The Star: January 25, 2024

Thursday January 25 2024 The Star
COURT 13
Musician charged
with sexual assault
eleven years on
• By Anna Leask
A MUSICIAN has been charged with
sexually assaulting a woman.
Manu Francois, 34, appeared in the
district court on Tuesday for the first time
since his arrest.
Police allege Francois, who lives in the
West Melton area, sexually violated a
woman over the age of 16 between December
1 and 31, 2013.
He did not seek name suppression when
he appeared before a community magistrate
this morning, by audio-visual link
from the police cells.
The court heard he had applied for legal
aid and was seeking bail.
Bail was granted on condition he surrender
his passport and not make any
contact with the complainant.
He is due to appear in court again on
February 20.
Francois is described online as “a New
Zealand rapper, singer-songwriter, music
producer, multi-instrumentalist and
model”.
He was born in St Lucia and has split his
time between the Caribbean island, where
his father lives, and Christchurch, where
his mother is from.
His first album was released in 2017, followed
by albums in 2018 and 2020.
“Francois was nominated for Best
International Artist for the BingeTV 2021
Music Awards,” an online profile says.
“Francois has run his own recording studio
. . . He is also a member of the groove
roulette band ZoLeKa.”
Five weeks ago he posted on Instagram
that he was “moving to England/Europe”
to continue his music.
“I create my own brand of pop music, I
also play guitar and write ballads,” he said.
“I am a lone wolf but a vibrant entertainer.
I dream to play festivals and shows
MUSIC: Francois
describes
himself as a
“lone wolf”
and a “vibrant
entertainer”.
CHARGED: Christchurch-based
musician Manu Francois appeared
in court on Tuesday for allegedly
sexually violating a woman in 2013.
around the world and I am working on
this goal in 2024.”
A week ago, he posted a series of photos
with his young child and family.
“We’re about to leave New Zealand for
Berlin, where I will be focusing on building
my music career and working on my
life generally,” he said.
“I might even disappear off social media
and focus on just living my life. Remember
just living our lives? Miss that.
“2024 for me is a year of growth, dedication,
fun, freedom and life in general. I
truly look forward to what’s to come.”
Francois is married with a child.
– NZ Herald
• More court, page 14
SEXUAL HARM
Where to get
help:
If it’s an emergency
and you feel that
you or someone
else is at risk, call
111.
If you’ve ever
experienced
sexual assault or
abuse and need to
talk to someone,
contact Safe to Talk
confidentially, any
time 24/7:
• Call 0800 044 334
• Text 4334
• Email support@
safetotalk.nz
• For more info
or to web chat
visitsafetotalk.nz
Alternatively
contact your local
police station.
If you have been
sexually assaulted,
remember it’s not
your fault.
ANOTHER CANCER
FOR LOLA
My beautiful, brave 14 year old Lola, went
“under the knife” again last week for
a rapidly growing cancer that had just
appeared on her left shoulder. Isaac, our
19 year old son noticed it over Christmas
as he spends a lot of time with her in
his bed. I instantly thought it had to be
a lipoma (benign fat tumor) so didn’t
worry too much about it over the holiday
period. It wasn’t affecting her gait and
she didn’t seem to be in pain. Appetite as
usual was tremendous.
Last week I ran some bloodwork and
aspirated the mass to find out what we
were dealing with. Diagnosis came back
as a “soft tissue cancer”. Typically these
are slower growing cancers but they do
locally invade other tissues. The only
option we had was to surgically remove
the mass with wide margins to make sure
we removed every cell. All Lolas blood
test results were normal which was so
reassuring. But at 14 years old, with lower
spinal degeneration it was going to be a
big surgery for her to recover from.
Steve was nominated to be her surgeon
and Letitia her anaesthetist. She actually
breezed through everything with no
complications, recovered uneventfully
and has coped so well with having a
large 20cm incision site. You can see she’s
confused as to why she can’t go for walks
at the moment with Macy. She leaps
around excited at meal times, hasn’t once
aggravated her wound, but she does try
to spit out her medication. Absolutely
hates pills.
She is honestly our hero.
Five days post surgery she’s off to see
Kate for Physio and a good massage. She
absolutely loves Kate at Wigram Physio.
Kate has been working on Lolas hindlegs
and back for a while now, keeping
her musculoskeletal system in tip top
working order.
So now my most loyal and loved
companion is a “ Cancer Survivor”
THREE times, all completely different
cancers. She had kidney cancer when
she was five years old and as a result
has only one kidney, which by the way
functions beautifully. She underwent
Chemotherapy at the time and hasn’t
looked back.
Late last year she had Anal Gland cancer,
so I promptly removed both anal sacs.
Now we are dealing with a soft tissue
tumor involving muscle.
Our family would do anything and
everything for our precious girl. She most
certainly has many more family holidays
and adventures left in her.
Long may our Queen live on.
Dr Michele McMaster
Open 7 days Cnr Hoon Hay & Coppell place ph: 338 2534
e. reception@mcmasterandheap.co.nz www.mcmasterheap.co.nz