Judge could have been behind victims' naming - Power

Justice Minister Simon Power. Photo / Sarah Ivey

The accidental publishing of two sexual abuse victims' names may have been the fault of a judge and not a clerical error as earlier thought, Justice Minister Simon Power says.

Two brothers were named on the Ministry of Justice's website when their abuser's sentencing notes were posted online on Thursday. The document was removed the following day, when the error was discovered.

Mr Power said today the ministry was following instructions from the judiciary when it published the names.

"The decision came to the ministry for publishing with no suppression orders on it and marked for publishing," Mr Power told Radio New Zealand.

It was the responsibility of the judge to instruct the ministry about any suppression orders, Mr Power said.

Ministry officials had been in contact with the judiciary who were launching their own investigation, he said.

The ministry had spoken to one of the named victims, who was "gracious" about the mistake, and were working to get in contact with the other.

Mr Power said yesterday he was horrified by the incident and called for an urgent investigation.

Ministry officials were expected to report to him about 9.30am today.

In a statement, the ministry said it was working with the judiciary to review how the error had occurred.

"The ministry takes very seriously its responsibility in publishing judicial decisions on behalf of the courts. It very much regrets that this error has occurred."

The abuse happened 20 years ago and involved the offender, aged under 17 and a sexual abuse victim himself, regularly abusing the boys near a rural swimming hole.

He was this month sentenced to four years' jail on eight counts of sexual violation of a boy under 12 and five counts of indecent assault or inducing an indecent act.

- NZPA