After the conclusion of the trial of Ngati's killers, a judge ordered the release of the coroner's autopsy photographs of the child, for the purpose of encouraging the public to report other instances of abuse.
After trial, in an unusual and controversial move, Auckland High Court Judge Graham Lang allowed the release of the autopsy photos into the public realm, and allowed New Zealand's TV One (New Zealand) (TVNZ) to film the autopsy photographs "so that they may give pause to those people who choose to ignore that their family members are being hurt".
During that segment, Children's Commissioner Cindy Kiro is shown commenting that the public did not need to see these "graphic images to show them how badly damaged this child was.
Her complaint alleged violations of several of the BSA's standards, including "good taste and decency", "privacy", "fairness", "children's interests", and "violence".
[6] [The Authority] recognises that news programmes will often contain "violent, disturbing or alarming material", and that broadcasters "should not falsify by omission, a world in which much violence and brutality occurs".
However, they conveyed the grim reality of child abuse in the context of [a news] item...."[6] They ruled that their privacy and fairness standards did not apply to deceased individuals – they did point out, however, that TVNZ complied with the judge's stipulations against showing the boy's face and genitals, and, "in this respect, the Authority finds that TVNZ exercised care and discretion in order to preserve the child's dignity.
[6] TVNZ provided advance warning to viewers, and didn't display the images until two minutes into the story played a role in the BSA's decision-making,[8] especially with respect to children's interests.
[15] Preceding Commissioner Roger McClay said, that use of the photos would serve to raise awareness of the child abuse "epidemic", which was not well known amongst New Zealanders.