Chapter
7
The year started off well apart from one
obscene incident in Monaco. Prior to the
Monaco trip I took Shivon to the Tangled Premiere at the Mayfair Hotel as well
as going to Mahiki to party with the cast of ‘Jersey Shore’. I’d won the break to Monaco courtesy of Men’s
Health Magazine, the prize included a stay on a yacht for the beginning of the
Grand Prix.
I took a friend and we stayed on a yacht
in Monaco. There were other guests who
were staying on the yacht also. Monaco
was all that you’d expect it to be, full of the glitz and glam and the whole
town was set out to accommodate the Grand Prix.
The marina was full of billionaires’ yachts. The yacht we were on was a few boats down from
Philip Green’s. The yacht next to us
apparently belonged to an African King - it had an illuminated tiger on the
side and tribal decor. The water was
clear and you could see the fish dart about the anchor ropes. It was a billionaire's play ground.
A group of us from the yacht went out to a
local bar and I started talking to a couple of guests that were there (who I
think might’ve been Kris Humphries and friend).
I didn’t know who they were but another guest on the yacht later said
“You only like famous people.” Turned
out the snide remark was from an ‘actor’.
Shortly after getting back to the yacht from the local bar the ‘actor’ sat
on the bed in our room of the yacht very expectantly with only a towel wrapped
around his lower half. The other men on
the yacht had to get him out of the room.
The other guests on the yacht were an
assortment of famous sports people and escorts.
Apparently they have competitions going on between the yachts to see
which yacht could get the most attractive females on board - most of them were
prostitutes. I don’t think they were
aware that I’d won the competition via Men's Health magazine and it was a buzz
that got tainted by the company on board.
I wrote to a lady who ran the competition in conjunction with the
magazine to tell them about the predicament and her response was “we don’t mind
that, they do it all the time” – you mean pressure and prey on unsuspecting
victims because they are who they are and think they can get their leg over and
can do whatever they like to whoever they like.
His watch was very expensive. I said to my friend that we should’ve stolen
it. I never got an apology from Men’s Health
magazine or the people on the yacht. I’d won the trip in a competition but made to feel
like the lesser human on board because I was an extra.
I also won a trip to Madrid and we (Shivon
and I) were in Madrid when the earthquake in Christchurch (in New Zealand) happened.
We had a complimentary stay at the
Intercontinental Hotel where a bunch of high ranking army guys and Sheiks were
discussing tourism opportunities for both countries (Spain and Saudi Arabia). We ventured out to Alcazar Castle, the source
of inspiration for Disney. I’d not long
been on a Disney film (‘John Carter of Mars’) dressed like a Martian that lived
on Mars. So to visit the castle where
Disney’s inspiration came from was quite surreal.
We caught the fast train to Segovia and
then the bus to Alcazar. It is a small
town with a Romulus and Remus statue and a Fort. There were ‘ugly sister’ lookalikes selling
their wares near the castle. The castle
itself was originally built as a fortress but has served as a Royal Palace
(Wikipedia, 2016), a state prison, a Royal Artillery College and a military
academy since then. The restoration of
the castle began in 1882 and in 1896 King Alfonso XIII ordered the Alcazar be
handed over to the Ministry of War as a military college.
Alcazar Castle remains one of the most
popular historical sites in Spain. Inside the castle there are many rooms. The King and Queen’s thrones were in a
smallish room and as we walked in it seemed like any other room. Hanging above the thrones is a frieze
representing all of the Spanish Kings and Queens.
The motto ‘Tanto Monta’ (meaning ‘They
amount to the same’, or ‘Equal opposites in balance’) is an alleged motto of a prenuptial
agreement made by the Spanish Catholic Monarchs. The tapestry behind the King and Queen’s thrones
is the coat of arms of the Catholic Monarch which includes a bird and what
appears to be the Sun behind the bird.
We’d not long left the Castle when I heard
the news about Christchurch earthquake. I
first saw the destruction on the news at Madrid airport as we were leaving
Spain to get back to Hemel Hempstead, UK.
It seemed like an earthquake like no other – like nothing I have ever
experienced. The standard strength of
earthquakes was generally around five on the richtorscale. This one snuck up on everyone and as far as astronomical
catastrophes go - no one was expecting a devastating earthquake in Christchurch. When they say there’s been an earthquake in
New Zealand you just tend to shrug your shoulders as they are quite
common. This time the damage was
tremendous and the whole place looked like a complete mess, like a giant came
to visit with intentions of smashing the place up and did just that.
For years they’d been saying that ‘the big
one’ would happen in Nelson like the other earthquake that flattened Napier
back in the day. Christchurch was the
last place anyone expected to get a so-called ‘big one’. Apparently they’d been fracking on a fault
line. It’s common sense that the fault lines that were already there would
expand due to fracking.
New Zealand is on the ‘ring of fire’. They have earthquake drills at schools as
earthquakes are quite common. However,
since the fracking began there have been regular, stronger earthquakes that
occur on a more frequent basis.
New Zealand prides itself on being ‘The
Lord of the Rings’ territory and ‘100% Pure’.
When catastrophes happen more often than not it tends to bring out the
worst in people and/or the undergrowth of the country provides insight into the
‘100% Pure’ myth while others will just gloss over reality with smiling and
waving.
Buildings
were destroyed, the Christchurch Cathedral had been badly damaged, the whole
town was literally rubble and it was likened to a war zone. They had such things called ‘Red Zones’ - just
another name for ‘Danger Zones’. The
devastating effects are long lasting for such an earthquake of that magnitude especially
amongst people that like to sleep a lot and have island type lifestyles. The earthquake killed 185 people making it
the nation’s third deadliest natural disaster.
I had been away from New Zealand long
enough to almost forget the amount of nasty shit that happens in New Zealand
and recall the ‘she’ll be right’ attitude towards anything and everything. I’d not long been in touch with family
members that I hadn’t been in touch with for over a decade. I will never get an explanation or apology
for being bullied to fuck and made to feel like I’ve committed a big crime
because I was abused.
We arrived back in Hemel Hempstead. Shivon would go to her dad’s on a regular
basis and there would still be grief from the ex-family. Meanwhile over the other side of the world in
New Zealand, at the time of the Christchurch earthquake, I was beginning to
learn about the ‘frank’ attitude that George Charles Trounson had gained over
the years since murdering my brother Russell.
I was given a short time to complete and
submit a victim impact statement, a statement from the victim’s next of kin
sister – on how my brother’s murder has impacted my life and why George Charles
Trounson should stay in prison. Trounson
seemed to love exploiting the criminal justice system and he just seemed to be
making a mockery of any government agency that apparently upholds any law. Somehow, they thought getting ‘rid’ of the
victim (me) seemed a more viable option rather than apologising for the obscene
way that I got treated by the government and its agencies. Trounson has broken parole and been recalled
to prison and God knows what else – so it was a mixture of emotions; the devastating
earthquake and being pissed off with the whole family situation. While the ‘family’ are all over in New
Zealand with a few in Australia - the family in New Zealand - the same country
where my brother’s murderer is – same towns even – you would think that at
least one family member would at least attempt or make some kind of effort to
keep Trounson in prison. You only have a
specific amount of time to prepare a ‘victim impact statement’ as the parole
hearing has a set date and I stopped writing it around the time I went on ‘celebrity
date’ with Calum Best.
I remember looking at Calum Best’s ring
and tattoo, his tattoo said ‘Karma’. It
was one of those weird freaky feelings. I
zoned out for a split second - it was when I was staring at his tattoo that he
caught me out staring at it.
I got my tattoo done not long after
Russell was murdered. I was off my face,
everything was just a bit of a blur. I drew a picture of a heart with wings and
it looks very similar to the Valkyrie Couture jewellery.
I was completely intoxicated when I had the
tattoo done. I drew a picture and took
it to the tattooist. It’s a heart with
wings and has a star above the heart in the centre, an arrow and date of birth
to date of death with ‘Lost Love’ underneath it. However due to being intoxicated and in
fairness not really having a clue what day it was as the days just all morphed
into a really big long one - I got the dates back to front, it’s the 24 of the
6th not 26 of the 4th.
It is faded now and not many people know my intoxicated grieving sister
error.
The design itself reminds me of Valkyrie
Couture. It’s a piece of jewellery with
an expensive red stone in a heart with wings whilst embodying the unspoken laws
of the Nazi hunter. I’m not a Nazi
hunter myself; however I’ve lived through savage times and been victim of gang
rape at the hands of skinheads which is how I also came to be branded with half
a swastika on my ankle.
