Queenstown suppressed indecency case

[1] The case fuelled discussion and controversy in New Zealand over the use by courts of suppression orders to protect the identity of perpetrators of higher social status.

[6] The defendant's lawyer argued that his client had pleaded guilty to avoid a public trial assuming he would be offered diversion or a discharge without conviction.

[1] The man re-appeared in Dunedin District Court in March 2014 where he was ordered to pay $6500 to the complainant and discharged without conviction[3] with a permanent suppression order preventing the publication (in New Zealand) of the man's name, occupation and former occupations, anything likely to lead to his identity, or cast speculation on any other person of a similar class or type.

[9] Retired parliamentarian Rodney Hide taunted her in a newspaper column, urging her to use her parliamentary privilege to breach the name suppression order.

[10] Fuelled by the Harris case, people in New Zealand began distributing the defendant's name on Internet sites including Facebook.

[2] Tau Henare, a retired member of the New Zealand Parliament, appeared in Henderson District Court in December 2014 charged with knowingly breaching suppression orders under the Criminal Procedure Act.