relates to Rupe dressing in female clothing in public. Rupe challenges the charge. Links: WorldCat, Google Books

26 January 1966

  • Justice McCarthy dismisses the case against Carmen Rupe (Auckland). Justice McCarthy's decision notes that he is "quite unable to find anything in our law which says that it is unlawful for a male to attire himself in female clothing.". Links: WorldCat, Google Books

November 1966

  • Raewyn Petley is found dead in her bed with a deep wound to her neck (New Zealand). Doreen Ellen Davis is charged with her murder

March 1967

  • Doreen Ellen Davis is found not guilty of murdering Raewyn Petley (New Zealand). Davis' defence argued that she had been "befriended by a woman outwardly kind and sympathetic but inwardly a hunting lesbian"

1976

  • Labour MP Gerald O'Brien is charged with molesting two boys (Christchurch). It was alleged that O'Brien asked them back to his motel room for a drink. The charges were thrown out at a depositions hearing. Later O'Brien commented it was an "attempt by my political enemies to get rid of me.". Links: Wikipedia, Stuff

27 November 1978

  • Harvey Milk is assassinated (San Francisco, United States of America). Link: Wikipedia

1 February 1980

  • Police raid Westside Sauna (Auckland). Eight men are arrested and charged. Link: GayNZ.net.nz

24 April 1980

  • Arthur Ball stabs Miles MacFarlane to death (Wellington). MacFarlane is a total stranger to Ball, who is later found not guilty on the grounds of insanity

16 September 1980

  • Arthur Ball is found not guilty of murdering Miles MacFarlane (on the grounds of insanity) (Wellington)

20 June 1983

  • Television: Meetings between a massage parlour owner and his accountant bugged by tax inspectors (Auckland). ref: TZP107574. An official Inland Revenue Department inquiry into why Aucklander and massage parlour owner Ronald Kingnsnorth's meetings had been bugged by tax inspectors. Link: Nga Taonga Sound and Vision

10 April 1984

  • Customs officials raid Gay's the Word bookstore (London, United Kingdom). The raid was named Operation Tiger and the bookstore was subsequently charged with conspiring to import indecent literature

5 June 1985

  • The media reports self-defense courses for gay men are becoming more popular (New Zealand). This follows a reported increase in gay bashings as the Homosexual Law Reform Bill moves through Parliament

11 September 1986

  • The Lesbian and Gay Rights Resource Centre is damaged by arson (Wellington). Links: LAGANZ (1), LAGANZ (2)

24 January 1990

  • Expatriate New Zealander Richard Johnson is murdered by a gang of youths (Sydney, Australia)

15 April 1991

  • Alex Mihailovic and Dean Howard are convicted of the murder of Richard Johnson (Sydney, Australia). Mihailovic and Howard were part of a gang of youths convicted of the murder of the New Zealander in Sydney

2 August 1994

  • Richard Leonard kills ex-Aucklander Stephen Dempsey with a crossbow. (Sydney, Australia). Leonard later claims it as was an act of self-defence after Dempsey propositioned him. Leonard was finally captured, tried and found guilty of two murders and sentenced to life in prison. Link: Forensic Investigators

22 April 1995

  • Tai Tahi Marsters attacks Jim Curtis (Napier). Marsters hit Curtis using a glass decanter. Curtis is left with brain damage while Marsters is later acquitted of both attempted murder and assault. At his trial Marsters uses the provocation/gay panic defence, claiming Curtis made a sexual advance. Links: Parliamentary debate, GayNZ

1996

  • Patrick Clotworthy stabs Wayne Cowan six times while shouting anti gay comments (Auckland). Clotworthy later pleads guilty in 1997 and was initally sentenced to a 2 year suspended sentence but this was appealed by the Crown. In June 1998 his sentence was increased to 3 years imprisonment. Link: Sensible Sentencing Trust

March 1996

  • Tai Tahi Marsters is acquitted of attempted murder and causing Jim Curtis grievous bodily harm (New Zealand). Marsters hit Curtis using a glass decanter. Curtis is left with brain damage while Marsters is acquitted of both attempted murder and assault. At his trial Marsters uses the homosexual panic defence, claiming Curtis made a sexual advance. Link: Parliamentary debate

4 November 1996

  • Bryan James Gardner murders David Shore in a hotel room (Christchurch). Gardener is sentenced to life imprisonment in May 1997. Link: Sensible Sentencing Trust

26 March 1997

  • The Awhina Centre at 35 Mein Street, Newtown is badly damaged by a suspected arson (Wellington). The Centre moves to 45 Tory Street

May 1997

  • Patrick Clotworthy pleads guilty to assaulting Wayne Cowan in a side street off Karangahape Road (Auckland). Clotworthy stabbed Cowan six times in 1996 while shouting anti gay comments. He was initally sentenced to a 2 year suspended sentence but this was appealed by the Crown. In June 1998 his sentence was increased to 3 years imprisonment. Link: Sensible Sentencing Trust