Valkyrie (Wikipedia, 2016) in Norse
Mythology is one of a host of female figures who apparently choose those who may
die in battle and those who may live. Selecting
half those who die in battle, the Valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife
hall of the slain. Valkyries also appear
as lovers of heroes and other mortals, where they are sometimes described as
the daughter of royalty, sometimes accompanied by ravens and sometimes connected
to swans and horses.
‘Valkyrie’ is also a movie starring Tom
Cruise where the film depicts a plot by German army officers to assassinate
Adolf Hitler in 1944, using ‘Operation Valkyrie’ as a national emergency plan
to take control of the country.
Fiona (old ‘friend’) developed selective
amnesia and was in the same house when I was attacked by six skinheads. A lady
walked in, screamed “RAPISTS” and was then beaten to an inch of her life. Fiona was in the next room.
When I left Dunedin (for a few days afterwards)
and got back Fiona had said that she went back and she was gang raped and they
used carrots, bottles all kinds – I wasn’t there but only two days after her
alleged gang rape she could walk and very jovially said that they were “just
big boys.”
I was there when the skinheads threw Fiona
to the ground and shaved her hair off as she’d been saying that she wanted to
be a skinhead - but didn’t expect to get the full treatment of her hair shaven
off. I’d seen her reaction and she was
completely mortified, to the point of scavenging her shaven off head hair and
placing it under a cap so it gave the impression she had hair. Not at all like a cancer charity where they
will shave off your hair in the name of cancer, and unlike Antonio who was
wondering what to do with his hair when he was diagnosed with leukaemia and it
was just falling out because of treatment.
The skinheads threw Fiona to the ground and shaved it all off.
If Fiona had said that she was gang raped
- I didn’t have any reason not to believe her although she handled it very jubilantly
and was a little too upbeat about it. If
she went to the doctor and not the hospital well then I presumed she had
pressed charges and made hat allegation of gang rape to the police. What happened to me didn’t seem that big of a
deal to her and I’ve never spoken about it since – apart from speaking to Fiona
via Facebook inbox. I had mentioned it
to the ex family however just made the aggravation worse and the ex family tend
to use bad events that have happened in my life as an excuse to be more nasty –
like the whole kidnapping thing.
My other tattoo on my shoulder I got many
years later. It’s taken from a Tarot
deck and is of the High Priestess. It
has a wishing well with a woman dressed in white on the outskirts of Stonehenge. She stands with a ball and swan.
The word tattoo comes from the Tahitian ‘tatu’
which means to ‘mark something’. In many
different cultures tattoos mean different things such as in Borneo women
tattooed their symbols on their forearm indicating their particular skill (Wikipedia,
2017) and it is arguably claimed that tattooing has existed since 12,000 years
B.C. In Nazi Germany the Jews were all
marked with a number; branded. I have
been marked or ‘branded’ on my ankle.
So from 1990 to 2011, the appalling way
they treat the victim (me), is still pretty much the same if not worse than when
I was 16 when I gave information to my nephew’s adoptive parents via Social
Welfare in New Zealand. I wasn’t allowed
to know the family or anything because it is adoption law. I do know it was a boy - so out there
somewhere my brother has a son and I have a nephew. The girl Russell was with was pregnant at the
time Russell was murdered.
Sometimes when they say ‘you can’t be in
two places at once’ it feels like (sometimes) you can in your mind. In the UK there is: A) grief from the
ex-family, never ending bullshit, B) racists that tell to me fuck off back to
my own country, C) people that go out of their way to sabotage my life and D)
Jimmy Saville government where they are a law unto their own.
And in New Zealand, there is: A)
earthquakes, B) murderer and many many failures of the criminal justice system,
government and its agencies, C) family that I haven’t spoken to in years and
really don’t want anything to do with them and D) so many extremely violent
events that most think are just ‘normal’ and ‘run of the mill’ and that gets
laughed off as ‘just banter’. The victim
is the one with a problem if he/she wishes to complain about any wrong-doing or
violent criminal acts. The ongoing laid
back lifestyle and attitude of ‘she’ll be right’, and, ‘oh it’s a fucked up
world we live in but what canya do?’ remains.
Being a victim of skinhead gang crime is
not quite the same as ‘Mongrel Mob’ gang crime.
The ‘Mongrel Mob’ adopted Nazi symbols such as the ‘ZZ’ and Hitler signs
in an effort to exploit and display their apparent bad ass reputations and
‘Black Power’ has just adopted thuggery.
Both the ‘Mongrel Mob’ and ‘Black Power’ and are predominantly Maori or
Pacific Islanders. Due to the nature of the
‘gangs’ in New Zealand the vast majority of the public find it difficult to
believe that the same level of violence such as in movies like ‘Once were
Warriors’ happens to white people. Also
thanks to statistics, violent crime levels are always indicative that the
coloured population is far worse than ‘pakeha’ (white) therefore ‘research’ is bias. Skinheads/Nazi’s are a different breed in
comparison to a gang like ‘Mongrel Mob’ or ‘Black Power’ who really have no
intention of getting into politics. I
doubt very much whether Hitler would hang around and think he’s really powerful
by wearing a patch and beating up strangers.
Hitler rather wanted his enemies to be gone and thus the holocaust
happened.
Trounson might’ve been a student at the
time he bashed my brother to death however the fact that he is/was associated
with and involved with skinheads and gang crime has been overlooked. It was premeditated murder as Trounson wrote
a letter to another skinhead (Nazi) stating that he was going to and had
intentions of murdering Russell.
In New Zealand there’s an extremely dogmatic
view that white people are incapable of such evil. The (doctored) statistics have always
suggested that the Maori’s are responsible for the vast majority of violent
crime. White crime tends to get laughed
off and swept under the carpet. Maori’s
aren’t the only ones capable of extreme violence. The government has a ‘softly softly’ approach
towards convicted criminals and at the time (in 1990) 10 years was the maximum sentence
for a convicted murderer. Ten years was
considered to be a ‘life sentence’.
The correspondence from government and
government agencies that I received was appalling. It seemed as if it was very easy to fob me
off and put my victim impact statement in the bin since I now live on the other
side of the world, ‘out of sight – out of mind’ philosophy. I have had no support from any kind of Victim Support Group – it
was very harsh. Writing a victim impact
statement put me in a situation where I was seemingly forced relive those
events again.
Moreover, the communication with the
journalist that wrote about my brother and the convict was totally
unethical. The journalist name is Hamish
McNeilly, he wrote an article in the Otago Daily Times entitled ‘Embarrassing
lack of response to Nazi’s in NZ’ (2008):
“It is believed up to 40 wanted war
criminals escaped to New Zealand following World War 2 and the Government's
lack of action was an "embarrassment", says a leading Nazi hunter.
"New Zealand's response on this
issue should be a source of embarrassment," Simon Wiesenthal Centre
director Dr Efraim Zuroff, of Israel, said yesterday.
A Holocaust historian, Dr Zuroff
founded the centre in 1986 which has tracked and identified more than 2800
suspected Nazi war criminals. Many of those war criminals were discovered to
have fled to Western democracies, and the centre has worked with countries to
bring suspects to trial.
In 1987, Canada passed legislation to
enable prosecution of suspected Nazi war criminals and was followed by
Australia in 1989, and Great Britain in 1991.
New Zealand set up a two-person unit
in 1991 to investigate allegations that perpetrators of war crimes settled in
this country.
The unit spent $190,000 investigating
the claims in New Zealand and overseas, narrowing the suspected list from 46 to
17 known to be alive and living in the country.
The Wiesenthal centre had supplied 42
of the 46 names.
Fifteen were cleared and two were
further investigated, with the unit finding it was "possible" one of
the suspects was involved in war crimes.
The finding of the unit was presented
by the then attorney-general, Mr Paul East.
"We feel we've discharged our
obligations to the international community in the steps we've taken and that we
will now only respond if we are given something far more substantial than
individual names," Mr East said in 1992.
Dr Zuroff said the centre tried to
convince successive New Zealand governments to take legal action against
suspected Nazis, but to no avail.
"New Zealand was the only
Anglo-Saxon democracy which faced this problem and chose to ignore it," he
said.
"There was absolutely no
political will to take legal action against the Nazi war criminals who
emigrated to New Zealand in the late 1940s and early 1950s, posing as refugees
fleeing communism."
During the 1980s and 1990s, Dr Zuroff
researched the whereabouts of 40 suspected war criminals who are believed to
have emigrated to New Zealand after World War 2.
Dr Zuroff visited New Zealand in
February 2006 to promote Operation Last Chance, which was a last attempt to find
surviving Nazi war criminals.
"By the time that I found these
people, many were no longer alive.
