The Front Page podcast: 14yo guilty of murder, vaping ban proposed

Haami Hanara, 14, on trial for murder in the Napier High Court. Photo / John Cowpland

Each weekday The Front Page keeps you up to date with the biggest news in New Zealand. Today it's a 14-year-old found guilty of murder, a ban on vaping in public, proposal to kick cars out of Auckland's Queen St, and a mite taking on a noxious weed threatening our native plants. Hosted by Frances Cook.

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A High Court jury has found a 14-year-old boy guilty of the murder of a 40-year-old Flaxmere man.

Haami Hanara has been on trial since Monday in the High Court at Napier before a jury of seven women and five men, and Justice Peter Churchman.

The jury retired just after 12pm today, and delivered its guilty verdict at 3.35pm.

Hanara had pleaded not guilty to murdering Kelly Alex Donner on March 4, near the Flaxmere Tavern.

The Crown alleged Hanara had stabbed Donner after an argument over a torch, and defence counsel Eric Forster told the jury his client's defence would be that "Haami did not do it deliberately".

Hanara gave evidence that he did not know how Donner was stabbed.

A segment of CCTV footage showed to the jury showed Donner disappearing from the camera's view, followed by Hanara who was holding a knife, and accompanied by four other youths.

Hanara then returned back into view, knife still in hand. But it was no longer clean, instead, it was red with blood.

Hanara's family called out "Love you Haami" shortly after the verdict was read out to the court.

He left the courtroom facing Christmas Day - also his 15th birthday - behind bars after he was remanded in custody until his sentencing on February 5 next year.

Hanara is one of the youngest defendants ever to be charged with murder in New Zealand.

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Police investigating the death of pregnant woman Sonam Shelar say two of her cellphones were found in the water at Island Bay on Saturday .. the day she was reported missing by her husband.

One of the phones is an iPhone X, which is waterproof.

Detective Senior Sergeant Warwick McKee says police are now working through a forensic analysis of call data.

Divers have combed the scene at Island Bay and a search is continuing at White Rock Beach, in Wairarapa, where her body was found on Tuesday.

Police are continuing to look for any items or clothing.

Detective McKee said Shelar's death was being treated as unexplained, as opposed to a homicide.

Speaking to the Herald from India this morning, family spokesman Harshal Patkar said they were trying to figure out a way for family members to come to New Zealand.

He said some family members had expired passports and they were having issues with paperwork.

They hope for at least one family member to travel to New Zealand as soon as possible.

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A ban on vaping in bars, restaurants and workplaces is being proposed as part of the Government's plans to regulate the product.

Associate Minister of Health Jenny Salesa says the Smoke-free Environments Act 1990 will be amended next year.

She cited findings from the Ministry of Health's public consultation in 2016 which showed overwhelming support for the continued prohibition of sales of vaping products to under 18 year olds.

Dr Robert Beaglehole, chair of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and professor of public health at Auckland University, says its shows the Government is taking the 2025 Smokefree goal more seriously.

He says banning vaping in places where smoking is already prohibited is understandable, as people didn't want vaping in their faces.

But he says that needs to be balanced with making sure we encourage smokers to switch to vaping, and anything that could get in the way of that would need serious consideration.

Interestingly, the vaping industry seems to be backing the changes.

NZ Vaping Alliance managing director QJ Stachell has been lobbing the Government to regulate the industry for the last five years and says this is a step in the right direction.

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Cars could be pushed out of Queen St, as part of a new long-term plan for central Auckland.

The plans will be presented to city councillors next week, and would include parts of Queen St and some of its side streets being pedestrianised.

Ludo Campbell-Reid wrote the report going to the councillors, which would form the basis of a 20-year plan.

He says it's not just about Queen St, but the whole valley in the heart of the city.

Campbell-Reid's report says the proposed construction of light rail on Queen St offers the chance to rethink the whole way the central city streets work.

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The City Rail Link looked in jeopardy this morning, but might be safe.

The Australian firm that was awarded the contract for the underground rail systems only a month ago, has been placed into administration.

However, while parent company RCR Tomlinson has administrators already starting the sale process in Australia, it seems the New Zealand arm of the company, RCR Infrastructure, will carry on as normal.

Companies Office records confirm that the New Zealand brand has escaped the administration process.

Sean Sweeney, City Rail Link chief executive, says nothing has changed with the New Zealand-registered RCR Infrastructure contracted to the project.

Sweeney is confident the Auckland project will be unaffected.

Meanwhile for the Australian company RCR Tomlinson, there's talk that the huge business could be broken up.

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Two years on from Kaikoura's earthquakes, and passenger rail line is running between Picton and Christchurch once more.

It's also about to get a hefty cash injection.

