1080
Whistleblower Wins Case
Thursday
21st February 2018
by
Stephanie McKee
In
the Thames District Court on 20th February, Judge Greg
Hollister-Jones dismissed a charge of common assault brought by the
New Zealand Police against Graeme Sturgeon of Coromandel.
The unprofessional and
confrontational methods used by the DoC security guard Richard Lane,
in opening Graeme Sturgeon's car door forcibly, in a surprise move,
without identifying himself, appeared to tip the balance in the
judge's mind to decide that Sturgeon's actions from the moment the
door was opened were made in self-defence.
Above:
Graeme Stugeon, third from right, with friends and family after the
court decision that dismisses charges against him.
At
dusk on 17th October 2017, Sturgeon and two companions had
been alerted to a clandestine Department of Conservation 1080 poison
loading operation in the Whitianga CBD and went to observe and take
photographs. The smell of the volatile gases had alerted local
residents.
Driving
into the unlit public carpark, Sturgeon stopped his car when coming
across trucks loaded with bags of 1080 baits at the back of the
Liquor King building in Joan Gaskell Drive, adjacent to residences
and supermarkets.
No
warning signs or barriers were put in place to deter the public from
entering the public carpark while the ecotoxic baits were being
loaded.
The
Court established that Sturgeon was then dragged out of his car by a
Department of Conservation guard and a scuffle ensued. Photos show
Sturgeon with a bloody nose and ripped clothes.
The security guard did not
have a current Certificate of Approval from the Security Licencing
Authority and was untrained in 'crowd control'. He works as a spray
contractor for the Waikato Regional Council.
Due
to the lack of lighting in the bait-loading area, there were
difficulties knowing exactly what happened, as two witnesses did not
have full and complete views. On 19th October Sturgeon had
submitted a complaint of assault to NZ Police. A month later, 15th
November, Sturgeon was summoned by the Thames District Court on
charge of common assault.
At
this time DoC had supplied to NZ Police only a short extract of the
CCTV footage. A demand from Sturgeon's lawyer, Barrister Greg
Bradford, to view the full footage delayed the hearing.
Judge
Hollister-Jones said that the CCTV footage made available to the
court was very helpful.
It
showed Sturgeon trying to close his car door to protect himself
against his unknown attacker. The car door was wrenched open for a
second time by Lane. Lane explained to the court that he was told “to
expect trouble from protestors”. Lane appeared to have a paranoid
mind set believing that Sturgeon posed a threat and might have had a
gun in his car. Under cross- examination a number of Lane's
statements were disproved.
The
Department of Conservation had stored 23,700kgs of 1080 poison baits
in the Liquor King building from June 2017 through to October 17th
when the baits were loaded in preparation for the drop over the
Kaimamara Valley, which is the source of Whitianga's town water
supply. Official Information requests showed that DoC did not inform
local authorities about this bulk storage, including the local fire
chief.
If
there was a fire, toxic hydrogen fluoride gas would be released, with
serious even lethal health effects, and the town would have to be
evacuated. Tsunami evacuation rehearsals have shown that Whitianga
has potentially bottlenecked escape routes.