"But one who was alive and
living in Auckland was Jonas Pukas, a Lithuanian who served in the 12th
Lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalion, which murdered tens of thousands of Jews
in Lithuania and Belarus," Dr Zuroff said.
When informed that the New Zealand
SIS had released information on suspected sightings of Martin Bormann, Mr
Zuroff said it was not possible Adolf Hitler's private secretary had come to New
Zealand.
"He died in Germany in
1945," he said.
In 1967, Simon Wiesenthal said there
was strong evidence Bormann was alive and living in South America.
However, a 1998 DNA test on a skull
unearthed at a Berlin construction site in 1972, was matched with the DNA of an
unnamed relative of Bormann.
Martin Bormann
- Born June 17, 1900
- Private secretary to Adolf Hitler
- Family: 10 children, including
Adolf (named after Hitler), Rudolf (named after Rudolf Hess) and Heinrich
(named after Heinrich Himmler)
- Was a witness to the last will and
testament of Adolf Hitler and was appointed executor of his estate
- With Dr Joseph Goebbels, Bormann
was the one of the first people to discover the body of Hitler, and carried the
body of Eva Braun, Hitler's wife, out of the room
- Hitler had ordered Bormann to flee
the bunker and reports of his last moments have varied. One witness claimed to
have seen Bormann committing suicide on May 2, 1945
- Bormann was sentenced to death (in
absentia) at the Nuremberg trials in 1946
- Was formally pronounced dead by a
West German court in April, 1973
I had an email from Sonja de Friez (Department of Corrections) and
Christine Smith (Victim Information Manager).
I’d explained that the last time I returned to New Zealand I had to
fight to get there as the ex- husband attempted to have me arrested for
kidnapping, the reply in return was “Thanks for sharing that, no problems. Cheers.”
The
human rights advisor, Paul Warhurst, sent an email:
“Although the Human Rights
Commission is not able to provide you with assistance in this matter we do
appreciate your bringing your concerns to us, and we retain your correspondence
on our files, which we refer to for informing the work of the Commission.
I wish to acknowledge the deep pain you and your family will have undoubtedly
suffered as a result of the sudden death of your brother, Russell, and the
additional stress, pain, and frustration caused to you by the manner of his
death.
I wish you all the best in your endeavours.”
Senior
Sergeant Bruce Ross (Dunedin Police) emailed regarding Trounson:
I received your e-mail today.
After reading it, I’m not entirely sure what your gripe is.
What I would like you to appreciate is that police investigated your
brother’s murder and successfully prosecuted Trounson. He’s now in the Justice system. Any parole he may get, and breaches of that
parole are dealth with by the Justice Department. This is their jurisdiction. The only involvement police have is when he
commits any offence police will arrest him.
As you rightly mentioned he has breached his parole on five occasions
and each time police have arrested him.
What happens after police place him before the Court is in the hands of
the Justice Department.. The police have
nothing to do with decisions to release on parole or the revocation of parole.
I’m not familia with VNR so I’m not in a position to comment.
You asked if police have hacked someone’s e-mail. I can assure you police do not hack into
other people’s e-mails and or phone calls.
If you have any specific questions, please feel free to ask them. I’ll do my best to answer them.
Bruce Ross, Senior Sergeant, Dunedin
Email
from Hamish McNeilly:
“The Parole Board are very keen on letting the public know when those
convicted of the worst crimes are released, same goes for paedophiles, rapists
If you want to comment about his release, feel free”
Hamish McNeilly, Reporter, Otago Daily Times
------------
I
received correspondence from the Department of Corrections who sent me an
‘Offender Information for Victims’ sheet:
Offender Information for victims
Offender Name: George Charles Trounson
Security Classification High, since 9 August 2011
Programmes:
Mr Trounson has been identified and waitlisted to
attend the Drug Treatment Unit Short Intensive Programme. The Drug Treatment Unit (DTU) provides a
group-based programme in a therapeutic environment for prisoners with alcohol
and drug-related issues. It is a 3-month
based programme (delivered the same treatment houses as the 6-month DUT but
over a shorter timeframe). The DTU
teaches prisoners about addiction, change, relapse and the effects of their
actions upon others. The aim of the
programme is to reduce re-offending by assisting programme participants to
address their dependence on alcohol and other drugs. Mr Trounson is required to reduce his
security classification in order to participate in this rehabilitative
programme.
Convictions Received During Sentence:
Mr Trounson has not received any further
convictions since commencing his sentence.
Conviction Date and Description
However that’s where the page goes blank
and as far any person would think – is that he hasn’t/hadn’t committed any
offences at all since being released from prison after murdering my brother but
no, asking about other charges I got told there was an admin error and a
separate list of offences arrived by email from the Corrections Department of the
8th September 2011, it reads:
Hi Michelle
Here is the list of Criminal and Traffic Conviction
History for TROUNSON, George Charles since the start of his sentence in
26/02/1991
YEAR OFFENCE
27/01/2003 Wilful
damage
29/01/2003 Male
assaults female
28/05/2003 Assault
Police
18/03/2003 Shoplifts
13/11/2003 Shoplifts
17/06/2005 False
statement that offence committed
23/09/2005 Owner/hirer
fail give info
02/12/2005 Breath
alcohol level over 400 mcgs per litre of breath
24/02/2006 Wilful
damage
02/03/2007 Breach
board release condition
17/06/2008 Shoplifts
Breach
standard rel/special conditions
23/12/2011 Breach
standard rel/special conditions
28/07/2011 Breach
standard rel/special conditions
In
July 2011 Trounson was found getting visibly drunk by undercover officers,
Hamish McNeilly (2011) writes:
“A convicted killer has been recalled
to prison after he was caught drinking at a wedding by an off-duty corrections
officer.
George Charles Trounson was sentenced
to life imprisonment in 1991 for murdering his 17-year-old flatmate, Russell
Warren Neil, after beating him about the head with a piece of broken stair
baluster on June 24, 1990.
He has been recalled to prison four
times.
As part of parole conditions, he was
prohibited from possessing or consuming alcohol for life, with substance abuse
linked to his reoffending.
On May 28, Trounson was at a wedding,
where an off-duty corrections officer, who was working as a barman, observed
him "drinking to the point where he was visibly intoxicated", a New
Zealand Parole Board decision noted.
Trounson originally denied consuming
alcohol at the wedding, but later accepted he had lied to his probation officer
about the incident.
That incident triggered his recall
application on the grounds he had breached his release conditions and posed
"an undue risk to the safety of the community".
In addition, Trounson had stopped
taking his Antabuse medication - another special parole condition - and had
failed to disclose that to his parole officer.
In his defence, it was argued a recall
was not justified as he did not pose an undue risk to the community, and the
incident occurred during a time of stress.
Trounson, his lawyer submitted, was
employed and housed and had complied with his other conditions of parole for
many years and the recent incident should be seen as a lapse, rather than as
justification for a recall.
The Parole Board decided a recall was
necessary as Trounson had failed to learn from his last recall earlier this
year, had stopped taking his medication and attended a wedding where he knew
alcohol would be present.
"It reflects a failure to
recognise situations that place him at risk."
In its decision, the board said,
until Trounson stopped consuming alcohol, he remained an undue risk to the
community.
"And, although it was a long
time ago, Mr Trounson acknowledged that alcohol had played a significant part
in the murder."
Trounson will be seen by the board
again in November.”
However
in December 2011, Trounson was freed for a fifth time, an announcement on Radio
New Zealand (2011) was made:
“A convicted murderer who has been
recalled to prison for breaching his parole conditions five times will again be
released from jail.
George
Trounson was jailed in 1991 for fatally bashing Russell Neil - his teenage
flatmate in Dunedin - with a broken balustrade.
The
Parole Board says Trounson is an alcoholic and one of his parole conditions is
that he cannot drink alcohol for life.
He
was sent back to prison in July 2011 after an off-duty prison guard acting as a
barman at a wedding saw him becoming visibly drunk.
Trounson
also failed to tell the Probation Service in March that he had stopped taking
medication to combat his alcohol abuse.
The
board says Trounson accepts it is a small price to pay for living a law-abiding
life in the community, and the only solution is for him to take the medication
religiously.
It says it is satisfied that he can be released in
December and that he will be given support by his family.”
And
the report by Hamish McNeilly: ‘Teen’s killer released from prison again’
(2011) reads:
“A convicted murderer who has been
recalled to prison five times for breaching his parole has been re-released.
At a hearing at an undisclosed prison
last month, the New Zealand Parole Board granted George Charles Trounson
parole.
