A prominent New Zealander has been granted continued suppression orders prohibiting media from publishing his name and the charges he faces.
RNZ revealed on Monday the prominent New Zealander was arrested last week.
After being made aware of the man’s arrest, RNZ approached the Wellington District Court to see if there were any suppression orders and when he would be appearing in court.
In response, a registrar said the man faced eight charges, all of which are category three offences meaning the offence is punishable by imprisonment for life, or imprisonment for two years or more.
However, an application had been granted prohibiting media from being able to report the man’s name, identifying particulars as well as the nature of the charges he faced before his first appearance.
On Thursday, the man appeared in the Wellington District Court.
Media opposed the suppression orders. However, the defendant’s lawyers asked for the orders to continue on an interim basis until their next appearance.
Judge John Laurenson agreed to continue the orders.
The man was remanded on bail without plea until his next appearance in August.
The suppression orders would be argued then.
How is suppression considered?
Under the Criminal Procedure Act a court may make an order forbidding publication of the name of a person who was charged with an offence if the court wass satisfied publication would be likely to result in eight different outcomes including causing extreme hardship and creating a real risk of prejudice to a fair trial.
The fact a defendant was well known does not, of itself, mean that publication of his or her name would result in extreme hardship.
At first appearance, a defendant only needed to advance an “arguable case” that one of the eight grounds applied.
The only section in the Criminal Procedure Act that permitted suppression of the charges was section 199C, which permitted suppression of “trial-related information” where the court was satisfied publication of that information was likely to create a real risk of prejudice to a fair trial. Trial-related information includes “any other specific information in relation to any trial”.
Where an interim order was made under section 199C, it only lasted until the defendant’s next court appearance.
rnz.co.nz
