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The court heard the charges related to “quite serious offending” in 2004.

Judge John Hole described Pearson’s offending as rather nasty, with significant racial overtones.

They included a racial attack on Somali people, including damaging their motor vehicle.

“It is certainly not something you would be proud of today,” Judge Hole said.

The court was told Pearson had since removed herself from the scene of the offending, was now
in a stable relationship and was trying to be a “pillar” of the community.

She had brought about a huge change in herself, which the community was now benefiting from, the judge said.

If sentenced to a term of imprisonment now — even though she deserved it — it would undo all the gains she had made in the past two-and-a-half years, which put him in a bit of a dilemma.

“Community work seems to be the only way round this dilemma.”

He sentenced her to 200 hours community work for assault and possession of an offensive weapon, and 150 hours for breaching her community work — to be served cumulatively.

She was also sentenced to 40 hours community work for theft from a shop and ordered to pay reparation costs for damage caused to the motor vehicle.

The four breach of bail charges resulted from her failure to turn up to court on many occasions in 2004.

Counsel for the defendant, Kay Goldsbury, said her client had not faced up to her offending in the past, out of underlying concern for her children’s wellbeing.

She had since turned her life around and was better able to deal with a community-based sentence.

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Ashleigh Clarke, now 18, had faked breathing difficulties during a struggle and, when the woman shopkeeper went to comfort her, Clarke grabbed her hair and punched her three or four times.

The shopkeepers, who are in their 50s, said the attack on February 3, 2006, was one of the worst of their 26 years in the dairy in Aro Valley, central Wellington.

Clarke snatched a pie when an associate’s theft drew one of the owners out of the shop. She assaulted the other owner and tried to take beer.

During the struggle she punched both owners and a security guard who came to help, yelled racial abuse and knocked over displays.

Clarke pleaded guilty to three charges of aggravated assault, one of theft and one of breaching bail.

Last October she was remanded to see if she could stay out of trouble till February, but when Clarke appeared in Wellington District Court yesterday, Judge Jan Kelly was told she taken a car belonging to a former boyfriend in December and had been ordered to pay $340 reparation for the car’s broken window.

Judge Kelly acknowledged the progress Clarke had made since the dairy incident. She was enrolled for the second year of an agricultural course and had been working over the summer break.

But the judge said Clarke had a history of violence, beginning with a 15-month jail term for aggravated robbery of a taxi driver as a 15-year-old. The dairy attack happened within days of being given a deferred sentence on an assault charge.

Judge Kelly sentenced her to 12 months’ jail and ordered her to take drug, alcohol and violence counselling.

Clarke was allowed to ask to serve part of her sentence on home detention. The Parole Board will decide whether to grant it.

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A Jewish family has lodged a complaint with Takapuna Grammar School about history and social sciences teacher Kirsty Gillon, the wife of former Alliance MP Grant Gillon. The complaint follows claims from Year 10 students that Gillon told them in class that:

The Apollo Moon landing was an elaborate hoax filmed in Area 51 and that astronaut Neil Armstrong was a fictitious character invented to deceive the masses.The number of Jews killed in the Holocaust had been exaggerated. A commercial airliner did not crash into the Pentagon during the September 11 attack on the United States. Alien life forms were living on Earth.

Gillon told the Herald on Sunday she was merely trying to promote “critical thinking” among her students.

Academics have condemned the practice of offering conspiracy theories for the purpose of promoting critical thinking. They say these types of theories have no place in any learning environment.

Dean of Education at the University of Auckland John Langley said he found Gillon’s actions “quite disturbing” and believed she “needed to be spoken to and counselled very strongly”.

Principal Simon Lamb said he had had a brief discussion with Gillon, but had yet to talk to students in her Year 10 class.

“There are obvious differences in interpretation which I need to investigate further,” he said. He had told Gillon not to comment further until the matters had been fully looked into.

John Hunter, an American of Jewish heritage, lodged a complaint with Takapuna Grammar on Friday after hearing of Gillon’s conspiracy theories from his 14-year-old daughter Rachel, a student in her social studies class.

He said Gillon’s theories around the lunar landing, 9/11 and the Holocaust were “scary and narrow-minded” and had no place in any classroom.

Hunter was shocked when told by his daughter that Gillon had questioned the number of Jews killed during World War II.