In 1991, the then 19-year-old
Trounson was jailed for life after he was found guilty of murdering 17-year-old
Russell Warren Neil in Dunedin.
Trounson beat Mr Neil about the head
with a piece of broken stair baluster on June 24, 1990.
The former polytechnic student was
first released in 2001. He was the subject of five recall applications - four
of which resulted in a final recall order to prison. Alcohol was a factor in
his reoffending.
In the November 30 decision, the
board considered whether he posed a risk to the community, and "we are
satisfied that Mr Trounson can now safely be released".
He has been released with six special
conditions, two of which will continue for the rest of his life: namely that he
continue to take the drug Antabuse, and not be in the possession of or consume
alcohol or illicit drugs.
The board noted Trounson was an
alcoholic, and said the best way to ensure he did not drink was for him to take
Antabuse.
"Understandably he does not like
it but he accepts that this is a small price for living a law-abiding and
productive life in the community."
His last two recall applications
followed his decision to stop taking Antabuse.
"Some time later, but
inevitably, he drank alcohol again. Fortunately he did not reoffend."
The board was satisfied Trounson had
support available, and he "can now be safely released".
He is expected to attend a Parole
Board hearing to monitor the compliance of his release conditions.
Email
from Government House:
Dear Ms Johnstone
Thank you for your email, which has been received by Government House,
the Office of the Governor General. On
reading your email, I have formally referred your email to the Parole Board, as
an independent authority, to reply.
Thank you again for taking the time to write and for raising your
concerns.
Regards
Antony Paltridge, Public Affairs Manager, Government House
____________________
I’d like to talk about my serious caffeine
addiction. I am very addicted to coffee,
so much so that if I woke up in the night I would have a coffee and go back to
bed. However finding out about Trounson,
family trouble, earthquakes and not getting a response on social media bordered
on psychological torture as most of the responses were either to block, mute or
abuse. So, even if I abused back it
meant I wouldn’t get a response. Social
media manipulation means some tweets are viewable and other’s aren’t – so I
ditched the caffeine intake and switched it with vodka and I began drinking
heavily. I prefer Jack Daniels however I
have been told that if you drink a lot it’s better to stick to vodka and I
needed every drop at that particular point in time.
It was such a long time ago that I’d past
forgot of the excruciating emotional torment and immense suffering that took
place at that time and then it hit me like a freight train. It’s almost like having a double life where
an obscene miscarriage of justice is covered up and instead of supporting the deceased’s
sister they take advantage instead and resort to bullying and gloating because
they are on the other side of the world. Meanwhile in Hemel Hempstead – if you say, ‘yeah
I was an extra and I worked on a few movies’ they generally don’t believe who
you meet and think you’re bullshitting anyway.
After a day’s work on ‘John Carter of Mars’ my face had the remnants of Martian
makeup, I stopped into Sainsbury’s with blotchy bits of fake tan all over my
hands and feet. I have no idea what they
must’ve thought – just having a bad makeup day possibly. It certainly was an alien feeling having two
different lives but on the same token intertwined with utter bullshit on both
sides of the globe.
So there are Nazi’s in New Zealand and
indeed there are Skinheads in New Zealand who like to think and adopt neo-Nazi’s
way of thinking. During the murder trial
one of the skinheads said of Trounson “I taught him everything he knows.”
During the trial, Aramoana happened. Aramoana is where the gunman shot multiple
victims and a massacre ensued. A movie was
made about it called ‘Out of the Blue’ which I haven’t seen and that was
released in 2006. The Aramoana masochist
allegedly had Nazi memorabilia in his shed and at the time of the murder trial
- Dunedin seemed to be full of skinheads.
After all these years and they still think only one person was involved. At the trial Trounson’s mother winked at
Trounson’s girlfriend as she left the stand and as it turned out only one
person was honest and that was a girl called Kathy from Green Island. Trounson apparently wrote a letter saying to
another skinhead stating “Yes, I will kill him”, it was premeditated
murder. Not only that, Ravensbourne is
up the road from the massacre (where I was living). Uncle Peter stayed for a night with me while
the trial was on as hotel accommodation was expensive and the trial was in full
swing.
The following morning I woke up to find I
was being molested by Uncle Peter. I
only woke up because my flatmate walked in, I was in a state of shock and so
was my flatmate, I didn’t know what to say to him and he didn’t know what to
say to me. Uncle Peter just left.
Afterwards I found a letter that my
flatmate wrote to his mother saying “I’ve never found an uncle in a niece’s
bed” or something along those lines and of course I left Dunedin shortly after
the trial and I got a job selling a cleaner on a door-to-door basis and
travelling – so I didn’t stick around in Dunedin or Invercargill. In a roundabout way selling the ‘Wizard’
cleaner is how I ended up in England. I
went up to the Johnstone castle, researched a bit of the Johnstone history, it
was a research project like that ‘who do you think you are?’ television
programme.
There was a famous rift between the
Johnstone’s and the Maxwell’s (Wikipedia, 2017) that resulted in an awful lot
of clashing. Rumour has it that the
infamous Knights Templar of Scotland was involved with the Battle of
Bannockburn. In those days there were characters
called ‘William the Lion’ who in 1187 granted part of the Cutler lands on the
south bank of the River Dee, Aberdeenshire to the Knights Templar.
There is a rather impressive
Robert the Bruce statue with him on a horse.
The Battle of Bannockburn as depicted in the movie where William Wallace
is a freedom fighter for Scottish independence and at the end, well – it wasn’t
a very good ending as they tortured him.
The Battle of Bannockburn was a significant Scottish victory in the
First War of Scottish Independence and a landmark in Scottish History.
The Clan Johnstone was once the most
powerful of the Border River Scottish clans (Honey, Russell C. 2016) who originally settled in Annandale for
over six hundred years and they held extensive possessions in the west of the
Scottish Marches, where they kept watch against the English.
The first of the clan to be recorded was
John Johnstone, whose son, Gilbert, is found in records are 1194. The Johnstone clan had a long feud with the
Clan Moffat as well as Clan Maxwell as unlike others who raided each other’s
lands, the Johnstone’s only raided England.
The feud with the Maxwell’s occurred during a meeting in which they were
intending on reconciling their differences and Lord Maxwell treacherously
killed Johnstone. Maxwell was later
captured and executed by hanging. The
Clan Moffat was almost wiped out. Seventy
years later all of the Moffats’ lands were passed to the Johnstone's due to the
Moffat’s having massive debts.
From the picture that I took of Russell’s
plaque before I left Invercargill - I noticed that my brother is buried next to
a Maxwell.
The Johnstone’s nearly exterminated the Maxwell’s
at the Battle of Dryfe Sands leading to the proverbial expression ‘Lockerbie
Lick’. Interestingly enough the clan Maxwell has
a double headed bird as a coat of arms.
The de Bruce family and the Johnstone’s
became close allies and five hundred years after granting the title of the
Lordship of Ananndale to the De Bruce family, King Charles II was to grant it to
Lord James Johnstone, the Chief of the Johnstone Clan. The son Gilbert was to
first use the surname Johnstun in the period 1170 – 1194 and Gilbert was the
first member of the family of Johnstone who took the surname, derived from the
lands called after his father John. The
first people in Scotland to acquire surnames were the Norman Nobles, who came
from France with William the Conqueror and were of Viking ancestry. The
Johnstone family were known for their loyalty and Gilbert was later to be
knighted. However the Johnstone clan
fought to the death which was a legacy of the Celtic blood and the clan emblem
or crest contains the motto, ‘Nunquam Non Paratus’ (Never Unprepared). It’s a winged spur and is based upon the
ancient and loyal respects and esteem between the Bruce family and the
Johnstone family.
Apparently there once was an illiterate
member of the Johnstone clan who warned Robert Bruce of treachery, so the
Johnstone tied a message to a spur to which somehow Bruce understood and
avoided incident.
The Johnstone’s and the Bruce’s rallied
behind William Wallace (‘Braveheart’) and the Battle of Bannockburn was a
decisive event in Scottish history.
Bruce and the Scots defeated the English and established Bruce on the
throne of Scotland.
Johnstone Castle is in the town of
Johnstone in Renfrewshire, Scotland, which we visited. It’s in the centre of a housing estate.
My Twitter turned into a venting pad – I
was having the total piss taken out of me, completely being taken advantage of,
victim of cyber bullying and a complete loner because of it. It’s incredibly isolating in that you can’t
talk about major carnage without people looking at you sideways.
It doesn’t take an awful lot to know who
Hitler is/was, there are/were war criminals in New Zealand and the way that the
New Zealand government and its agencies have responded to me is bloody
atrocious.
