R v McLachlan: The corrupt dog ranger

Auckland Council Animal Management Officer Merushe Arts.

According to Warkworth Police, there was no information exchanged between the Police and Auckland Council regarding my case. Such evidence was required under criminal disclosure laws. This evidence, however, demonstrates that someone was lying.

Here is the transcript of a segment from my trial, where barrister Tudor Clee cross-examined the complainant, Lorraine Martin:

Let's deal with the claim that the council didn't know where Lorraine Martin lived.

Here is a post from Lorraine Martin's neighbours, the Clines. On the first day of the first Covid lockdown, the Clines woke to find Lorraine Martin doing this:

Lorraine kept doing it. Here is a post from 17 February 2023:

Of the 41 comments on this post, of particular note were these:

So, the council visited the Clines twice based on complaints from Lorraine Martin and then the council created a note to ignore Lorraine Martin's complaints. In other words, the council knew who Lorraine Martin was.

Anything else?

Within a month of Lorraine Martin moving to Snells Beach, she lodged a submission to the council saying this:

What else did the submission say?

OK, that might explain why Lorraine Martin fed seagulls close to where the Clines' two Border Collies were enclosed. Anything else?

So, Lorraine Martin held this position within a month of moving to Snells Beach, yet wasn't aware of the rules at the northern end of the beach.

This doesn't explain why the council visited Lorraine Martin on the night following Lorraine Martin attacking me. The incident involving Lorraine Martin and I occurred on 18 September 2021. On 1 October 2021, I filmed Auckland Council Animal Management Officer Merushe Arts. This happened:

Merushe Arts was sharing all this information, not knowing that she was being filmed by the person she was talking about.

Lorraine Martin said that a female animal management officer made an unsolicited visit to her home on 18 September 2021. Who contacted the council? What information was exchanged?

There is a lot to unwrap here. For a start, Lorraine Martin was led to believe that if a dog was caught off leash three times that something serious would happen. For a person who thought that dogs should be destroyed, did she think that she would catch me a third time?

Three strikes

On 9 September 2021, I photographed June Turner and another vigilantes following me as I walked my dog. Shortly after, someone unleashed my dog from a fence and I received a fine in the mail, which was waived by council senior management.

On 18 September 2021, I took photos of Lorraine Martin after I caught her unleashing my dog from the same fence. She attacked me, broke my nose, and fled the scene. Lorraine Martin, who is the mother of a cop, rang 111 from the home phone of the co-ordinator of volunteers at the Snells Beach police station, Diane Taylor. I was charged with assault and robbery. Two and a half years later, I was acquitted.

On 1 October 2021, my lawyer asked me to take scene photos. While my dog was tied to the fence, there were at least nine vigilantes following me, including June Turner and Lois McPherson. One vigilante approached my dog while it was tied to the fence and aborted their attempt to unleash my dog when they saw me with my camera.

That's three attempts by vigilantes.

The cover up

There were no records of Merushe Art's visit to Lorraine Martin. I asked for them. Under the Privacy Act, I also asked the council to explain the meeting. I got this response;

  "To sign a statement"?

On a Saturday evening, someone had the direct phone number of Merushe Arts. Furthermore, someone contacted Arts and provided enough information for her to visit Lorraine Martin to sign a statement. Why is Auckland Council going to so many lengths to obstruct the release of this information?

Official information released by the council said that Merushe Arts' first visit to Snells Beach ever was on 21 September 2021 - three days later - where she would conduct three patrols in two days focusing on off leash areas where I regularly walked. Why did the council lie about the 18 September 2021 visit?

Obviously, someone briefed Merushe Arts about what Lorraine Martin was up to but the council won't divulge who tipped them off. Gee, who had a direct line to the dog rangers?

This is just one example of the many Auckland Council Animal Management Team's lies in my book Unleashed: Sex, rackets & vigilantes in New Zealand's most corrupted community.

Related material

Here is the full uncut video. Everything Merushe Arts says in this video is debunked in Unleashed.