Courthouse staff take the plunge

READY, STEADY, GO: Gisborne courthouse staff (from left) Karauria Ruru, Tracey Whitley, Denise Walker, Kelly Scott-Haenga, Torepe Taumaunu, Mohammed Dean and Wiremu Moa leap off the railway bridge. They have challenged police, lawyers and probation staff to step up to the mark, and jump. Picture by Rebecca Grunwell

ARE you up to it police?

Gisborne courthouse staff have sent a challenge to Gisborne police, Department of Corrections staff and the Gisborne Law Society to follow their example after they jumped off the railway bridge over the Turanganui River yesterday.

The weather was great and the tide was high.

“Is this legal?” asked one (non-jumping) onlooker.

“It’s been going on for decades,” said another.

Gisborne judge Warren Cathcart was among the amused bystanders.

Jumper Kelly Scott-Haenga was the “bomb’’ organiser, or as a fellow court staff member put it — the instigator.

Images of the jump would be made available to police, probation staff and lawyers as “evidence’’, she said.

“We have done the deed, we have the images to prove it, we challenge them to jump and to match our numbers.”

Court staff admired the jumping effort of colleague Mo Dean.

“He can’t swim and he’s scared of heights,’’ Ms Scott-Haenga said.

The jump could become an annual end-of-year event, she said.