Clare White, the mother of 17-year-old schoolboy Josh Martin who was killed following a collision near his school in October,  was so distraught following his death she considered ending her own life.

Mrs White (O’Hanlon) asked in an emotional victim impact statement this afternoon in the Manukau District Court how she could ever expect to explain the extent to which the death of Josh had impacted her life.

“I was struck with an intense sense of pain the day I found out Joshua had died…that pain continues to live in me daily,” she told the court while fighting back sobs.

Mrs White and a large family contingent were in court for the sentencing of local man Josef Kadlcik, 46. He was charged following the collision that killed Josh.

Joshua, also known as Josh O’Hanlon, died less than 300m from the school when Kadlcik’s SUV collided with his motorbike on October 15 last year near McDonalds on Pakuranga Road at around 12.50pm.

The Year 13 student was heading to KFC nearby to collect his pay cheque when the accident occurred.

Kadlcik was sentenced by Judge Jane Lovell-Smith to 200 hours of community work, disqualified from driving for 15 months and ordered to make reparations of a little over $24,000.

Kadlcik  pleaded guilty last month to careless driving causing death.

“What an amazing young man that lost his entire life on the day of 15 October 2015,” Mrs White said in her victim impact statement today.

“The accident where another road user thought he could pass across the road… unfortunately that impatience has brought me to the brink of suicide on more than one occasion.”

Josh, she said through tears, had just achieved his Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award, his advanced scuba diver certificate, represented his school at the Stage Challenge as Romeo in the play Romeo and Juliet. Her son had also starred in a film in the leading male role and was recognised as best actor.

“Josh represented the school playing the tuba in the school concert band and was also awarded a certificate for his work as a peer support person and he was house leader for Kauri House and was awarded for his leadership skills,” she said.

“Just before Josh died he was awarded a scholarship for Massey University but sadly Joshua will not be able to fulfil that dream.

“My life changed in an instant from happiness to anguish and it is going to take years to overcome that anguish and sincere pain that has engulfed my life. I have suffered multiple nights without sleep and I often wake up in the night and find myself crying.”

Mrs White and husband Darren had with them in court a framed photo of a smartly-turned out Josh in a white shirt with black tie and big smile. They also brought with them a glass orb which contained some of his ashes.

Every time I see a student, see a motorbike, see a family, have a birthday, have Christmas, it reminds me of what I have lost and will never have again,” Mrs White told the court.

“Unfortunately, Josh has had his future life stolen from him and from me and my family forever. There is no excuse for failing to give way but then there is no punishment that would do any good.

“Now I have seen Mr Kadlcik’s brokenness…nothing will bring our Joshua back.”

Meanwhile Kadlcik, who stood with his head bowed during the reading of the victim impact statement, looked up at Mrs White when she proffered an unscripted addendum. “I just wanted to say I forgive you…I feel your pain.”

Her brother Keith O’Hanlon, fighting back tears, added: “Josh would hold no animosity towards Josef. He would forgive him.”

Judge Lovell-Smith accepted submissions from both the police prosecution and Kadlcik’s counsel that the defendant took responsibility for Josh’s death and was profoundly affected as a consequence of the accident. “He’s absolutely devastated that his actions resulted in the death of this young man,” his counsel said.

“His remorse is extreme…words cannot express his grief.”

Kadlcik, a man the judge said was of impeccable character and a devoted father and family man, had stopped at the lights and turned around in front of Josh at low speed, the court heard.

“I accept your remorse is genuine and I accept that you have been broken by the events of that day,” Judge Lovell-Smith said.

By: Nicholas Krause

The Armed Offenders Squad was dispatched to Golflands today after a threat was made on Facebook, police have confirmed.

“This morning police visited an address in response to a threat made via social media.,” a police spokesman told the Times.

“They have since found the threat to be a hoax.”

Posts on a local social media site speculated that there had been deaths. This is incorrect, police confirmed.

Pakuranga College has denounced a media report this week claiming young gang members waited outside the school with weapons, seeking to attack a student.

That erroneous news story – published in the NZ Herald – was wrong, the school claims. That paper’s story follows revelations in the Times last week that a group of drunk teens calling themselves the Green Gang intimidated a Northpark family, turning up at their home wearing bandanas demanding to see their teenage son.

This week the Times reported that a social media site post claimed: “So have just heard there’s been another incident at Pakuranga College involving the green gang. A bunch of girls in the “gang” waited outside the college with wrenches up their sleeves in an attempt to attack a young girl. Luckily other students got to the girl and got her to the office before the gang got her.”

The Times reported that it was likely to be untrue however the Herald suggested otherwise.

The college has subsequently issued a statement countering the Herald’s story.