26 May 1997

  • Bryan James Gardner is sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering David Shore in November 1996 (Christchurch). Gardner tried unsuccessfully to use the homosexual panic defence. Link: Sensible Sentencing Trust

10 November 1997

  • Richard Leonard is found guilty of killing Stephen Dempsey with a crossbow in 1994 (Sydney, Australia). Leonard claimed it was an act of self-defence after Dempsey propositioned him. Leonard was also found guilty of murdering a taxi driver. He was sentenced to life in prison. Link: Forensic Investigators

12 October 1998

  • Matthew Shepard is killed in Wyoming (United States of America). Link: Wikipedia

9 May 1999

  • Teenager Jeff Whittington dies (Wellington). Whittington was murdered in Wellington by Jason Meads and Stephen Smith. Link: Wikipedia

3 December 1999

  • Jason Meads and Stephen Smith are found guilty of murdering teenager Jeff Whittington (Wellington). Link: Wikipedia

19 April 2001

  • Dallas Peneha, Daniel Beams and Jack Blance attack Jeff Pinfold and Peter Kitchen in Napier Kitchen died in hospital a number of days later

18 August 2002

  • A man is arrested in connection with the killing of John Rogers. (Tauranga). Rogers was found near a public domain toilet block in central Tauranga. Link: Gay NZ

20 July 2003

  • David McNee, an interior designer and former television host is killed (Auckland). The provocation defence was later successfully used by Phillip Layton Edwards who was found guilty of manslaughter. Edwards was sentenced to nine years imprisonment. He was due for release in April 2012

17 September 2004

  • Peter Wells writes about the killing of David McNee (New Zealand). Wells writes an article for the Listener about the trial of Phillip Layton Edwards who killed David McNee in Auckland. The article begins "Listening to a dead person being made responsible for their own violent death is an odd sensation." Later in the article Wells makes the point "It is impossible in New Zealand - and many other countries - to murder a homosexual. It is possible to be found guilty of manslaughter. The underlying message is that any homosexual's life is of little value.". Link: Listener

2 December 2004

  • Media report that a trans woman burglar is sent to a male prison (New Zealand)

5 October 2005

  • Justin Dalley is found not guilty of criminal nuisance (Wellington). Dalley used a condom during sex with a woman but didn't tell her of his HIV-positive status. It is the first time in New Zealand that anyone is charged with criminal nuisance following protected sexual intercourse. The case set a significant legal precedent: that HIV-positive people can choose not to tell sexual partners about their HIV status, as long as they wear a condom. Link: NZ Herald

26 November 2007

  • The trial of Ashley Arnopp and Andre Gilling begins over the death of Stanley Waipouri. (Palmerston North). Arnopp and Gilling are charged with murdering Waipouri in Palmerston North on 23 December 2006. Link: Gay NZ

3 December 2007

  • During his trial, Ashley Arnopp pleads guilty to the murder of Palmerston North man Stanley Waipouri. (Palmerston North). Arnopp's co-accussed, Andre Gilling maintains his innocence. Link: Gay NZ

6 December 2007

  • There is a hung jury in the murder trial of Andre Gilling. (Palmerston North). Gilling, along with Ashley Arnopp, is on trial for the 2006 killing of Palmerston North man Stanley Waipouri. Co-accused Ashley Arnopp, 20, earlier changed his plea to guilty. Link: Gay NZ

29 April 2009

  • Diksy Jones is killed by two men in Disky's home in Upper Hutt Phillip Sanders and David Galloway were later found guilty of manslaughter

10 July 2009

  • Ferdinand Ambach is convicted of the manslaughter of Ronald Brown (Auckland). Ambach is initially charged with murder, but the charge is downgraded after Ambach's lawyer successfully argued the provocation (gay panic) defence. Ambach is sentenced to twelve years imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of eight years. Links: Stuff, Nga Taonga

30 November 2009

  • Glenn Mills is found dead in a remand cell. (Auckland). Mills was accused of purposely infecting a number of sex partners with HIV. He was awaiting trial at the time of his death. He faced 28 charges relating to 14 people. Links: TV3, Gay NZ

5 November 2010

  • Phillip Sanders and David Galloway are found guilty of the manslaughter of Diksy Jones Galloway was [finally] sentenced to nine years imprisonment, and Sanders nine years and six months

16 January 2011

  • A lesbian couple's business is burnt down in a continued serious of hate crimes at Mangawhai Heads

7 March 2011

  • Jason Meads is released from prison after serving a sentence for murdering Jeff Whittington in 1999 (New Zealand). Links: Stuff, Wikipedia

