THE PRESS, Christchurch
Saturday, April 2, 2011 NEWS A11
■ CHRISTCHURCH DISTRICT COURT
Unlawful actions end in jail
Double-dip
warning
Police accept that a 21-year-old
helped with rescue operations in
the city on February 2,2 but his
misguided actions two days later
have brought a two-month prison
term.
The jail term was imposed on
Nathan John de Seymour at a
sitting of the Christchurch District Court inside the Christchurch Men’s Prison today.
De Seymour has been in
custody since his arrest on
February 24 so he will be released
immediately.
He had previous burglary
convictions, but he pleaded guilty
yesterday when police dropped
their
burglary
allegations
and replaced them with charges
of being unlawfully in a building.
A 19-year-old Christchurch man
who allegedly claimed to have lost
his job and needed money after
the February 22 earthquake was
yesterday arrested on charges of
obtaining by deception.
He allegedly claimed the lossof-income benefit available to
people affected by the quake.
Police located the man at his
workplace yesterday after inquiries established he was still
receiving his normal wage.
‘‘I suspect this will be just the
tip of the iceberg . . . people need
to be warned that if they try to
double-dip they will be charged,’’
Detective
Sergeant
Ross
Tarawhiti said.
The man will reappear in the
Christchurch District Court on
June 1.
Moving on: Nick Walls’ positive attitude helped him make a good recovery after being
crushed in the Pyne Gould building, says charge nurse manager Karen Wilson.
PGC victim walks
out of hospital
A man who had part of his buttocks
amputated after being trapped for 10
hours in an earthquake-hit building
walked out of Christchurch Hospital
this week.
Nick Walls, a senior accountant
with Leech & Partners, suffered
crush syndrome after he was pinned
by debris and had to wait for rescue
with several trapped colleagues
when the Pyne Gould Corporation
building in Cambridge Tce collapsed
at 12.51pm on February 22.
‘‘I dived under the desk while I
was still on the phone and
everything just started tumbling.
Then it just went black and silent for
the next 10 hours pretty much,’’ he
told The Press in an earlier
interview.
Walls, 30, was freed from the
rubble about 11pm and had surgery
to amputate muscles and tissue
around his buttocks.
He spent five weeks recovering in
Christchurch Hospital’s orthopaedic
ward, but attended the wedding of
friends Hayden and Nicola Garbutt
in Halswell on March 18.
Walls said he could not fault the
care he received in hospital, but had
been eager to get home.
‘
There have been so
many people affected
by what has happened,
and much worse than
us. We are so lucky to
have Nick with us.
Jenny Walls
Injured man’s mother
‘‘They’re just an amazing bunch
of dedicated doctors and nurses, as
well as everyone else who works [at
Christchurch Hospital] who has
been involved in my care,’’ he said.
‘‘Without them, I wouldn’t be
walking out today [Thursday].’’
Walls’ mother, Jenny, said it had
been an extremely hard time for the
family, but they were the lucky ones.
‘‘There have been so many people
affected by what has happened, and
much worse than us. We are so lucky
to have Nick with us,’’ she said.
Ward charge nurse manager
Karen Wilson said Walls had made a
great recovery because of his
positive attitude, determination to
walk and support from family,
friends and hospital staff.
LOT0825CP
Nicole Mathewson
He also admitted charges of
falsely representing himself to be
an Earthquake Commission official.
Defence counsel Philip Allan
said: ‘‘The police now accept that
he had wanted to help, but he
went entirely the wrong way
about it, and that’s why he faces
these four charges.’’
Police prosecutor Anselm Williams said de Seymour went to
two properties in Eastern Terrace, Beckenham, at 3.50pm on
February 24.
De Seymour introduced himself as an EQC inspection team
member and went through every
room of one house making his
‘‘inspection’’.
De Seymour made no notes or
recommendations and the house-
holder then called the authorities and spoke to the person
the ‘‘inspector’’ had claimed to
be.
The householder then followed
de Seymour to another address
where he looked at damage to
brickwork and said he would
have to issue a red sticker if the
wall inside had pulled away from
the floor.
De Seymour left the property
when that householder also made
a phone call.
He told the police he gave false
information about his identity
because he thought that otherwise
people would not take his safety
advice seriously.
Allan said de Seymour had
been assisting unofficially as a
volunteer with rescue efforts on
the day of the quake, and had
been pulling people out of
buildings.
He said he had photographs of
the rescue efforts on his
cellphone.
He had asked one householder
about a laptop computer so that
he could use it to show him the
photographs.
Judge Gary MacAskill jailed
him for two months.
‘‘Police accept that you were
acting in a misguided fashion, and
that you had been involved in
assisting in the aftermath of the
February 22 earthquake in an
unofficial capacity,’’ the judge
said.
‘‘ However, on February 24 you
were
acting
entirely
NZPA
inappropriately.’’