Lunatic identified

Stuff reports:

A protester who rubbed rat poison on Nelson MP Nick Smith’s clothes says she was making a “symbolic statement” against the Brook Valley poison drop.

Rose Renton confronted the Environment Minister near the Nelson Market on Saturday but denies shoving him or touching his face.

According to Smith the incident “became quite frightening when it escalated from verbal abuse and throwing rat poison at myself and volunteers to physical shoving and rubbing rat poison over my face and clothes”.

A 47-second video that emerged on Tuesday shows Renton and her husband wiping rat poison on Nick Smith’s jacket lapels.

Smith says the video only covers part of the incident and does not include when the poison was allegedly being thrown.

Renton should be ashamed of what she did, but she is proud of it. There should be zero tolerance for what she did.

Renton lives in the Brook Valley, but says she is not part of the Brook Valley Community Group, which has opposed the drop. She said she only wanted to make “a stand against the environment Mr Smith has poisoned”.

“He is the Minister of our Environment, he did not attend The Brook poisoning unlike half our police force so my husband and I went to him,” Renton said.

What a nasty person.

Incidentally the  Brook Waimarama Sanctuary is supported by almost every environmental group there is, and the decision to make it predator-free with poison is one made by them locally. Its not actually a decision Nick Smith makes either as Minister or MP.