“These types of remarks condemn everyone involved with the Holocaust to die a second time round. When you deny it, you commit the crime all over again,” he said.

He added that Gillon’s theory NASA had filmed the Apollo moon landing was simply ridiculous. Last week Gillon played her Year 10 students a television documentary supporting these claims and then asked students whether they now believed the 1969 Nasa mission was a hoax. Most of the class said they did.

Students said Gillon told them she believed the lunar landing was filmed in Area 51, the area in Nevada synonymous with UFO conspiracy theories. She also claimed Neil Armstrong was a fictitious character. However even more far-fetched, claimed Hunter, was Gillon’s assertion there could be alien life forms on Earth. The Teachers Council code of ethics states that teachers “must present subject matter from an informed and balanced viewpoint”.

Said Langley: “Teachers don’t have the right to make stuff up as they go along. That’s not to say they can’t pose interesting questions around history, but you step over the line when you claim, as she has in the case of the lunar landing, that that was the way it was.”

New Zealand History Teachers Association representative Bruce Taylor said history teachers had to reflect the “prevailing historical consensus” - and her views on the lunar landing, 9/11 and the Holocaust were not accepted by the vast majority of historians. And while he agreed with “critical thinking”, in no way should students be presented with “way out extreme views” as a means of encouraging that.

Students have posted comments about Gillon on the ratemyteacher website. One said, while Gillon “does really care about what she is teaching”, she did present “a bit too many conspiracy theories, rather than actual facts”.

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Senior Sergeant Warwick Burr of Masterton police confirmed that the fight had broken out between a group of Maori and pakeha, but said the clash did not involve gangs.

“As far as police are concerned this was not gang related, it was two groups of people having a dispute,” he said.

Two men, aged 17 and 20, were arrested for disorderly behaviour, he said, as most of the youths had scattered before police arrived.

No serious injuries were reported.

A Perry street resident, who declined to be named, was drawn into the fight after being woken and heading outside to investigate.

“A car pulled up and I heard them talking, yelling “Nomads.” They were swearing and carrying on.”

“Then one of them said ‘grab the golf clubs, we’re gonna smash all the windows’.

“But then a van-load of skinheads pulled up and it was all on. There were fists and boots flying everywhere.”

He said the clash was extremely violent but he did not see anyone “hurt bad enough to need help”.

“The guy who lives at the house was pretty p—ed off because he had his kids asleep inside.”

“I was prepared to go help him if the Nomads started smashing his kids’ bedroom windows, but luckily it didn’t come to that,” he said.

“The buggers even came up my driveway and I was telling them to p— off and go home and their girlfriends were trying to pull them away.

“I threw stones at a few of them but I can’t say it did much.”

Another neighbour, who also declined to be named, said the violence of the brawl was made worse by the degree of racial abuse hurled between the combatants.

“I’ve never heard so much swearing or racist taunts on that magnitude before, it was horrific,” the woman said.

“It was pretty obvious there’s a bit of hatred between the two gangs.”

The brawl was broken up with the arrival of police and probably lasted only 10 minutes, she said.

“The second they saw the police coming, most of them just took off.

“The guys carrying golf clubs ditched them and jumped fences or ran off but then they came back probably 15 minutes later in their cars and did burnouts,” she said.

Another Perry Street resident, Paula Jones, said she did not witness the brawl but afterward saw the street filled with black tyre smoke and heard the groups still screaming abuse at each other.

“It was pretty nasty, the language and all. They were yelling ‘come on then, come get me’, amidst some more colourful language.”

She said there were often parties at the house in question but it was the first time she knew of a fight occurring.

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“This is vandalism of the worst kind. Racism is a disgrace and it’s really sad that people who are fairly new to the country should be treated in this way.”

The Chinese owners of the Just Right Grocery Store on the corner of Park Road and Marne Street said windows had also been smashed in their store on about four occasions in the past 12 months. They have lived in Palmerston North for two years.

“We have got a lot of broken windows and now this, but the neighbours always give us support when bad things happen,” the woman owner said.

Her husband believed the culprits needed English lessons.

“They have even poorer English than me.”

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But they are not alone. Women from North African countries like Sudan are also regularly subjected to abuse.

