Northland news in brief: Alleged kidnapper denied bail; water restrictions eased

A woman charged with kidnapping after an incident at the Paihia ASB in November has been denied bail.

A woman charged with kidnapping after an incident at the Paihia ASB in November has once again been denied bail. Billy-Joe Witehira, 35, of Paihia, appeared in the Kaikohe District Court last week charged with kidnapping, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of a pistol, and discharging a firearm. She was arrested shortly after an incident in which a Paihia business owner was allegedly forced to withdraw money from an ATM. Her partner and alleged co-offender, Cayne Martin-Brown, 22, was seriously injured in a crash at Moerewa later the same day. Witehira's request for electronic bail was declined and she was further remanded in custody to appear in the Whangārei District Court by audio-visual link on March 9.

Water restrictions lowered

Level 3 water restrictions in Kaitaia and Kawakawa-Moerewa have been reduced to level 2. The move follows significant levels of rainfall across much of the district last week, combined with more stable water flows recorded in Kaitaia's Awanui River and Tirohanga Stream near Kawakawa. Far North District Council infrastructure general manager Andy Finch said this is good news for both communities, which have been operating under level 3 water restrictions since January. However, he asks that households and businesses keep conserving water where possible.

Power outage hits homes

A power outage on Friday affecting almost 300 households from Ngataki, on the Aupōuri Peninsula north of Kaitaia, up to Cape Reinga was not related to the earthquake or tsunami threat — but Top Energy staff were unable to head north to start repairs until the warning was lifted. The outage was caused by a fault on the Te Kao feeder just before 11am. By 6pm on Friday only one household was still without power.

STEM challenge begins

A record 312 Northland school students will be taking part in the Northpower EPro8 Challenge for 2021 when it kicks off at Dargaville Intermediate tomorrow. Around 27 schools from throughout Kaipara and Whangārei will participate in the popular STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) competition. From there the Northpower EPro8 Challenge moves to a series of heats at Whangārei Intermediate on March 10 to 12 with a grand final at the school on March 17 and 18. Event founder Kelvin Thiele said it was great to see students work together to solve problems they could not solve individually. The challenges were designed to bring maths alive and students who might not be suited to classroom activities have the opportunity to shine through practical learning. The event is being backed by Northpower.

'Red Bull' drug tablet warning

Northland police are advising the public to be aware of a drug, sometimes called bath salts, that can possibly be fatal. A dangerous amount of eutylone has been found in pink "Red Bull" tablets in Christchurch and it is likely the tablet is being sold as MDMA.
The tablet is found to contain an estimated 300-350mg of eutylone. Eutylone is also known as bk-EBDB and is in the cathinone family of drugs, sometimes called "bath salts".
This amount is dangerous and very likely to cause harm. People who have taken similar doses have reported not being able to sleep for several days, anxiety, paranoia and feeling unwell for up to 10 days after. It is possible this could be a fatal dose.