Hitler was of course the leader of the
Nazi party (Wikipedia, 2016) and a central figure of the Holocaust and also the
subject of a propaganda campaign. There
was a movie called ‘Education for Death: The Making of a Nazi’ which was
produced by Walt Disney Productions. It
was released in 1943 and tells the story of a boy called Hans who is raised in
Nazi Germany and bred to become a merciless soldier.
Walter Elias ‘Walt’ Disney (1901 – 1966)
was born in Chicago and developed an early interest in drawing, he set up the
Disney Brother’s Studio in the 1920’s and in the 1950’s expanded into the
amusement park industry and in 1955 he opened Disneyland. Accusations that Disney was racist or anti-Semitic
have been contradicted by many who knew him (Wikipedia, 2017).
There was also another propaganda campaign
regarding Admiral Byrd and Operation Highjump.
Admiral Byrd specialised in feats of exploration. Admiral Byrd (1888 – 1957) was an American
naval officer (Wikipedia, 2017). He
partook in aircraft flights which he served as a navigator and expedition
leader, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, a segment of the Arctic Ocean and a segment
of the Antarctic Plateau.
In 1946-1947 there was a mission called ‘Operation
Highjump’ (Wikipedia, 2017). Byrd was
appointed officer in charge of Antarctic Developments Project. It was the largest Antarctic expedition to
date. Byrd was an active Freemason and
he founded Antarctic Lodge 777 in 1935 under dispensation from the Grand Lodge
of New Zealand.
The documentary about the expedition ‘The
Secret Land’ was filmed entirely by military photographers. It re-enacted scenes of critical events, such
as shipboard damage control and Admiral Byrd throwing items out of an airplane
to lighten the load to avoid crashing into a mountain. In the fictional ‘Area 51’ books the
operation was cover for retrieving buried alien ships at the North Pole. Also in a Russian documentary it claims that
the units of Operation Highjump was attacked by flying saucers, operated by a
secret Nazi base in Antarctica, constructed before and during WWII through
various Nazi expeditions. It was known
that the Nazi’s had/have a fascination with alien spaceships and technology,
also intergalactic travel.
I had kept a few things with me of
Russell’s that I took everywhere with me, one is a book that my aunt gave me
called ‘Adventure Stories for Girls’. Russell
had scribbled in it and I’ve kept it since I was about 9/10 years old. The other was a picture that he drew, he was
a budding artist.
He drew a picture of a Royal Albatross which
was really good. It was of an Albatross
on its own. They are majestic looking
birds and the wing span is average of 9.8ft and above. In full flight they are impressive. They have an albatross colony near Dunedin
and a wingspan sculpture so you can visualise how big the wingspan actually is.
Both items disappeared and the only people
in the house was myself and Shivon who was going through her rebellious years,
years where there were no boundaries. If
there were boundaries it would be like WWIII in the house. If I asked her to do the dishes it would turn
into a major argument. She was very busy
being a make-up artist in the making.
I donated £50 to the Red Cross Earthquake
appeal. An interesting bit of
information about the British Red
Cross (Wikipedia, 2016) is that it was formed in 1870, just seven years after
the formation of the international movement in Switzerland which also has a
symbol of a cross. The Red Cross is also a symbol of the Knights
Templar and St George when he is slaying the dragon, the Patron Saint of
England and the English Flag. There are varying legacies around however the earliest
known surviving narrative text is an 11th –century Georgian
text. Allegedly St George appears, faces
the dragon, protects himself with the sign of the cross, slays the dragon and
rescues the princess in distress. The
citizens abandon their ancestral paganism and convert to Christianity.
The last time I went ‘home’ to New Zealand
the ‘family’ owned or leased the Civic Centre in Christchurch. Apart from not saying anything about Trounson
and not doing anything about it was not only shocking but being told that I was
‘fucked in the head and full of shit’ via relay on Facebook by Uncle Peter for
him molesting me when he stayed with me in Dunedin during my brother’s murder trial – in front of everyone – was not
only mortifying and embarrassing but then they wonder why Brendon Takitimu hung
himself. I last seen Brendon at a hotel
where he and Margo had come to buy some ‘Wizard’ cleaner – his head didn’t
really leave the floor and he came to Russell’s wake with me. You are not allowed to talk about traumatic
events in such a way because you might offend someone and more often than not
the victim gets blamed.
So a part of me made me feel thankful that
I was in Hemel Hempstead and not in New Zealand, but also people that share my
experience are few and far between.
In Christchurch, the Citizens War Memorial
was left standing. It’s where the Anzac
ceremonys are performed and people gather every year in remembrance. The monument is derived
from a sketch designed by William Trethewey (Stonemason), and George Hart (architect); it was
unveiled in June 1937 in Cathedral Square, Christchurch (Wikipedia, 2016). The annual Anzac Day Service is held there but
when the earthquake happened it was cordoned off and the Anzac Day Service was
held at Hagley Park instead.
Anzac Day (Wikipedia, 2016) is a national
day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all
Australians and New Zealanders ‘who served and died in all wars, conflicts and
peacekeeping operations’ and ‘the contribution and suffering of all those who
have served’. It’s on 25th
April each year and honours the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army
Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli against the Ottoman Empire during World
War I.
The significance of the Gallipoli Campaign
(Wikipedia, 2016) is felt strongly in both New Zealand and Australia. Despite being a small minority of the Allied
forces; the campaign is regarded in both nations as a ‘baptism of fire’ and had
been linked to their emergence as independent states.
During these times, there was a horse
called Phar lap who bought great hope to the nation during the great depression. His name was Phar Lap, he had nicknames such
as ‘Red Terror’, ‘Bobby’, ‘Big Red’ and the ‘Wonder Horse’. He was the ‘Liam Neeson’ of horses. Phar Lap’s other names included ‘Phuck it’,
or otherwise ‘Fuckit’ due to the way it’s pronounced. It’s pronounced ‘Far Lap’, like the Maori ‘wh’
at the beginning of words so you have really funny town and place names like ‘Whakapura’
(‘fuckapoorer’). I don’t think that’s an
actual place name however it’s just example to the way ‘Phar Lap’ is
pronounced. He was foaled in New Zealand
and later fled the country to Australia where they pretty much adopted him
after he was abused in New Zealand. He then
went on to be one of the greatest thoroughbred racehorses to ever live. Phar Lap is the name of the movie and it
captured the bond between horse and man very well. Phar Lap used to think he was human, a show
pony but also loved to race. The name Phar Lap also derives from the common
Zhuang and Thai word for lightening or ‘sky flash’.
He won the Agua Caliente Handicap in
Tijuana, Mexico and died shortly after a sudden and mysterious illness. An autopsy revealed that the horse’s stomach
and intestines were inflamed leading many to believe the horse had been
deliberately poisoned. Phar Lap died in
1932 and at the time he was the third highest stakes-winner in the world.
Phar Lap had an abnormal heart - it was
bigger than most. After he died Phar
Lap’s heart ended up in Australia and his skeleton ended up in New Zealand
(Wikipedia, 2016). In New Zealand they
unveiled a life size bronze monument (that cost $500,000) near his birthplace
of Timaru. He was the ultimate war horse
and the underdog, whenever he raced the horse knew when it was time to go full
throttle and he never needed a whip.
Timaru is where our dad was apparently
living at one point; Allan Ernest James Neil.
Other than the apparent abandonment of a father figure all throughout
our childhood all that I knew and know of him is that he worked in the RAAF (The
Royal Australian Air Force) and their motto is ‘Per Ardua ad Astra’, which means
‘Through Adversity to the Stars’.
On the front page of The Sun
Newspaper in Melbourne on November 1931 is a picture of Phar Lap with a shoe
horse and a flag behind him with the headline of ‘Will Phar Lap Make Turf
History?’ There is another great photo in the Sydney
Morning Herald when he was pictured being led to the mounting yard at
Flemington after winning the 1929 Victoria Derby with the headlines ‘It’s not
all black and white’ which is very fitting in relation to the criminal justice
system.
Chapter 8:
Chapter
8
Booking
my ticket to New York was very exciting. Ever since I was a little girl I’ve
always wanted to go to New York but it just seemed so far away and out of reach
for me. If ever I wanted a break from
parental duties I had to give the ex-husband six months notice to look after
our daughter or just abandon my plans altogether. I was not allowed to spend any money on
myself at all as I would be slammed as a bad parent. Now Shivon was at an age where staying with
her extended family shouldn’t be a problem however I still got slammed as a
selfish parent for wanting to go to New York on my own. Shivon was fifteen. She was out and about although the horror
teen years were well and truly underway.
