Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws. File photo / Kenny Rodger
A District Court judge has reserved his decision in a contempt of court action against Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws.
Mr Laws allegedly breached a suppression order on Radio Live by revealing the relationship of a named convicted sexual offender to his victims, enabling them to be identified, the
Wanganui Chronicle reported.
In Wanganui District Court yesterday, Mr Laws argued that at the time of the broadcast he had no factual knowledge of the identity of the victims or their relationship to the abuser.
"My argument is that I did not know, I did not possess the foreknowledge to commit the offence because I did not know who the victims were but I made a reasonable assumption, like anybody else who had followed this case," he said.
Police prosecutor Steve Butler asked Mr Laws whether suppression orders were something he should be aware of.
He said "probably", but stressed that he had not named the victims in this case.
In his submissions, Mr Butler said Mr Laws' ignorance of the suppression matters might be relevant to sentencing but not to justice and he should have made it his business to know the law.
"A person hosting a radio programme has an obligation to know the law and take reasonable steps to make sure it's not broken and accidental or deliberate, it is a matter of penalty if found guilty of the charge," he said.
Judge Gregory Ross reserved his decision and remanded Mr Laws at large until July 14.
- NZPA
