Former Alliance candidate spared custody despite decade of harassment

Former Alliance Party candidate Mary Jelena O'Neill, 62, was sentenced in Napier District Court to two years' intensive supervision for hiring a contractor to cut down neighbours' trees — what Judge Russell Collins called a "cynical act of harassment." Despite prior protection order breaches and online accusations against victims dating to 2015, Collins declined custody, citing O'Neill's "complex needs" and "delusional" claims.