A special commemorative train took Kaikoura locals, iwi, government VIPs, tourism chiefs, workers and the Prime Minister from Picton to Kaikoura this morning.

KiwiRail acting CEO Todd Moyle says it's been an incredible rebuild effort, not seen since World War Two.

After the trip, the Prime Minister announced the train route was getting a $40 million boost.

The money will be used to increase passenger capacity, ensure all-year round service, and upgrade three stations along the line.

For more on this story, tune in to Newstalk ZB

The first responder to yesterday's stabbing in Auckland's CBD has spoken about what he saw, saying it was "horrific".

Steve Smith had been standing outside with a colleague in Anzac Ave, central Auckland, when he heard an 18-year-old woman screaming loudly.

He told the Herald the screams were quite loud so he and his colleague ran towards the teen - and watched in horror as a man repeatedly lunged at her with a knife in his hand.

He says they both ran towards him, and when the man saw them, he dropped the knife and ran down Anzac Ave.

Smith is trained as a senior first-aider, so he says he did what he could to help the teenager, despite there being multiple stab wounds.

He says they did their best to stop the bleeding, and kept assuring her, even though they weren't sure if she was conscious, or could hear them.

An 18-year-old man is now charged with attempted murder.

The female victim, who is understood to be known to the man, remains in a serious but stable condition in hospital.

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A2 Milk is on notice from shareholders, after a steep lift in directors fees.

The NZ Shareholders Association did give its support to the motion to increase fees by between 27 per cent and 37 per cent for a2 Milk's chairman, deputy chairman and the company's independent directors.

However, the NZSA has publicly noted the increase puts the fees towards the top end of the range.

The association says there's no doubt the company has grown and performed well over the past few years.

But it says, unless there are extenuating circumstances, shareholders wouldn't expect the board to come back for another increase for at least two years.

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More than 100 jobs and millions of dollars of private investment have been promised for the Whakarewarewa Forest development.

Design concepts and investment and job projections for the development of the forest and surrounding areas were revealed in yesterday's Rotorua Lakes Council meeting.

The development is projected to create 133 jobs, adding to the 470 jobs already projected for the Lakefront redevelopment project.

In addition to the jobs, $68 million in private investment is expected to be created from the 13 development sites around the forest.

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Black Friday is becoming bigger than Boxing Day for many retailers.

The American shopping tradition is attached to their Thanksgiving holiday, but has caught on here in recent years.

Chris Wilkinson, the managing director of First Retail Group, says for many shoppers, today marks the start of the Christmas spending season.

Last year almost a quarter of a billion dollars went through the tills for New Zealand's Black Friday.

At Noel Leeming on Auckland's Queen St, store manager Paul Huang says today's a lot busier than a normal Friday.

He says they brought in about 30 per cent more staff for today, but still need more.

For more on this story, tune in to Newstalk ZB

Tauranga's population has soared 10.8 per cent in five years - reaching an estimated record of 135,000 this year.

The surge in new residents has resulted in increased demand for services such as care at Tauranga Hospital but business leaders say the boom brings great things to the city.

Figures from Statistics New Zealand show the population grew by about 600 naturally while about 2900 people migrated to the city.

Tauranga mayor Greg Brownless says the city's beaches and forests are key drawcards for new residents.

He says the increasing population brings positives such as having more people to contribute to a strong economy, which is "better for business" and meant more jobs being created.

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Secondary teachers will today announce whether they will accept the Government's latest pay offer or take further strike action.

The Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) has been holding meetings with members around the country since November 7 to discuss the offer and its next steps.

It will announce the results of the vote at 5pm at Parliament, so too late for this podcast, but keep an eye on nzherald.co.nz or tune in to Newstalk ZB.

Ahead of the announcement, PPTA President Jack Boyle said they didn't like the deal.

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One of the country's most noxious weeds mite have met its match.

Horizons Regional Council has successfully bid to be the first in the world to use a mite for biological control against the invasive weed Old Man's Beard.

The Herald's Local Focus video team has done a special report on what that would look like.

The feature explains that in a year's time, the mite would be released near Taihape.

Old Man's Beard cloaks native vegetation and killing other species including native trees and plants.

The fight against the weed hasn't been easy or quick. Horizons Council has poured half a million dollars into controlling the pest by spraying, cutting and supporting local communities to do the same each year.

While this work has helped slow the spread of the weed, it's hoped the mite would make a real dent to its growth.

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That's the Front Page for today, Friday November 23, making sure you're across the biggest news of the day. For more on these stories, check out The New Zealand Herald, or tune in to Newstalk ZB.

You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple podcasts here, iHeartRadio here, and Stitcher here.

If you like to stay up to date on social media, you can find host Frances Cook on Facebook here, Instagram here and Twitter here.