An appeal to the Supreme Court has also been filed over the lifting of name suppression for an entity connected to the leading entertainment figure.
His lawyer, Ron Mansfield, KC, argued at the Court of Appeal hearing in September last year the man’s name should remain suppressed because lifting suppression would unleash a social media attack he likened to “Trump on steroids”.
Mansfield told Justices Rebecca Ellis, Mathew Downs and Mary Peters the man had already been attacked online, and had been subject to a campaign of misinformation.
In a judgment released in April, the Court of Appeal said it was “both unfortunate and ironic that the authors of such postings do not appear to appreciate that, in voicing their “concerns” and expressing their (generally infantile and ill-informed) views, they do little more than arm defendants with better grounds for seeking suppression”.
Despite this, they did not find the extreme hardship threshold for permanent suppression had been met.
While the social media postings were “repugnant”, the Court of Appeal did not find that continued suppression would help.
“... It is only if suppression is lifted that accurate and properly informed reportage (by the accredited media) will be able to occur. Lifting suppression may well be an antidote to social media harm,” the judgment said.
They also said even if extreme hardship had been established, it was not a case where the public interest favoured permanent suppression orders being made.
“Open justice must prevail here.”
The judges also took into account the victim’s call for suppression to be lifted.
Supreme Court appeals have not yet been filed by two witnesses, who also sought name suppression on hardship grounds but had their appeals dismissed. Suppression for those witnesses lapses at 5pm on Monday.
The leading entertainment figure has had interim name suppression since he first appeared in court in 2022 on 25 charges of sexual assault and drug-related offending.
He defended the charges and was found guilty by a Rotorua jury in August 2023 on two of the 25, following a three-month-long jury trial.
The jury took just over two days to reach their verdicts, finding him not guilty of 23 charges but guilty of indecently assaulting and attempting to sexually violate a woman hired as a babysitter.
He entered the babysitter’s room about 3am, picked her up out of bed and held her against a wall as he touched her body under her clothing and tried to sexually violate her. He stopped when someone entered the room.
Justice Harvey sentenced the man to 12 months’ home detention in November 2023, calling his actions “unjustified” and “unacceptable”.
Sexual harm
Where to get help:
If it’s an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
If you’ve ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7:
Alternatively, contact police.
If you have been sexually assaulted, remember it’s not your fault.
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.
