A High Court judge has warned that courts are unlikely to tolerate any more delays in the case of whether a former Herald journalist should have to reveal his sources.
John Andrews, a former chief reporter at the Herald who now works as a freelance journalist, has been the subject of several court hearings that have attempted to compel him to reveal police sources.
Lawyer Rob Weir applied to the High Court at Auckland for a judicial review after two justices of the peace ordered that Andrews did not have to name the police officers who gave him information published in the Herald.
Mr Andrews had been called as a witness during a depositions hearing before the Waitakere District Court in March and April where he was asked to reveal his sources.
He agreed that some information published in the Herald came from a police press conference and that individual police officers had given him additional information.
He objected to naming the officers under the Evidence Amendment Act, arguing that doing so would breach a special relationship of confidence.
Suppression orders prevented coverage of the case.
In the High Court on July 20, Mr Weir argued that the two JPs had made errors of law and acted unreasonably by not recognising the relevance of Mr Andrews' articles.
Justice Robert Fisher dismissed the application, saying several issues should have been resolved before Mr Andrews was asked to reveal his sources, including the relevance of his answers if he had given them.
Justice Fisher said the matter "ran immediately off the rails, never to return" because Mr Weir had not made the correct application to dismiss the hearing before the JPs.
He said there had been no reason to call Mr Andrews as a witness at a preliminary hearing before two JPs, who did not have the jurisdiction to consider questions of pre-trial publicity or whether police were responsible.
Justice Fisher suggested Mr Weir apply either to the trial court or for a judicial review at the High Court, and said the question would be whether the prosecution as a whole should be brought to an end.
He said the court would not tolerate any further delays in completing the process, and any application would need to be supported by the proper affidavit evidence.
Sources case 'off the rails'
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