Thomas Ryan was sentenced to nine months’ supervision when he appeared in the Dunedin District Court last year. PHOTO: FELICITY DEARA Dunedin man who sent a secret sex tape to dozens of his rugby mates has failed to have his conviction quashed. Thomas Ryan, 24, lost his substantive appeal, heard in the High Court at Dunedin this month, but had one minor win. His $2000 cellphone, which had been instrumental in committing the crime, was returned to him after Justice Melanie Harland overturned a forfeiture order. She dismissed the appeal against conviction but ruled the forfeiture of Ryan’s phone was "not necessary".

Lessons learnt from consulting the public about Aurora Energy’s future could influence how the Dunedin City Council seeks feedback on another big issue — Enterprise Dunedin’s future. Council chief executive Sandy Graham said the council was trying to learn lessons from the Aurora consultation experience. Ms Graham said it was clear from feedback about the Aurora proposal the material and consultation "didn’t land well with the community". "We have taken that feedback on board and are trying different things with future consultation." Forming a council-controlled organisation to run Enterprise Dunedin is the council’s preferred option to be put to the public for consultation.

The two orange fish are pet goldfish. “Releasing exotic fish into waterways harms natural ecosystems by forcing native species to compete for habitat,” Bloxham said. “This causes muscles to contract involuntarily bringing them to the surface, where they can be scooped up with long-handled nets.”The exotic fish were then euthanised and sent to a plant where they turned into bio-ethanol, which can be burnt. Bloxham said it is important to dispose of unwanted pets responsibly for the good of the environment and of the fish. Photo / Auckland Council Facebook“Pets released into waterways are likely to suffer from malnutrition, injuries, stress and disease.

PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSONWord of a Dunedin trust’s ground-breaking work, using specially trained dogs to sniff out cancer, is spreading around the globe and an Australian charity has just raised $NZ200,000 for the trust to continue its research. K9MD founder and chief executive Pauline Blomfield said the trust had recently formed a collaborative partnership with a newly founded Australian cancer charity called Get Yourself Checked. Mr Hanley said when he heard about K9MD in Dunedin, he decided to take a closer look at the work the trust was doing. The duo flew to Dunedin yesterday to present the cheque and formally acknowledge their ongoing commitment to K9MD. "While Australia and New Zealand go head-to-head in the sporting sector, this support from across the Tasman for K9MD clearly shows cancer has no geographical boundaries.

A government probe into under-fire charity Te Kāika is more wide-ranging than previously known, the Otago Daily Times can now reveal. The DIA said it might investigate a charity where its conduct could amount to "serious wrongdoing" as defined under the Charities Act. In response to an Official Information Act request, DIA charities services manager for business improvement Helen Steven said the investigation into Te Kāika was wider than previously known. Ōtākou Health Ltd was asked to comment on the DIA investigation, including the late filing of returns and "more substantive concerns". "Late filing extensions are a normal administrative process and do not indicate wrongdoing," they said.

The new owners of a rural Otago pub are not horsing around when it comes to the importance of having a thriving local watering hole. Donna Hall and Jim McDougall bought the Strath Taieri Hotel in August and next month will host the finale of the Goldfields Cavalcade as 400 riders converge on Middlemarch. Ms Hall and Mr McDougall bought the pub, building and all, outright in August 2025, and say they have never looked back. "The Middlemarch community is amazing — they support the pub and the pub supports the community groups, so it just works really well." It has been estimated it would be the biggest event in the town since the Middlemarch Singles Ball 25 years ago.

Understanding the fundamentals — arsenic, cyanide, water, tailings — and suddenly the noise is a lot less convincing. While most arsenic stays locked in place; the small soluble fraction is captured and chemically turned back into a long-term, stable solid before entering the tailings facility. Cyanide: controlled, treated, below drinking-water limitsThe word "cyanide" tends to appear where the technical understanding ends. Before anything reaches the tailings facility, it runs through a dedicated destruction circuit, cutting cyanide to below 50ppm, the strict limit for discharge. What a tailings facility actually is (and is not)The phrase "tailings dam" still gets thrown around like it’s the Clyde Dam waiting to fail.

PHOTO: ODT FILESThree more heavy hitters have signed up for the New Zealand Open. PGA Tour winners Kevin Na, Nick Watney and Kyle Stanley will all be heading to Millbrook next week. Korean-American Na, 42, was a five-time PGA Tour winner before joining LIV Golf in 2022, and has two top-10 finishes at majors. Washington golfer Stanley, 38, has won twice on the PGA Tour and returns to New Zealand 15 years after his last visit. "To have three proven PGA Tour winners of this calibre commit to the New Zealand Open is fantastic for the tournament,” Glading said.