I
paid with the money I had earnt working as an extra on ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’
to fulfil a lifelong dream of going to New York.
Filming ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’
as an extra was quite hard core. Up at
3am followed by the drive to location and on set at 5am and straight into the
hair and makeup department. The driving
in London wasn’t as bad at stupid o’clock in the morning as there was hardly
any traffic which had its bonus’. The
Blackwall tunnel was nearly clear most mornings. I got to meet a few people while working on ‘Pirates’
like the stuntman called ‘Rocky’, the AD (‘Pinkus’) and Steve (stand in for
Geoffrey Rush and others).
I got picked to do a
reaction shot by Rob Marshall although at that particular moment in time I was
having a ‘something is not quite right freaky feeling’. I didn’t freeze. I just did my shocked face as Johnny Depp was
whizzing past on a horse and cart, then carried on mixing with the peasants.
There was a moment where
we were all huddled in a section of the building as there was a torrential
downpour. We were waiting for the
downpour to finish when Johnny Depp rode past in his little buggy. I was drinking my Redbull and eating my
snickers when I inadvertently murdered him with my eyes.
When
I was in New York I stayed at a hotel just around the corner from Times Square. I had my favourite bar ‘Aspen’. They played some great chilled house music
and the bartender serving was telling me how she’d moved to New York (to get a
job as a stylist) and how big her bedroom is (very small) for the expensive
rent she pays. She can see through her
tiny window a little bit of the ball dropping in New Year celebrations. A friend that I met in New York offered to
help with writing my victim impact statement.
His name was Josh and he does a lot of running and goes by the name of ‘Speedy
Sasquatch’.
I was only in New York for
three days before it felt like I needed to get a job. I had been all over from walking as well as
using the New York underground and ferry.
I went to the Natural History Museum and asked the security guard where
the frozen mammoth was from the movie ‘The Day After Tomorrow’. From Martin Luther King Jnr Boulevard, stopping
by Donald Trump’s building (but wasn’t allowed in as I wasn’t a resident and
they are still nervous from 9/11), had a burger in the vault and had a look at
the bull on Wall Street, also visiting the Trinity Church and ‘Ground Zero’.
At
that point in time Jenna Johnstone (cousin, Uncle Kevin’s daughter, who I
hadn’t seen or spoken to since Russell’s funeral and a brief visit to
Wollongong after I visited him) had been in touch. Uncle Kevin had moved back to New Zealand for
a bit but apparently a spot of bother happened at the Civic Centre where Aunt Carole
& Peter and Uncle Russell had taken over and no longer had it. It was nice to be in touch but before too
long it turned sour as no one had bothered to tell me that Trounson was out and
about. Aunt Carole & Peter were
farmers and moving from a farming environment to an environment where there are
people and not sheep, cows or goats - the adjustment didn’t happen. Plus arguments within the family didn’t help
matters any.
I
was standing outside the front of the hotel in New York and ‘Mr Big’ from the
television programme ‘Sex and the City’ walked by. You know you’re in New York when you see ‘Mr
Big’. I’d not long done a programme
where I was an extra and Kim Cattrall and Jim Broadbent (‘Gangs of New York’)
were in it. The scene I was in I was a secretary
mucking about with files walking past Jim Broadbent and his bird cage while he
was ranting about something about publishing a book. It wasn’t long after ‘John Carter of Mars’ as
the ‘JC’ set was still at the studios. The
big house that we were filming in was a stately house at the studios. I remember jumping in the van to drive back
to base, driving past the “John Carter of Mars” set thinking it was a great
experience but so cold, poor feet, and my poor head at the end of the day from
the incredibly heavy wig. So to see ‘Mr
Big’ walking by I just giggled a bit. Didn’t
attempt to take a photo on my phone, by the time it would’ve taken me to get my
phone organised for a photo he’d be gone - he was on a mission. A man on a mission. With an impression of importance and
important business to take care of.
After
my cigarette I went back into the hotel to grab my jacket and I was off exploring
New York. In Times Square you can sit
and have a coffee, see the Naked Cowboy, get taken aback by the height of the
buildings. After the first few days the
compelling feeling to look up slowly subsides.
I was overwhelmed by signs and all kinds of advertising up on the big
screens. There were tourists that had
their names on a giant screen with messages to each other. It was a tourist favourite to see their name
in lights. I took photos of a couple of signs, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’
billboard was up as well as a sign saying ‘By George we did it, Leadership,
pass it on’ and also ‘Winning is no piece of cake’.
I
ventured off and spoke to another barman who was impressed that I’d been an
extra on ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’. It
was also impressive to him that I had been selected to do a reaction shot with
Rob Marshall and him saying “Well done.”
He was also impressed that I’d literally walked the whole place from
Martin Luther King Jnr area all the way to catching the Staten Island ferry. Sometimes it’s very easy to forget that the
majority of people that work in the hospitality industry (especially in New
York) have desires to be or get famous whether it’s acting or singing etc.
Walking
toward the financial area and down towards Wall Street, the vibe of New York
changes to one of sombreness. It’s very quiet
and subdued. I visited the famous burger
bar where lunch is served in a vault. I
literally forced myself to eat the whole burger, it was ginormous. I really did feel like I would explode
afterwards and I had to drag myself up the stairs and out the exit. The famous
Vault is opposite the famous Wall Street building where the tourists surround
the bull, climb all over it and take many many selfies.
Heading
towards ‘Ground Zero’ and where the Twin Towers used to stand, a random shouty
person shouts out “7 buildings, this is murder, there were 7 buildings.” Addressing the conspiracy surrounding the
building ‘7’ which seemed to explode by itself suggesting that it was sabotage
rather than it came down due to the explosion of the Twin Towers. That year they were going to open the
memorial site to the victims’ families.
They call it ‘sacred ground’. Many
people were taking photos of the memorial site however I couldn’t and wouldn’t
as it is a site where mass murder happened and ‘sacred ground’, just like the Maori’s
called Aramoana ‘sacred’.
Walking
closer to the memorial site, the overwhelming sense of grief hit me and my legs
buckled somewhat slightly. It is very
easy to envision the mass panic and the tremendous sense of loss, confusion and
anger. In New York you are not very far
away from someone that has been affected or indirectly affected by 9/11.
Shortly
after my visit to ‘Ground Zero’, I walked down to Trinity Church, the Church
that still stands. It’s squeezed in
between high rises. In Trinity Church
there are seven saints. It got me
thinking about the whole ‘7’ thing so I googled to see what this whole ‘7’
thing is about, especially after such events as the number itself keeps
occurring. ‘77’ seems to be always
attached to terrorist activity.
The
number ‘7’ (Wikipedia, 2017) can be seen as a lucky number and seems to be
attached to all things great and wonderful.
In numerology it means the seeker, the thinker, the searcher of Truth
and apparently always trying to understand the underlying, hidden truths.
Einstein
for example displayed intelligence like that of a dreamer, an intellectual
explorer of the obscure and many intellectuals have a fascination with the
metaphysical.
The
age old question “Why are we here?”, “What is life about?” is essential to the
‘7’s life experience and unless the answers are found will not stop looking for
them until death.
The
‘77’ apparently means that the essence is especially adept with mental processes;
it has the mind of a scientific investigator.
The downside of the ‘77’ and the ‘7’ is it’s also attached to global catastrophes
and acts of extremism/terrorism.
The
number ‘8’ (Wikipedia, 2017) is apparently the great karmic equaliser. A force that just as easily creates as it
destroys. Its closest relative is ‘1’
and both numbers are powerful, have strong leadership skills, are unquestionably
masculine and will not shy away from confrontation.
‘88’
has a scientific approach, but is also introspective and comfortable with
spiritual matters.
In
China, ‘88’ symbolises fortune and good luck (Wikipedia, 2017), however in
extremism the Neo-Nazi’s use the ‘88’ as an abbreviation for the Nazi salute Heil
Hitler. The letter H is 8th
in the alphabet, whereby ‘88’ becomes ‘HH’.
In the movie ‘Back to the Future’, 88 is the speed that the DeLorean
must attain in order to travel in time.
If
numbers apparently mean so much – does this mean ‘3’ really is the ‘magic’
number? The number ‘3’ is of good
fortune. The Pythagoreans (Wikipedia,
2016) who originated in the 6th Century were considerably influenced
by mathematics and mysticism and also exercised a marked influence on Aristotle
and Plato, and through them, all western philosophy taught that the number ‘3’
was the first true number.
In
astrology and Tarot, Gemini is the third astrological sign of the Zodiac. It’s the number of Jupiter, lucky for
Sagittarius and is the number of the Empress who stands for creation and
growth. It’s also connected to the Holy
Trinity (The Father, The Son and the Holy Ghost) in Christianity.
