Post by Roderick on Sept 7, 2008 9:34:15 GMT 12
Veitch in suicide bid
A phone call then drama in the bush
JONATHAN MARSHALL, LEE UMBERS and JOHN MATHESON - Sunday News | Sunday, 07 September 2008
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."
PATH TO DESPAIR
SEPTEMBER 5: Tony Veitch is airlifted to hospital after attempting suicide.
AUGUST 18: Veitch is arrested and charged with six counts of assault and one of injuring with reckless disregard. He appears in the Auckland District Court and is remanded on bail until September 29.
AUGUST 15: Police officers search Veitch's home in the Auckland suburb of Herne Bay.
JULY 17: Kristin Dunne-Powell makes a formal complaint to police. Veitch announces his resignation from TVNZ and Radio Sport.
JULY 10: Police announce an investigation into the alleged assault.
JULY 9: Veitch makes a statement, admitting he lashed out at Dunne-Powell shortly after the pair split in 2006 and that he had "no excuses" for his actions.
JULY 8: Veitch stands down from his Radio Sport breakfast show and from presenting the sports for One News.
JULY 7: The Dominion Post reveals Veitch allegedly assaulted his former partner Dunne-Powell in 2006, breaking her back in four places and later paying $150,000 for her silence.
A phone call then drama in the bush
JONATHAN MARSHALL, LEE UMBERS and JOHN MATHESON - Sunday News | Sunday, 07 September 2008
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."
PATH TO DESPAIR
SEPTEMBER 5: Tony Veitch is airlifted to hospital after attempting suicide.
AUGUST 18: Veitch is arrested and charged with six counts of assault and one of injuring with reckless disregard. He appears in the Auckland District Court and is remanded on bail until September 29.
AUGUST 15: Police officers search Veitch's home in the Auckland suburb of Herne Bay.
JULY 17: Kristin Dunne-Powell makes a formal complaint to police. Veitch announces his resignation from TVNZ and Radio Sport.
JULY 10: Police announce an investigation into the alleged assault.
JULY 9: Veitch makes a statement, admitting he lashed out at Dunne-Powell shortly after the pair split in 2006 and that he had "no excuses" for his actions.
JULY 8: Veitch stands down from his Radio Sport breakfast show and from presenting the sports for One News.
JULY 7: The Dominion Post reveals Veitch allegedly assaulted his former partner Dunne-Powell in 2006, breaking her back in four places and later paying $150,000 for her silence.