At the Ttirangi markets last weekend someone from a passing car hauled a rock the size of a fist at a teenager’s face.

The common link appears to be the attackers - European teenage boys in a white car.

However, the women did not contact police until much later because they did not understand how the 111 system works, and did not know if police would consider the attacks to be serious.

Auckland police have now appointed a North African liasion officer to work closer with the Muslim community.

And while the women say while they are frightened, they still want to be in New Zealand.

“They are good people. The country’s very safe and good. I like it too much,” says one woman.

Their tolerance is something police can only hope will rub off on those carrying out the attacks.

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At a depositions hearing today Justices of the Peace in the Lower Hutt District Court ruled there was enough evidence for the three to stand trial.

The Crown alleges Mr Kawerninski met Borland, Gage, Gregory and two women at an internet cafe in central Wellington and went drinking with them.

He went with the group to the home of Benjamin Peter McPadden in Naenae, Lower Hutt, and while he was asleep the defendants discussed how much money they thought he had on him.

He was attacked, tied up with tape and a belt, had a pillow slip put over his head, and bundled into the boot of a car.

He was later dumped by the roadside.

A statement by Mr Kawerninski - who has left the country - has been suppressed until the trial judge could rule on its admissibility.

Defence lawyers for the three men argued there was insufficient evidence for a trial and there was no link between the men and the assault on Mr Kawerninski.

Borland’s lawyer Steve Gill said there was no proof to link the assault to his client.

“He didn’t even get in the car.”

Borland had heard the “thumping” going on but had walked in afterwards, he said.

Crown prosecutor Cameron Mander said there was a strong circumstantial case against the accused.

Mr Mander argued Borland had returned to the house prior to the banging being heard.

A text message from Borland to Gregory sent just before 9pm that evening had been retrieved which read: “That c*** has money, search him hard”, Mr Mander said.

The three men had returned to the house with muddy clothing and at least one had blood on their trousers, he said.

Some of Mr Kawerninski’s possessions had been found in a muddy field.

Mr Mander said a witness had a conversation several days after the assault with Gregory, who allegedly said: “Did we tell you we smashed up some Canadian guy?”

Defence lawyers had previously told the court Mr Kawerninski had “gone to ground” in Canada and was refusing to return to New Zealand.

In his ruling Mr Withy said the court had also heard Mr Kawerninski was willing to return.

The three men were remanded to appear in the High Court at Wellington on October 30.

McPadden, who faced joint charges, had conceded he had a case to answer and his evidence remained suppressed.

He was remanded on bail for a High Court callover on October 30.

Gage was also scheduled to appear in the Lower Hutt District Court on October 12 for a status hearing regarding a protection order.

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Justice of the peace Laurence Withy said Borland’s friend would be thrown out of court if he disrupted proceedings as six police officers guarded the four accused.

Borland, Mark Alexander Gage, 30, of no fixed abode, Jason George Gregory, 20, of Wainuiomata, and Benjamin Peter McPadden, 18, of Lower Hutt, face joint charges of kidnapping, aggravated robbery and causing grievous bodily harm.

The charges stem from an alleged attack on Jeremie Kawerninski, 25, on April 18 after he was befriended in Wellington and offered a place to stay.

Later, the badly beaten tourist was dumped on a Naenae roadside half-naked with his feet bound and a pillowcase tied over his head after being set upon in a Lower Hutt house and robbed of $40.

He was in hospital for 10 days with a fractured nose, broken ribs, punctured lung and severe bruising.

Mr Kawerninski was to have been the Crown’s star witness. Police had arranged for him to return to New Zealand and stay in a hotel for the week-long hearing at their expense. But the case was adjourned after crown prosecutor Cameron Mander told the court Mr Kawerninski had not arrived.

Gage’s lawyer, Greg King, said Mr Kawerninski’s statement of evidence ran to 75 pages. Defence lawyers wanted to cross-examine him.

Mr Kawerninski had been reluctant to return to New Zealand, and his non-attendance had important ramifications for the case, Mr King said. However, because he had not been summoned, he could not be forced to attend.

The hearing was adjourned 48 hours for police to contact him.

Borland, Gage and Gregory were remanded in custody. McPadden was freed on bail and his image suppressed from publication.

Mark Gage and Jason Gregory.

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