$78,000 for victim of RSA incident

Winston Peters
Winston Peters
A trust for Susan Couch, the woman who survived horrific injuries in the 2001 Panmure RSA triple murder, received almost half of the $158,000 the New Zealand First Party gave to charities in lieu of repaying Parliament for mis-spending last election.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters yesterday said she had suffered severe injuries but had been failed by the system, not being covered by any ACC lump-sum compensation.

The $78,000 is thought to have been given in June this year to the Susan Couch and Crime Victims Charitable Trust.

And it is understood to have been part of the money originally donated to the party by the Vela brothers - via the Spencer Trust which recently was given a clean bill of health by the Serious Fraud Office.

Mr Peters said the money was still in the Susan Couch trust bank account, implying that none of it had been spent.

One of the Couch trustees is Mr Peters' solicitor, Dennis Gates, who would not answer any questions last night about what the trust spent its money on or who the other trustees were.

He is not the only NZ First connection. Mr Peters' barrister, Brian Henry, won a case in June on behalf of Ms Couch at the Supreme Court, giving her the right to sue the Corrections Department for exemplary damages. Mr Henry was not paid for his services, he has said.

The money dispersed to charities by NZ First in June was its second attempt to give away an amount identified by the Auditor-general as having been unlawfully spent by the party in the last election.

Most other parties repaid the money they owed to Parliament, but Mr Peters gave his party's money in December 2007 to the Starship Foundation, which then returned it.

In the second attempt, in June, the money was divided among nine charities. One, the Cystic Fibrosis Association, was given $10,000 but returned it.

The Herald approached Ms Couch in June to ask if she had received money from NZ First but she said she had not. It is possible the money was not sent directly from the party and was perhaps routed through a trust such as the Spencer Trust, or that she did not know the source of her donors.

Sensible Sentencing Trust chairman Garth McVicar said he heard of the Couch trust in June.

Mr McVicar said his organisation had been looking at ways of buying Ms Couch a freehold house and Mr Henry said he had set up a trust for her. Mr McVicar said Mr Henry asked if he would replace him as a trustee at some stage, to which Mr McVicar agreed, although he has not heard further.

"I don't know how much Sue would know about the trust. She's not a trustee. It was to benefit her and, my understanding is, other victims of crime, but I doubt whether she actually knew too much of details."

Mr McVicar said he knew a donation had been made, but not who from or for how much.

"Sue hasn't got the money. As far as I know and as far as Sue knows, the money is still in the trust."

The donation from the Spencer Trust to NZ First - before being disbursed - is the money the Electoral Commission says should have been declared in April this year.

The commission has asked that the party submits accurate donations returns but has said secretary Anne Martin committed no offence.

Instead, it found against Act New Zealand leader Rodney Hide, who laid the complaint against NZ First, for not declaring as a donation office space to the value of $20,000 a year given to the party until 2005 by businessman Sir Robert Jones.

 

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