Tony Veitch

[sparrow]

We don't seem to have a thread about this and thought we should. Here's an article on the matter:

TV star's secret assault payout
By BERNADETTE COURTNEY - The Dominion Post | Monday, 07 July 2008
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ASSAULTED: Kristin Dunne-Powell.
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Broadcaster Tony Veitch will continue his on-air role at Radio Sport despite revelations that he assaulted his former partner and agreed to pay $100,000 for her to keep quiet.
Business executive Kristin Dunne-Powell was treated in hospital for serious injuries suffered in the attack. She spent months away from her job as general manager of marketing at Vodafone, had a breakdown and later was forced to quit work.
But at the end of last year, as Veitch, 34, planned his February wedding to tycoon's daughter Zoe Halford, he and his lawyers brokered an agreement with Ms Dunne-Powell which guaranteed her silence over the incident.
She had not filed a complaint with police over the 2006 incident.
Last night the TVNZ star, who besides his One News role also presents the Game of Two Halves quiz and Radio Sport's breakfast show, refused to comment.
Veitch, who resumed his radio role this morning after a two-week holiday, said: "I've got nothing to say."
NewstalkZB controls Radio Sport and manager Bill Francis said today Veitch had spoken to a lawyer.
"The only thing I would say at this stage is that Tony has taken legal advice and we as an employer don't comment on personal matters affecting our staff.
"That is all I am prepared to say."
When asked if Veitch would carry on with his Radio Sport job, Mr Francis replied: "Absolutely. Nothing has changed."
A TVNZ spokeswoman said Veitch was seeking legal advice and the state broadcaster would not comment on the personal lives of staff.
Ms Dunne-Powell, 33, who married business consultant Morgan Powell last year and is now chief operating officer of broadband firm Woosh, could not be reached for comment last night.
Rumours of the incident, which happened after the couple ended their four-year relationship, have circulated for more than a year.
"Kristin had been living at Tony's house in St Heliers in 2005 but she had moved out when this happened," a source, who asked not to be named, revealed.
"It was really very nasty indeed. Kristin was in a wheelchair for some time but they agreed to stick to a story that she had fallen on the stairs. I'm still not sure why Kristin did that, but obviously Tony was worried it could finish his career, and he loves his job.
"They both moved on with their lives but the repercussions went on and on. There have been rumours, but they've been able to keep a lid on it. Then the lawyers got involved, there were negotiations and Tony made an offer. He just wanted it to go away - forever."
Within a few weeks of signing the agreement, Veitch married Miss Halford at her father Paul's lakeside home in Arrowtown and set off for a lavish honeymoon in Thailand.
Last year he and his wife moved to a $1.8 million villa on the exclusive northern slopes of Auckland's Herne Bay.
Veitch, director of a property investment company and a television company named after himself, is still listed as the co-owner of the ultra-modern St Heliers townhouse where the incident happened.
At the start of last week the house was still advertised for rent on the Trade Me website at $1800 a week. It is understood to have been empty and for sale for some time, despite being featured last year in a spread in a newspaper's property supplement.
Veitch is the son of veteran television producer Graham Veitch and his former wife, Sue, who divorced when he was still at primary school. The split resulted in his childhood being divided between Australia, where his mother lives, and New Zealand.
He once got married on a whim to a girl he met on a holiday bus tour in America. The quickie marriage, in the Elvis Presley chapel in Las Vegas, was swiftly dissolved.
Veitch began his TVNZ career in 1998 as a reporter on Holmes. Known for his motormouth style, the broadcaster is no stranger to controversy having been ordered to make an on-air apology for racist remarks and being taken off air after appearing in a harness racing advertisement, deemed inappropriate for a sports reporter.
TVNZ tightened up its rules on staff working outside of the public broadcaster, believing they could potentially compromise its editorial integrity.
- with NZPA

For mine, I think the guy should go and I don't ever want to see him on TV again. He broke this woman's back in four places, she was confined to a wheelchair and had a breakdown. This is serious and not some "lash out" incident that he would like to make it. Appalling.

