Oamaru

Manu Hausia has been jailed for six-year six-month term. His sentence was reduced due to factors including Hausia’s guilty pleas, his difficulties in serving a jail term in New Zealand, and his previous good character, reported New Zealand media.

The judge “also noted that Hausia would likely be deported at the end of the jail sentence”.

Hausia, 28, pleaded guilty at the High Court in Christchurch in December to four charges: attempted murder, injuring and wounding with intent, and assaulting a child.

The North Otago Tongan Engagement Group will send 21 people to the Hihifo district on the Tongan main island of Tongatapu to help buy and install rainwater catchment tanks in three local villages.

The planned trip has brought the group and members of the Waitaki Tongan Community closer together and boosted fundraising efforts.

In just over three months, the North Otago Tongan Engagement group raised $25,000. The group was formed back in February to create a stronger relationship between Tongan and non Tongan members of the Waitaki area.

According to RNZI, the North Otago Tongan Engagement group, created to cater for the booming expat population of up to 2,000, will be heading to Tonga in August.

NOTE organiser, the Reverend Jill McDonald, says she was conscious of the need to break down barriers within the local Tongan and European communities and figured the best way to do that would be to work on a project.