The Olympic and world champion high jumper was crowned the supreme winner at the Halberg Awards in Auckland last night. The 29-year-old, who was born in Dunedin, also secured the Diamond League crown in Zurich and was awarded the Lonsdale Cup by the New Zealand Olympic Committee. Kerr held off athletics team-mate Geordie Beamish, freeskier Luca Harrington, footballer Chris Wood and golfer Ryan Fox to win the sportsman of the year title. They held off strong competition from Auckland FC, world champion rowers Ben Taylor and Oliver Welch, the Kiwis, the Black Sox and the men’s team pursuit track cycling squad. Black Ferns rookie and World Rugby breakthrough player of the year Braxton Sorensen-McGee, golf champion Cooper Moore, BMX junior elite world champion Lily Greenough, freeski halfpipe world champion Finley Melville Ives and Zoe Pedersen, for an exceptional year across swimming and surf lifesaving, were finalists.

One person was taken to hospital after a single-vehicle crash near Purakaunui in the Catlins. PHOTO: SUPPLIEDOne person was taken to hospital with moderate injuries after a single-vehicle crash near Purakaunui in the Catlins yesterday morning. A police spokesman said they were alerted to the crash about 11.45am in Purakaunui Bay Rd, near the site of a popular beachside campsite. Meanwhile, driver fatigue is thought to be the cause of a crash near Lake Hayes on Sunday in which two Australian tourists were injured. The crash was a reminder to all drivers to take regular breaks during long trips, or to change drivers if possible, he said.

PHOTO: AFP VIA GETTY IMAGESAlice Robinson finished a whisker away from a memorable medal at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics yesterday. She finished 0.8sec behind winner Federice Brignone and just 0.18sec off the silver medal position in an exceptionally tight competition. Only racers who completed their first run got to take a second run, so there was no margin for error. At the end of the first run, Robinson was sitting in 10th place with a time of 1min 4.32sec, 1.09sec behind Brignone. "Last Olympics were really challenging for Alice and I’m so happy that she’s back to skiing well again.

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGESA dispute over a missing jar of lollies has resulted in a former Invercargill secondary school teacher being found guilty of serious misconduct. Mr McKenzie no longer lives or works in Invercargill. The decision by the New Zealand Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal about the incident was released last week. The pair argued for a time and then Mr McKenzie "quickly open-handed slapped Student A with his right hand across the left side of Student A’s face". Mr McKenzie provided a statement to the tribunal in which he reflected about the incident and expressed his deep remorse for his actions.

Dane Menzies, of New Zealand, in action during the Milano Cortina Olympics men’s snowboard slopestyle qualification at the Livigno Snow Park in Livigno, Italy, yesterday. PHOTO: REUTERSA headline act and a rising star shone for the New Zealand team in snowboard slopestyle yesterday. Both Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Dane Menzies finished qualifying in top spot at the Livigno Snow Park. "I didn’t expect the judges to score that high, but they’re liking my selection of rails, so that’s good. In the women’s qualifying rounds, defending Olympic champion Sadowski-Synnott made an immediate statement, posting an opening score of 81.73 to move into second place.

Photo: ReutersIsrael's cabinet on Sunday approved further measures to tighten Israel's control over the occupied West Bank and make it easier for settlers to buy land, a move Palestinians called a "de-facto annexation". Defence Minister Israel Katz said land registration was a vital security measure while the cabinet said in a statement it was an "appropriate response to illegal land registration processes promoted by the Palestinian Authority." Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said the measure could lead to dispossession of Palestinians from up to half of the West Bank. US President Donald Trump has ruled out Israeli annexation of the West Bank but his administration has not sought to curb Israel's accelerated settlement building. The Gaza health ministry says that at least 600 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the Gaza deal began.

Image: RNZNew Zealand's housing market is a "tale of two islands", one economist says - as the fortunes of sellers and house hunters in the South Island rapidly diverge from those of their northern counterparts. National median prices were up 0.4 percent between January 2025 and last month to a median $753,106. "The North Island market, if you put all those parts of the country together, is operating at quite a different pace from the south. "The correction in national house prices ended in April 2023. "If you look at house prices, we've got a projection that we get a national average rise this year of 5 percent.