[bottlecar]

Part of me thinks that that you can rehabilitate, can seek redemption, and carry on with your life without discrimination because of past acts. His future employment is under a cloud because of his high profile, if it was someone else they would not be subjected to this trial by media and the public .... BUT .... if he wasn't who he is he would likely be in prison. He committed a crime and from a legal point of view got away with it.

[maire]

I have avoided the mulitude of threads in TM on this subject
and didn't even know what he'd done .. I rarely listen or watch
the news .. and this is why, too much violence and hate
Now I've read the article above, I am disgusted at the whole
incident and him .. what a violent little creep.
Another "small man" syndrome situation perhaps.
Weird how some small men have to prove themselves by being loud, obnoxious and violent.

I agree with that prison comment Bottlecar, it is sickening how
many celebs in NZ have been able to avoid prison sentences,
whilst others get locked up for similiar crimes.

[Lux]

I haven't followed the story either, but just on a side note, what about those sports celebs dealing drugs...TV broadcasting are still funding their shows? I can't stand that Mark Ellis or his side kick and I think its a bloody insult that we are still subjected to their ugly stupid mugs on TV.

Maybe not as serious as assault but what does all this teach our youth? That its glamorous to be drugsters and engage in domestic violence as long as you're a celebrity and not a member of the mongrel mob? Ugh....

[kokonutwoman]

Agree with all previous post.
Domestic violence is a biggy and not likely to go away anything time soon. This case has actually put DV in true prospective for the general public it effects all areas of the economic and ethnic sphere.
Jail time might be a good thing

[bottlecar]

This case has actually put DV in true prospective for the general public it effects all areas of the economic and ethnic sphere

Very true Koko and if it changes a few misconceptions that DV is limited to Jack the Muss types that's a bonus in something I found sad and shocking.

[scarpetta]

with you all the way on this one sparrow

[nzsally]

Jul 11, 2008 9:32:45 GMT 12 Lux said:

I haven't followed the story either, but just on a side note, what about those sports celebs dealing drugs...TV broadcasting are still funding their shows? I can't stand that Mark Ellis or his side kick and I think its a bloody insult that we are still subjected to their ugly stupid mugs on TV.

Maybe not as serious as assault but what does all this teach our youth? That its glamorous to be drugsters and engage in domestic violence as long as you're a celebrity and not a member of the mongrel mob? Ugh....

couldn't agree more
I'd disagree with the sports celeb label in Veitch's case, why is heconsidered that, when he was doing a job& being exceptionally wel paid
why do a lot of New Zealanders edify anyone on TV
There are some conspiracy theories out there & there could be more revealed but in the mean time if there's a case to answer, he should answer it. DV is a no no, doesn't matter who you are.

[sparrow]

Why do people edify sports celebs/journos in NZ? I think it is because we really lack true celebrities and these people have mainly been elevated by their own peers (i.e other journos). I'm about as interested in Paul Holmes etc's personal lives as I am in a bowl full of jellied eels. Both have a mildly disturbing sort of interest that is mixed with deep revulsion! Lol.

For mine, I'd like Veitch to crawl away under a rock and never be seen again. He is a horrible, revolting little man who was a pretty nondescript type - until it was revealed that perpetrators of domestic violence pollute all sectors of our society. Considering NZ spends a lot of money on trying to curb domestic violence and the Police say 35% of their resources are spent attending DV incidents (and DV is under reported by approx. 42%) Veitch needs to just go away, and be removed from public view.

[nzsally]

We can & do edify true celebs, Sir Ed, Dame Kiri & Dame Malvina, etc
I'd like Fred Hollows to be right up there to but for some reason he went under the radar

I agree, the media do elevate some to celeb status & lots buy into it

Veitch needs to face up to what he's done, not to be judged by his peers but in a court of law.

