OPINION:
Last week Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki was released from Mt Eden Corrections Facility after winning his appeal against being remanded in custody.
After nine days in prison for allegedly breaching bail and Covid-19 lockdown restrictions by attending Auckland Domain lockdown protests, Tamaki was released from prison on a 24-hour curfew after Justice Paul Davison quashed the January 17 decision to remand him in custody.
One of his bail conditions was to not hold gatherings at his home for the purpose of organising, attending or encouraging non-compliance with the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act 2020.
He was not to organise, attend, support or speak at any protest in breach of current Covid-19 requirements; and residing at his home in Auckland subject to a 24-hour, seven-day curfew he was not allowed to access or use the internet for the purpose of organising or encouraging Covid-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 non-compliance.
Bail conditions would remain in place until Tamaki's charges were determined by the District Court. His lawyer, Ron Mansfield, said every time Tamaki had been arrested he had been fully co-operative.
Tamaki pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Tamaki's flirtations with the media and the law have been going on for two years now but what exactly happened and when?
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Advertise with NZME.Tamaki's tale kicked off in March 2020 when he said the church wouldn't close despite Government directives discouraging gatherings of more than 100 people.
He told Newshub that he was "not about to let a filthy virus scare us out of having church. To equate fear with common sense is nonsense." He told the Herald that "...very ignorant Kiwis don't even realise their rights have been stolen" and that the epidemic was a sign the world had "strayed from God".
Between March 2020 and October 2021 a number of protests were staged contesting lockdown restrictions throughout the country.
In May 2020 Tamaki compared politicians to "over controlling parents" and went on to say his "rights as churches under the NZ Bill of Rights are being violated, particularly section 15 regarding the freedom to manifest religion or belief in worship, observance practice and teaching either publicly or privately".
At the time a Ministry of Health spokesperson said via Stuff that the rights and freedoms in the Bill of Rights may be subject to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society. It's not surprising that a significant extinction event such as a worldwide pandemic would fall within this category.
In October 2021 Change.org released a 65,000-signed petition calling for Tamaki to be
prosecuted for allegedly flouting lockdown restrictions.
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Tamaki first appeared in court via video link in October 2021 and pleaded not guilty. He was remanded on bail until a further appearance in January 2022. Bail conditions included being banned from attending protests in breach of anti-Covid restrictions.
Tamaki first appeared in court via video link in October 2021 and pleaded not guilty. He was remanded on bail until a further appearance in January 2022. Bail conditions included being banned from attending protests in breach of anti-Covid restrictions.
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Advertise with NZME.A week later Auckland District Court Judge Steve Bonnar altered Tamaki's bail conditions to explicitly bar Tamaki from speaking at gatherings deemed unlawful by law.
Tamaki appealed to the High Court where Justice Geoffrey Venning allowed Tamaki to visit the Auckland Domain for recreational purposes but not protests.
In early January 2022 Tamaki allegedly addressed an anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine mandate gathering in Christchurch. Tamaki said it was a "family picnic" and not a protest. Statutory interpretation has never been my strong suit. I recall my university days when more than four people in a dorm room constituted a "party". And when does a social gathering become a protest?
He was arrested on January 17 and put in the slammer for breaching bail conditions. And that's where we come to last week's appeal. Tamaki is somewhat of a free man.
His trial is scheduled for April 2022. So much has happened in the last month alone - it will be interesting to see whether Tamaki can fight off the urge to picnic in the next few months.