The
number ‘47’ (2016) is quite the character and has its own conspiracy just like
building ‘7’ thing when the World Trade Centre attacks happened. There is such a
thing as ‘47 Society’ where they are dedicated to exploring the phenomenon that
is 47. Saying that it appears ‘randomly’
and if it appears anywhere in your life or in the world there are varying
interpretations as to what constitutes a bona fide ‘47 sighting’. Apparently many suspect that the coincidental
nature of the 47 carries some mystical, metaphysical and/or scientific significance. One of the writers for ‘Star Trek: The Next
Generation’ inserted the cosmic fascination of the number 47 into the series
and since then, nearly every ‘Star Trek’ episode includes some mention of ‘47’.
I was working as an extra
on ‘Dark Shadows’ (Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer etc) when the
Norway attacks happened. I’d found out
about Trounson having undercover officers at a wedding while I was working on ‘Pirates
on the Caribbean’. I told one of the runners that it’s
all connected to the current criminal justice system and the death penalty
issue. It is an issue that will never be
addressed by the UN and the UN will never agree to the death penalty although
they have foresight to put ‘offender friendly’ policies on the agenda.
I asked Steve if he knew
any good lawyers and he replied “No.” I
told him a little bit about my life and he said “Make a good movie though.” At the time I was rather taken aback as
making a movie other than the current movie that I was being an extra in was
all the movies I was making not ... my initial reaction was “it’s real, right
now, my life, not a movie.”
However, at that
particular time Johnny Depp and Sir Peter Jackson were making a movie about a
prisoner who was on death row for a murder that he apparently didn’t commit and
the accused had released a book called ‘Life After Death’.
‘Dark Shadows’ was okay. We were at the studios first and then on
location which is where I met Glenn (who apparently has connections with Abbey
Road Studios) who apparently is friendly with Tim Burton. He is a fellow New Zealander and when I asked
Glenn how long he had been in the UK he replied like he was serving a
sentence. We chatted about things such as
‘restorative justice, rehab and reintegration’ which are the new ‘offender
friendly’ UN policies.
I got picked to attempt an
American accent on ‘Dark Shadows’. The
best I got was “Eckskoooz me, canna borra a cuppa shoogar” in my best redneck
accent. I can’t do accents; in the
acting world you get linguistic lessons for that.
Anders Behring Breivik (Wikipedia,
2016) murdered 77 people in Norway, he had written a manifesto and on the front
page there was a large Red Cross of St. George, symbol of the medieval Knights
Templar and the date of 2083. Going by
the name of Andrew Berwick, he styled himself as an heir to the medieval
crusades and wants to drive all Muslims from Europe by 2083, the 400th
anniversary of the Battle of Vienna, when an Ottoman Turk army was defeated by
a Christian army. He allegedly says he
spent nine years planning the terrorist attacks, including three years to write
the document and spent a small fortune in the process.
At the same time the UN
had an agenda of ‘offender friendly and transgender’. The perpetrator will go out of their way to
be evil but because (Parole Boards etc) they think they can ‘cure’ the perpetrator
and somehow they think they will get magic beans if the perpetrator doesn’t
reoffend (like on a commission basis) and they are all about a ‘softly softly’
approach with offenders which ultimately leads to offenders reoffending. All the while serial offenders are removed
from the study group as its bad for statistics.
Just like the Ofsted reports when the school asks the parents of the
naughty kids to keep them home for the day and make sure the brainy ones are in
class that particular day that Ofsted visits.
They get funding for results that fool the public.
Hence the rights of the
victim are completely removed. If the
victim doesn’t agree with such things as ‘restorative justice’ where it’s put
on the victim to forgive the perpetrator and if the victim doesn’t forgive the
perpetrator the victim is made to feel like they’ve committed some big crime
and indeed made to feel like a criminal.
Of course Breivik’s face
was plastered all over the front pages.
The world became fascinated with a terrorist/masochist and the reasons
why he did it. It was an attack on the
symbol of the cross. Just like Hitler
used the swastika and committed atrocities such as the Holocaust, Breivik used
the symbol of the cross to commit mass murder.
It was also an attack on religion as the London Christmas tree is a gift
from Norway and gets ‘gifted’ to London every year. The victims of the Norway attacks were
hysterical as one can imagine and even more so when they heard the maximum
penalty for such slaughter was only 21 years.
A massacre is no different
to murder in that it is still murder. The
criminal justice system is geared up to protect the worst offenders and don’t
take the victim into consideration at all. During the Norway massacre trial one
of the attendees set themselves on fire in protest. A random shoe even went flying across the
court room. In one of the scenes from ‘Pirates
of the Caribbean’ (where I told Steve a little bit about my life), it involved
chucking a random shoe as well as plastic vegetables across a court room at a
Judge (that was Johnny Depp in disguise).
After ‘Pirates’ had
finished a Sun reporter called Gordon Smart asked readers what they would like
to ask Alice Cooper as he was going to interview him. My question was the first to be answered and it
was something to do with Lady Gaga. It was
funny because not so long prior to the interview there was a bunch of extras
who were to play the part as groupies for Alice Cooper in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’.
Being an extra working in the
TV/Film industry I found that you have actors that portray real life
characters, villains and victims but at the same time they exploit, mock and
abuse those real life victims.
The Norway massacre is in
fact racist and no matter how much they protested that he wasn’t Neo-Nazi he
saluted in court using a Neo-Nazi salute and committed the worst crime in
Norway since WWII, so hence is a terrorist that attacked religious freedom.
The aftermath of such
violent events leaves people’s brains pretty vacant. They are unsure how to react, what to say or
what to do so remain silent. I remember
when I walked back into class with tears streaming down my face after being
asked by my guidance counsellor if I was okay, I remember the silence well.
The main focus is very
much always on the perpetrator never the victim (or very rarely). The Norway attacks, the trial, media coverage
and differing opinions seemed to go on and on and on and on and within a short
space of time even got its own Broadway show.
A Broadway show based on the massacre and about how they deal with death
in the world of performing arts. Of
course the books followed. It was very
fast in comparison with release of the Aramoana massacre movie ‘Out of the Blue’. It came out years later however people still
found it offensive due to using the word ‘fuck’. These days if an atrocity happens there are
books and movies within the space of months not years.
Breivik was to fully take
advantage of the Human Rights and the criminal justice system within its full capacity;
it is geared up in order to protect the rights of the offenders.
The European Convention on
Human Rights (ECHR) is an international treaty to protect human rights and
fundamental freedoms in Europe (Wikipedia, 2017). Any person who feels his or her rights have
been violated under the Convention by a state party can take the case to court. Of course when you’ve been incarcerated the
Human Rights is supposed to work for you so therefore Breivik is within his
rights to complain that his human rights have been ‘violated’ due to his
isolation in jail.
On the day of the attacks
Breivik distributed his manifesto ‘2083: A European Declaration of Independence’. In it he lays out a worldview encompassing
opposition to Islam and blaming feminism for creating a European ‘cultural
suicide’. Breivik maintained that the
atrocities were motivated in order to market his manifesto.
Throughout the media
coverage very little of what the victims said made the news. It was focused on Breivik’s manifesto that he
sent out before he committed the atrocities.
At the time of the court
trial he was appointed a forensic psychiatrist who declared Breivik as having
paranoid schizophrenia (not that it makes much difference to the lenient
sentence of just 21 years). However a
second opinion a week before the trial concluded he was not psychotic and was
diagnosed as having narcissistic personality disorder (let’s face it most
famous people have that condition).
The very lenient Norwegian
criminal justice system handed Breivik a 21 year sentence. A form of preventative detention that
required a minimum of 10 years’ incarceration and the possibility of extension/s
for as long as he is deemed to be a danger to society. Breivik requested the death penalty knowing
full well he wouldn’t get it thus exploiting the criminal justice system.
There were no warnings, no
preventative measures in place when the attack happened which is surprising as
there was nothing stopping him from driving right up to a building that housed
the Ministry of Justice and the Prime Minister’s office.
Presumably stunned by what
happened when the explosion settled and the loose pieces of paper fluttered
down the streets of destruction, the people that survived and everyone else
were unaware that Breivik was on his way to Utoya where he would go on a
shooting spree murdering teenagers who were there for summer camp
In his manifesto he refers
to his ‘assigned mentor’ as ‘Lionheart’ and described himself as one of the ‘founding
fathers’ of the right-wing English Defence League and had apparently attended a
meeting with the ‘Knights Templar Europe’.