[sparrow]

I don't know if people like Sir Ed or Fred Hollows are "true celebs", but heroes for their deeds. Dame Kiri and Dame Malvina are famous, but in an area that is not usually associated with tabloid type publicity. If I could I'd add people like Axford and McDiarmad to hero status, but they too have gone under the radar, and are (or in McDiarmad's case, were) more famous overseas than in their own country. I'd also put Nancy Wake on the list as well and a myriad of others, but our tabloids tend to focus on media personalities (like Veitch), models and All Blacks.

Veitch does need to face up to what he's done in a Court of Law for his actions and also in a wider sense to dispel the illusion that the wealthy can escape justice.

[nzsally]

let's not split hairs, a celebrity is a famous person & when I said true celeb I was meaning someone known & respected for their achievements, call them what you will, we are on the same page I think.
I agree about dispelling the illusion that the wealthy can escape justice, but it has appeared to have happened at times.
I recall a case of an Asian student that escaped incarceration because his parents coughed up money.

[sparrow]

I think the distinction between celebrity and heroes is an important one. Otherwise people like Nicky Watson and Paul Holmes are put into the same category as Sir Ed, Fred Hollows et al, but to me there is a world of difference. Technically they're all famous, but the reasons why are fundamental distinctions which is the reason why I would tell my children to admire Sir Ed, Fred Hollows et al for their achievements.

I remember that case about the Asian student, but I don't think he escaped incarceration because of the money. He and his parents did offer to pay the parents of the child he'd killed money, but they refused to take it. For whatever reason (probably because we do not have a category in our justice system for vehicular manslaughter) people seem to be loathe to jail people for causing death while driving.

The difference between the Asian student and Tony Veitch is Tony Veitch paid out money in the hope of avoiding the Courts. The Asian student was prosecuted by the Courts. I guess smashing into a car at a Petrol Station and killing a child is rather public. Domestic Violence is something that, by its nature, is largely unseen and goes under the radar.

[falcon]

Veitch flatmate says there's more to story
by Donna Chisholm - Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 10 August 2008
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A FORMER flatmate and close female friend of broadcaster Tony Veitch has spoken out about the behaviour of the partner he is accused of attacking, claiming she would come to their home and demand to see him at 2 or 3am and that she complained of back pain before the alleged assault.
Veitch is alleged to have kicked Kristin Dunne-Powell so hard that he broke her back. He resigned from both Television New Zealand and The Radio Network after publicly admitting "lashing out" at her and that there had been a "terrible incident" which he regretted. He has not commented on other aspects of the assault, although claims have been traded by parties aligned to each.
Veitch's former flatmate, who declined to be named, said she lived with the broadcaster and another man for a year in Kohimarama, one of Auckland's eastern bays, in 2002, near the start of Veitch's relationship with Dunne-Powell.
She said that on several occasions that year, when the couple had temporarily broken up, Dunne-Powell turned up unannounced at their Comins Cres home in the early hours and banged on the door calling "Tony, Tony".
The woman said "Tony would let her in and say, `Kristin honey, what are you doing here?' Then she would leave and come back and bang on the door again. He was trying to do the diplomatic thing and say, `you're upset, you need to go home'.
"I just thought everyone has issues. But the relationship was fine, they were cool."
The woman said she had heard Dunne-Powell complain of pain in her back during this time four years before the alleged assault in January 2006.
"What I want to say," she told the Sunday Star-Times yesterday, "is enough is enough. I believe Tony was a victim of her behaviour.
"He is a really nice guy he is the person that everyone thought he was before this came out."
She said she had not asked him what he had done to Dunne-Powell but "I never saw him be aggressive towards her. He is not a violent person."
A former friend of Dunne-Powell's also spoke to the Star-Times yesterday to refute reports that the former Vodafone executive had been forced to quit her job because of the assault. She said Dunne-Powell told her that her position had been made redundant and that she had been offered another general manager role, but she was going to take the payout and take time out to plan for her wedding.
The friend, who also declined to be named, said she had gone to visit Dunne-Powell only a few days after the incident, which Dunne-Powell attributed to falling down stairs. "She was walking cautiously, but she was not in a wheelchair."
She had seen Dunne-Powell and Veitch together and "I observed a couple in love. They would go to clubs and bars; they were a normal couple."
She felt Dunne-Powell should not have accepted a payout and then laid an assault complaint with police.
Police have been investigating the complaint for six weeks but have made no decision about whether to charge Veitch. Veitch has retained prominent Auckland QC Stuart Grieve.

