The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is Mercury Energy. They get the award for the following.

The person who switched off power to an Auckland home, disabling vital medical equipment and leading to the death of a mother of four, could face charges.

Mercury Energy sent a technician to Folole Muliaga's home to disconnect the power as the family was behind on their power bill.

Folole, 44, was suffering from a cardio-respiratory complaint and needed oxygen from a breathing support machine to survive.

Family spokesman Brendan Sheehan says the technician who arrived at the house to disconnect the power supply spoke to Folole and she told him she needed electricity to operate the machinery. Sheehan says the technician said he was just doing his job, turned the power off and left.

The woman died a few hours after the power was disconnected.

The police are looking into what happened at the Muliaga house for a Coroner's inquest and say a criminal investigation could follow, depending on what they find.

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Mercury Energy says it keeps a register of customers who have provided proof they need power for medical reasons so their life line is never unplugged.

But, Folole Muliaga was not on that list. And the company says when its contractor went to the house he was never told she had a life-threatening condition.

"There'd been contact with them for the preceding seven weeks or so about an outstanding amount of around $160 to $200," says Doug Heffernan of Mercury Energy.

Killing someone for the almighty dollar. Its done all the time by people robbing stores or by energy companies, or the all mighty Catholic Church. The last of those, given a choice of paying for a diocese employee's insurance premiums who happens to be on hospital pregna bedrest or cutting off the mother's insurance, the church decided they rather have the money than help two human lives. The baby died by the way, the church has their money and the bishop who allowed this to happen(who ignored the father's phone calls) is now a Cardinal! Murder gets you places in this world, it also earns Mercury Energy the Knucklehead of the Day award.

Linked to- Adam, Big Dog, Bright & Early, Cao, Jo, Leaning Straight Up, Perri Nelson, Pirate's Cove, Pursuing Holiness, Random Yak, Samantha Burns, StikNstein, Third World County, Yankee Sailor,