September 22, 2011

Ashburton pair deny cordon raid charges

By David Clarkson at Nga Hau e Wha marae

An Ashburton couple are denying charges over an alleged night time raid on Christchurch?s red zone, and are heading for a defended hearing before a judge.

They pleaded not guilty at a Christchurch District Court session at the Nga Hau e Wha marae yesterday, and were remanded to a pre-trial hearing on November 1.

Katrina Marie Mehrtens, 32, and Paul George Webb, 37 and unemployed, deny charges of breaching the red zone cordon and attempting to enter the Real Groovy record store on the corner of Manchester and Tuam Streets.

They both attempted to have their curfew restrictions relaxed at the remand appearance today, because Webb?s father is ill and they are sometimes needed to care for him.

At present they have a 7pm to 7am nightly curfew and counsel for Webb, Chris Persson, said they were also fielding complaints from neighbouring Ashburton residents because of the police?s night time visits to their home to check that they were there.

The visits were causing the dogs in the quiet street to start barking and that was waking families, Mr Persson said.

Judge Doherty agreed to delete the curfew for Mehrtens but imposed a bail condition banning her from coming north of the Selwyn River unless she had a pre-arranged appointment with the court or her lawyer.

But for Webb, the curfew remains.

Judge Doherty said that if the courts took the question of disturbance into account, there would never be curfews imposed. ?Take it up with your MP rather than me,? he told Mr Persson.