[Misstique]

Has this fella just killed himself?

Or did he just try to do so?

Just heard a rumour this morning ......

Gee kinda feel sorry for the dude now or at least feel for his wife!

[Misstique]

OKAY yep found it!


www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4684238a11.html


Former broadcaster Tony Veitch was last night recovering after being airlifted to hospital following a suicide bid.

Sunday News can exclusively reveal the ex-TV and radio star was rushed by helicopter from a remote Northland farm to Auckland Hospital on Friday afternoon after he tried to gas himself in a car.

Several police officers attended the emergency scene at Cames Rd, Mangawhai, at around 4pm.

Sources close to Veitch said two hours earlier his wife Zoe Halford received a telephone call from him saying he planned to leave Auckland and take his life.

"He had had enough ... that was his message to her," one well-placed source said.

An ambulance service spokesman confirmed police advised them a helicopter was on the scene at 4.12pm, and was flying a victim to Auckland Hospital's emergency department. The person had tried to gas themself in a motor vehicle.

An ambulance crew was sent from nearby Bream Bay but was apparently called off before reaching the area. There was no record of the ambulance service sending a helicopter, so it was presumed to be a police chopper.

A police source yesterday confirmed Veitch, 34, was located through a GPS search on his cellphone, and that officers "got there just in time".

A local farmer told Sunday News he was moving cattle when he noticed a group of officers in a bush area at the end of his street.

"I was just going about my business, then I saw all the commotion and thought, `Hello, something is going on here'," David Blundell told Sunday News.

"The guy they were dealing with ... had dark hair and looked very skinny.

"He looked very distressed. This man did not look very good at all. I thought they had caught someone who had been growing some wacky backy.

"They spent about an hour with him then they put him in the helicopter and flew off.

"The black car next to him was taken away and the officers were wrapping something in plastic which they also took."

Shown a photograph of Veitch by a Sunday News photographer, Blundell confirmed him as the man put into the helicopter.

Veitch's father, Graham Veitch, was yesterday holidaying in Vanuatu. He declined to comment other than to say he was returning to New Zealand later this week.

But a source close to Veitch last night told Sunday News of the anger felt by the former broadcaster's family.

"There is a lot of frustration ... that's an understatement," the source said.

"I hope ... the people who have put Tony in this position are happy."

Sources close to the former TVNZ and Radio Sport host said he had been under intense pressure since being arrested a fortnight ago and charged with seven violence offences against his former partner Kristin Dunne-Powell charges he said he would vigorously defend.

After the allegations he had assaulted Dunne-Powell first emerged in July, Veitch told a tabloid newspaper he could not see "any light at the end of a very dark tunnel".

"If I could escape this world at the moment I would. Trust me, I would," Veitch said.

"It has been an hour-by-hour survival proposition ... I'm struggling ... it's the darkest period I think I've ever had."

The following month Halford, 27 who Veitch proposed to while on holiday in the Australian beachside resort of Byron Bay last year said in a newspaper interview her husband had lost weight, had not been sleeping and his hair was falling out.

But Halford added Veitch was determined to get through the stresses.

"The one thing that has been good out of all this is that Tony and I have never been stronger.

"We are so strong and even more in love. I just need to remind him sometimes that he is a good person.

[herodotus]

cry for help it seems...he needs somone to tell him about himself. otherwise he is in the OJ situation where all his yesmen told him he was perfect when nobody is perfect.