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Home / New Zealand

Coroner stymies TV3 on pepper spray death story

30 Jun, 2000 03:24 AM3 mins to read

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By ANGELA GREGORY

WHANGAREI - A Northland coroner has stopped TV3 screening a 20/20 documentary about the death of a 66-year-old man who was pepper-sprayed by police last year.

The channel yesterday defeated an attempt to get a High Court injunction delaying the screening, which was scheduled for tomorrow night.

Dr Ian Horsfield,
of Waipapa, died soon after a struggle with police in Kerikeri while they were trying to take him for psychiatric treatment.

Pepper spray was used on Dr Horsfield during the struggle.

The death prompted a Police Complaints Authority inquiry, and an inquest has yet to be held.

In an unusual move, Bay of Islands coroner Heather Ayrton yesterday suppressed the names and occupations of witnesses to the incident.

Mrs Ayrton would not say who asked her to make the suppression order under sections 25 and 35 of the Coroner's Act, but said she did not believe it was fair for witnesses to be identified before the inquest.

Asked why she had not sought TV3's views on the suppression order, Mrs Ayrton said: "TV3 has not given me the courtesy of telling me they were doing a programme."

The executive producer of 20/20, Terence Taylor, said lawyer Gerard Winter, who was acting for three witnesses, had asked Mrs Ayrton for the suppression order.

He criticised Mrs Ayrton for not giving "other interested parties" an opportunity to put their case.

Mr Taylor said 20/20 did not intend to publish the names of the witnesses, but their occupations would have been made known.

That meant the programme could not run while the suppression order was in effect.

TV3 would seek an urgent judicial review of the ruling.

Mr Taylor said the programme was about the use of pepper spray, not the precise cause of death.

He said TV3 yesterday defeated an application by the three witnesses for an interim injunction to stop the programme screening until after the inquest.

Mr Winter applied for the injunction at the High Court in Whangarei, saying his clients were not trying to stop TV3 from airing the programme, but wanted it postponed. He claimed that it would prejudice the coroner's inquest.

He said the programme would usurp the role of the coroner, and it was important to retain public confidence in the integrity of the administration of justice.

Last Sunday, a promotional "teaser" to the Horsfield programme was screened indicating the possible cause of death would be examined, said Mr Winter. The programme could also affect the recollection of witnesses, he claimed.

But Justice Robertson rejected the application. He said he could not envisage any harm to the judicial system from screening the programme before the inquest.

Dr Horsfield was known in Kerikeri as an eccentric who believed he was a spy. He gained a PhD in philosophy from Victoria University in 1985, but his later life was dogged by psychiatric problems.

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