25 June 2011

  • Sitaleki Koloamatangi attacks Trevor Kaukau leaving him severely brain damaged. (Auckland). Koloamatangi is later sentenced to 12 months imprisonment. Links: GayNZ, NZ Hearld

3 October 2011

  • A couple's car is targetted in an ongoing series of hate crimes at Mangawhai Heads

19 October 2011

  • Willie Ahsee is found guilty of the manslaughter of Denis Phillips

10 December 2011

  • Phillip Cottrell is assaulted while working home and subsequently dies, Wellington

15 December 2011

  • Willie Ahsee is sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for the manslaughter of Denis Phillips

23 January 2012

  • Roman Skorek is stabbed to death in Kuirau Park, Rotorua Four young men were charged with his murder

28 February 2012

  • Nicholas Nitro is convicted on a charge of receiving commercial sexual services from a person aged sixteen Nitro is the co-owner of the Closet cruise club in Christchurch
  • Sitaleki Koloamatangi is sentenced to 12 months in jail for attacking Trevor Kaukau Koloamatangi was charging with "injuring that, had death been caused, he would have been guilty of manslaughter". Kaukau was left severely brain damaged

11 August 2013

  • Police search for Phillip Edwards after a child is abducted. (Auckland). In 2003 Edwards was found guilty of the manslaughter of interior decorator David McNee. Link: Gay NZ

3 September 2013

  • Phillip Edwards is arrested after a child was abducted in August and later found abandoned. (Auckland). In 2003 Edwards was found guilty of the manslaughter of interior decorator David McNee. Link: Gay NZ

25 September 2013

  • Correction Minister Anne Tolley announces that transgender prisoners will be housed according to their legal sex. (New Zealand). At the time of the announcement there were nine transgender offenders in the prison system. Link: Stuff

30 September 2013

  • A public meeting is held to discuss safety on Karangahape Road. (Auckland). The meeting follows an increase in violence towards rainbow people in the Karangahape Road area. Link: K Road Community Safety

17 February 2016

  • Ferdinand Ambach is released from prison and immediately deported to Hungary (Auckland region). Ambach, a tourist to New Zealand, was found guilty in 2009 of the manslaughter of Auckland pensioner Ronald Brown. Originally charged with murder, Ambach successfully used the provocation (gay panic) defence, claiming Brown had made an unwanted homosexual advance. Link: Stuff

17 May 2017

  • Chelsea Manning is released from US military prison (United States of America). Manning, a former US military intelligence analyst, was released after serving seven years in a US military prison for passing on classified documents to WikiLeaks. Manning's 35-year sentence was commuted by President Obama just before he left office

2 June 2017

  • Dr David Lim is found guilty of stupefying and indecently assaulting patients (Hastings). Link: Stuff

18 July 2017

  • Johnny Lumsden admits in court to endangering the health of three men by criminal nuisance (Christchurch). After lying about his HIV status, Lumsden has unprotected sex with three men he met through social media. Link: Stuff

18 August 2017

  • Dr David Lim is sentenced to five years in prison for indecently assaulting five male patients (New Zealand). Dr Lim was sentenced in the Napier District Court

11 February 2018

  • Zena Campbell dies (Wellington). Campbell is found in a car in Aro Valley. Her partner was subsequently accused of murder, but the judge dismissed the charge on the day the High Court trial was due to start (12 February 2019). A pathologist said the death was "likely due to methadone and alcohol toxicity, or neck compression or some combination of the two.". Link: Stuff

6 July 2018

  • Australian police charge Pastor Logan Robertson after allegedly harassing worshippers at two Brisbane mosques (Australia). Robertson faces deportation back to New Zealand. In July 2017 the Pastor called for gay people to be shot through the head. Link: RNZ

12 February 2019

  • A judge dismisses the murder charge against the partner of Zena Campbell (Wellington). Campbell's body was found in a car in Aro Valley on 11 February 2018. Her partner was subsequently accused of murder, but the judge dismissed the charge on the day the High Court trial was due to start. A pathologist said the death was "likely due to methadone and alcohol toxicity, or neck compression or some combination of the two.". Link: Stuff.co.nz

15 March 2019

  • The Christchurch mosque massacres take place (Christchurch). 51 people are killed after a gunman opens fire at two mosques in Christchurch during Friday prayers. Subsequently, numerous public events throughout the country are either cancelled or postponed - include a number of high profile Pride events in Wellington. Link: Wikipedia

26 November 2020

  • Wellington High School is placed into lockdown following a threat from a student (Wellington). A parent and student later told media that the would-be shooter planned to specifically target rainbow students - although police later insisted this wasn't the case. Links: Pink News, Stuff(1), Stuff(2)

17 January 2022

  • Apostle Brian Tamaki is remanded in custody (Auckland). Tamaki was taken into custody after an alleged breach of his bail conditions. Link: Stuff
URL:https://www.pridenz.com/timeline/crime.html