He named Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and the Prince of Wales amongst others
as ‘traitors’ and even mentioned Top Gear.
He believes that those allowing the spread of Islam in Europe merits the
death penalty. He has also compared
himself to Nelson Mandela.
With regards to Top Gear
he cited an article by Jeremy Clarkson about the flag of St. George stating
“This is the only country in the world where the national flag is deemed
offensive.”
Europe itself has seen an
influx of migrants and the introduction of Islamic State terrorists that will
devour anything and everything that is not hard line Islam. They believe the western culture is perverse. When terrorists blow something up they claim
responsibility whereas the west in order to hide scandals - will create another
scandal to hide a scandal, laugh it off, call it banter and pretend nothing
happened. The technique they use to this
day has avoided some of the world’s biggest paedophiles from being arrested.
According to Wikipedia
(2016) The Templars were closely tied to the Crusades; when the Holy Land was
lost - support for the order faded.
Rumours about the Templar’s’ secret initiation ceremony created distrust
and King Philip IV of France – deeply in debt to the order – took advantage of
the situation to gain control over them.
The abrupt reduction in power of a significant group in European society
gave rise to speculation, legend, and legacy through the ages. The re-use of their name for later
organisations has kept the name ‘Templar’ alive to the modern day.
Since at least the 18th
century, Freemasonry has incorporated the symbols and rituals of several
medieval military orders in a number of Masonic bodies. Most notably in the ‘Red Cross of Constantine’,
derived from the Military Constantinan Order, the ‘Order of Malta’, derived from
the Knights Hospitaller, and the ‘Order of the Temple’ derived from the Knights Templar, the
latter two featuring prominently in the York
Rite.
One theory on the origins of Freemasonry claims direct descent
from the historical Knights Templar through its final fourteenth-century
members, who took refuge in Scotland and aided Robert
the Bruce in
his victory at Bannockburn.
The Knights Templar had
become associated with legends concerning secrets and mysteries handed down to
the select from ancient times. Modern
movies such as ‘The Da Vinci Code’, ‘National Treasure’, and ‘Indiana Jones and
the Last Crusade’ as well as video games such as ‘Assassin’s Creed’ add further
mystery.
The association of the
Holy Grail with the Templar’s has precedents even in 12th century
fiction. There is research to suggest
that the Templar Knights from overseas can be credited for the Battle of
Bannockburn. The King of France ordered
the arrest of any Templars in his country in 1307 – seven years before the
battle of Bannockburn and the Pope Clement later ordered all European Monarchs
to do the same.
The ‘Gilbert’ on the World
Cup Rugby ball that Richie McCaw gave to me reminds me of the Johnstone clan
and Gilbert Johnstone, William Wallace, Robert the Bruce and the battle of
Bannockburn.
Meanwhile, in Scotland at
that particular point in time, someone placed a single poppy in the hand of a
statue of the war memorial and they were soon to have a referendum for
independence. Follow the signs, a bit like
‘follow the ball’ and/or following the yellow brick road.
Shivon and I did that,
chasing signs, while visiting the soccer (Football) World Cup in London. We walked around the stadium at the World Cup
Trophy Tour and participated in chasing the coca cola sign that was being
beamed from the light machine. For
lunch, we had Shrek – it was pie and mushy peas.
When I met Richie McCaw I
was on a break from filming ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’. I drove to Kensington as there was a train
strike. I couldn’t drink as I was driving and the car park at the Kensington
was daunting in my MX5. He said that
he’d been out running and wondered what they were filming. He was referring to ‘Pirates’ that I had just
been an extra on. I was standing outside
in the cold in full wench gear when they did the bridge scene.
The Rugby World Cup in
2011 was the seventh Rugby World Cup and held in New Zealand not long after
Christchurch earthquake. New Zealand
defeated France by 1 point and the score was 8-7.
The final game was really
clash of the Titans where All Blacks perform their terrifying intimidating Haka
and the French team formed into an arrow.
The Rugby World Cup ran from 9 September to 23 October and James McAvoy
said it was just like Scotland won the World Cup.
The Captain of the All
Blacks (Richie McCaw) was a nice enough guy. He grew up in New Zealand and was
a bit of a tussock jumper. Upon meeting
him the question arose “What are their chances of winning?” I touched his arm and got an enormous zap of
electricity, startled him a bit. Had a
photo at the end of lunch and he gave me a ball that he’d autographed. Afterwards I took the ball to the photography
studios and had a photo taken with it. I
was dressed in a black satin sheet with black heels and was holding Richie McCaw’s
ball in place with my finger. It is a
very memorable photo and it is very unique.
The static electricity from the ‘zap’ felt like more than just a bolt of
static electricity, it was more like a ginormous boot. The kind of boot that I felt when I was less
than a year old and still remember.
Being a New Zealander it
is expected of you to know all the All Blacks and by an unspoken law all New
Zealanders have to be All Black fans
as they are treated like royalty in NZ.
The other export is Sir Peter Jackson and ‘Lord of the Rings’. It is also very difficult to discuss racism
when there are ‘All Black’ and ‘All White’ teams.
You can never say anything
bad about the All Blacks and at the time there was nothing bad to say about
them. He asked me what I did and I told
him that I was an extra. “You’re an extra, you get treated like shit
don’t you” he observed. I’d won the
lunch date in a competition so it could’ve been anyone that caught up with the
All Black captain before the World Cup.
It reminded me slightly of those going to meet up with the captain of
the South African team to report back on their chances of winning (like in the
movie ‘Invictus’). Apparently the All Blacks
had their food poisoned. It would’ve presumably
been the last ever world cup that Mandela witnessed.
When I met Richie McCaw I
didn’t go into too much detail about my past.
He spoke about owning property in Wanaka and the pros and cons of farm
life. Farming is more of a lifestyle
choice rather than a lucrative business these days. We talked about the earthquake prior to the
Christchurch earthquake and how he nearly flew off the couch.
I loved entering
competitions and seeing new things. I
really liked my job being self employed, selling on eBay as well as being an
extra.
I was working as an extra
on Danny Boyle’s movie called ‘Trance’ (starring James McAvoy) prior to the
Rugby World Cup. We were filming at 1
Whitehall Place. There was a youngish
picture of Winston Churchill in the foyer and when we were in the ‘green room’
waiting to be called for filming I was joking that I was going to nick the
cutlery - shortly after it was swiftly removed.
Whitehall Place (2016) stands
on land originally given to the Royal family of Scotland by the English Crown
in 800ad becoming the official residences of the Kings of Scotland when
residing in England. Though these
palaces were destroyed by the great fire of London the area continued to be
known as Scotland Yard. In time the head
quarters for the Metropolitan Police Service adopted the name and this
association has made ‘Scotland Yard’ world famous.
The building became a
London landmark, serving as home to foreign embassies, the Ministry of Defence
and the secret services during the Second World War. There we were running out of it with fake
smoke billowing out of the front doors - like someone had committed a
robbery. They cornered off the whole street
when filming because the scene we were doing involved us extras running out of
the building in panic and out on to the street where there was an altercation
with a car and.... someone just nicked a painting! CUT!
We were joking about New
Zealand and the Rugby and just off the cuff whilst talking to Danny Boyle I
said “Not this time Danny I have touched him with my luck” (referring to Richie
McCaw).
The damage caused by the
Christchurch earthquake forced the relocation of a number of cup matches,
including the quarter finals. In fact
the grounds were so devastated they had a charity match at Twickenham where the
Crusaders vs. The Sharks played and the proceeds went towards the Earthquake
appeal. Twickenham isn’t the easiest of
stadiums to get to. I was sat in front of
a couple of guys in fancy dress, one of them had a black gollywog wig and
branded sport shirt with ‘Lusty’ on the back.
After the All Blacks won
John Key (Prime Minister of New Zealand, at the time) became infamous for being
the first to invent a three-way handshake.
He must’ve been awfully excited with all the excitement about the
excitement.
There’s been a
longstanding rift between France and New Zealand ever since the day that the
French blew up the Greenpeace boat The Rainbow Warrior.
It was also around the
time of Sir Peter Jackson’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ premiere and a promotional
plane bearing ‘Lord of the Rings’ artwork flew over the capital – ‘Hobbits’ had
taken over the country. Even the in
flight message was done by ‘Hobbits’. The
‘hobbits’ flew in custom designed ‘hobbit’ planes. Unlike the plane that flew over the South
African World Cup with a message underneath it like out of the movie ‘Invictus’. Sir Peter Jackson apparently had a lot of
problems with livestock and so many animals died while making the movie. At the premiere in New Zealand they had PETA
protestors with a sign saying “3 horses died for this movie.”
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