The full unedited statement reads: “It has been reported in the NZ Herald in an article titled, ‘Green Gang’ threatening students,’  ‘that most recently, a small group of  youths waited with wrenches hidden up their sleeves for a Pakuranga College student to leave school. However, the girl was intercepted by another student and taken to school officials, who notified the Community Constable.’

“This is not accurate, as we have undertaken enquiries and no school official was approached as stated in this extract. We have no record of any such incident involving Pakuranga College students.

“The article goes on to make reference to the activities of teenagers in the community calling themselves the ‘Green Gang’ and reference was made to our board chair person’s comments, who referred to multiple incidents involving the ‘Green Gang this year, which have been referred to the Police’.

“We also wish to correct this statement, as the board chair, Trevor Middleton, was referring to instances in the community.

“Pakuranga College is aware that there have been a number of incidents within the community involving a group of teenagers and we have met with Police to discuss the activities of this group and to better understand what if any risk they pose to students at our school. We have been advised that they are a relatively small group of individuals within the community.

We take the safety of our students extremely seriously and pride ourselves on providing a safe environment. We would encourage any parent whose child is the subject of intimidation from others within the community, to report to us and the Police.”

• Want to comment? Email editor@times.co.nz or post on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/TimesOnlineNZ/ 

How does a young, local artist get commissioned to do a series of artworks for the 50th

anniversary of the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA), that too sitting at his home studio in Eastern Beach?

For Jeremy Kyle, the 23-year-old commercial artist and graphic designer, it began with saying yes to opportunities.

Working on global campaigns with powerhouse brands like Under Armour, Dior, 2pac Brand and Chicago Bulls, the graphic designer with a following of  45,000 on Facebook, Instagram and Behance  says it all happened by chance.

“I was at a church meeting where we were told they needed a place to put up some people,” he says.

“When I offered him a place to crash, I had no idea that Emaneul Hay was a band member of the Esther Melody Band group.”

Seeing Jemery’s work of watercolour with splatters and intricate line work that denotes controlled chaos, Emanuel asked if  he could design a feature album for the band.

Saying yes, opened doors.

Now Weta tweets his work, people get his illustrations tattoeed and he is being commissioned by big players in the America to work on global campaigns.

“To celebrate their 50th season, the Chicago Bulls have asked me to create a campaign for them, articulating their five most iconic moments / players in a series of  historic artworks,” he says excitedly.

“They were all originally created using water colours and ink mixed media. Each artwork took me around 35 hours of work each,” says the young artist, a successful brand in himself.

Another series that has gone viral is the illustration of Tupac Amaru Shakur, also known as 2Pac and Makaveli. The American rapper sold over 75 million records worldwide.

The design that was created in collaboration with West Coast Activewear has the rapper angrily spitting at the camera as he heads out of court– an intuitive-emotive piece that hinges between semi realism and abstract .

“They approached me saying they wanted a powerful, iconic illustration that would be used on t-shirts and other merchandise,” he says.

“The design illustrates not only his music but also the attitude of the hip hop artist.”

The first edition illustration now hangs at the Shakur studio.

Under Armour, American sports clothing and accessories company is another brand that approached him to tell their story in 20-25 artworks.

“They wanted me to communicate  where they started and where they are now, competing with Nike.”

When Jeremy is not working on commercial projects, he is busy with  Kiwiana art, painting native birds in lucid water colours that appeals to the New Zealanders as well as the tourism market.

Most of all, he enjoys his new passion of speaking to students at design schools in New Zealand and Australia. “I love empowering people on how they can use the power of the internet to be their own boss and yet get international acclaim,” he enthuses.

A man has been charged in relation to the death of Josh Martin, the Year 13 Pakuranga College student killed on his motorbike in a crash last year.

Police have confirmed a 45-year-old man has been charged with careless driving causing death relating to the crash near the school on October 15.

Josh, who also used the surname O’Hanlon, was just two months shy of his 18th birthday when he died.

The Times reported on October 16 that the crash was between an SUV and Josh’s motorcycle on Pakuranga Road opposite the netball courts in Lloyd Elsmore Park and almost directly in front of the McDonald’s car park entrance. The occupants of the SUV were uninjured.

Photos and tributes portrayed a talented, go-getting youth who loved sports, the sea and the outdoors, had a sense of humour and was well-respected by his peers.

Josh, 17, was a Bucklands Beach Sea Scouts member and cub leader as well as a founding member and captain of the Tamaki Lightning American Football Club.

He played the tuba in the Pakuranga Concert Band, members of which were present at his funeral service to perform Amazing Grace.

The service was led by Josh’s scout leader Keith Nisbet who aimed to capture some of the “diversity” of Josh’s multi-faceted life.

“Josh grabbed hold of life for what it was worth and he would want us to do the same,” Mr Nisbet said.

Pakuranga College principal Michael Williams said at the time: “Mistakes happen. One of the dangers is that people look for someone to blame and blame doesn’t help.

“There are so many different versions of the eye-witness accounts. It could be fate, an accident.

“What we need to do is acknowledge it and ensure it doesn’t happen again. There is no point in second-guessing the tragic circumstances which causes a lot of angst. Let the authorities do their job.”

Meanwhile the accused is scheduled to appear in the Manukau District Court on May 12.

Howick Primary School is the latest to be targeted in a series of bomb threats that has been happening throughout the country.

Police were called to the school in Willoughby Ave at about 12.30pm today after it received a call similar to those made around the country yesterday including Dunedin, Wellington and Napier.

Principal Leyette Callister said she could not reveal much apart from police responded quickly and everything was back to normal at the school.

“No children were in danger at any point,” she said.

Inspector Jared Pirrett of Counties Manukau East Police said the threat was defused and “everyone was safe and sound”.

“The school did well and went through the normal exercise plan. Police responded as normal practice and cleared the school ground and followed normal procedures around this sort of threat.”

Mr Pirrett said while local police attended the scene, police around the country also received a handful of similar calls.

“We’re conducting an investigation to find out who’s responsible for causing stress to teachers, parents and children.”

Glendowie School in Auckland, Kerikeri High School and Kaitaia Intermediate School in Northland reportedly received threats also.

A police statement said the calls were of an automated nature and that initial enquiries indicated that they originated overseas, even though they may display a New Zealand number.

Similar incidents have occurred overseas in the United States and more recently, Australia.

So far, no actual threat to any school has been established.

However, until any actual threat can be ruled out, police are taking the calls seriously and assessing the appropriate response at each school.

A MAN who lived in the historic Guy Homestead in Ti Rakau Drive for the first five years of his life was visibly overcome as he took in progress on the ambitious renovation project of his old home.

“It gets you inside after all these years,” Graham Guy said.

“I congratulate you all for what you have done to make it what it is – thank you.”

Mr Guy was a special guest at a function last Friday, hosted on the homestead site by its new owners JP Singh and his business partner Kuljet Singh.

The event was organised to acknowledge the people who had contributed to the project and to share the restoration journey which has reached its halfway point.

Mr Guy lived in the homestead from 1923-1928 after his father bought half of the original farm originally purchased by his grandfather in 1899.

He still lives on a section of his dad’s half which was sold for development, including Huntington Park, in 1994.

Last January, JP Singh and Kuljet Singh paid close to the $3.5 million asking price for the burnt-out homestead.

They launched a plan to return it to its heritage roots and turn the property into a childcare centre, including two new barn-like structures currently under construction.

It’s hoped that by next January the patter of little feet will once again echo around the homestead, which is being converted to accommodate 20 children under the age of two.

Apart from a sleeping room which will be closed off by a door, the rest of the house is open plan, featuring wall openings rather than doors so the children have flowing access to the facilities.

The balance of 100 older children will share the new structures that are designed to retain the homestead’s rural past and will encompass tactile activities, such as growing organic veggies.

Architect Matthew Davy says so far the project has been a “textbook” operation.

“It’s nice to put the doubts to rest and show that it can be done.

“With the right attitude anything is possible. JP is the visionary while we are the tools.”

As much of the original Guy Homestead structure as possible has been saved.

French doors, some of the veranda posts and about 70 per cent of the original rough sawn timber weatherboards, which have been stripped and repainted, have been retained.

Where retaining is not possible, replicas have been custom-made.

The two brick chimneys were painstakingly manually removed, bricks polished and waxed and returned to the original chimney shape on the roof.

Architraves, cornices and skirtings are being restored to the original style.

Corrugated iron with a deeper trough typical of old villas was specially ordered for the scallop-shape veranda.

Scalloped rafters were recreated and waves of scallops, running under the roof and wall join, add a feature unique to villas of the time.

Some of the charred and smoke-damaged internal timber has been retained.

“We are keeping as much of the original fabric of the house as we can, even if some of it won’t be seen,” Mr Davy says.

Reflecting on progress so far, JP Singh says: “We always expect challenges on these developments, but everyone has been open-minded and taken advice.”

One of the scarier moments, he says, was watching the homestead poised on the back of a truck being shifted eight metres to the north-west.

“The house had been burned and was not that strong, so it was braced.

“But it was a windy day. Yes, it was scary.

“But the most challenging moment was after the demolition work [the rear lean-two was beyond repair] was done and we asked, ‘where do we start to put it together?’”

JP Singh’s wife Normita believes the homestead has come a long way from its original state, reflecting prolonged neglect and lack of interest in it.

“Rest assured the legacy will endure for many more generations,” she says.

Her message is shared by Rukshana Kapadia and Riaz and Narisa Daud of the Piccolo Park Family Learning Centre, who are looking forward to opening the childcare centre early next year.

“It will be so nice to have the little ones here,” Ms Kapadia says.