'Kidnap target' fights to protect identity

By PAULA OLIVER

The mystery man targeted by an alleged kidnap plot yesterday fought to have his identity kept secret despite a controversial English internet report that claimed to identify him.

Lawyers for the middle-aged Wellington man, who is labelled Mr X in court documents, won a suppression order this week that prevents the media from identifying him.

He wants to protect his family and stay out of the spotlight.

Police say he was to be the target of an elaborate kidnap plot that involved an underground wooden bunker dug into a forest park.

The suppression order on his identity was challenged by lawyers representing the Dominion Post and TVNZ in the Wellington High Court yesterday - they claimed that members of the public already knew the man's identity because of an overnight English internet report that claimed to name him.

But a lawyer representing Mr X said in court that his client had not been named in the report, and that it was therefore incorrect to argue that the "horse had bolted".

"The name is not generally known. The person named was not him," Forrest Miller said.

The Herald cannot name the website because it would breach the suppression order.

The court heard that since the arrests of the three alleged would-be kidnappers on Monday night, high-profile people in Wellington who lived near the arrest scene had been asked if they were the targets.

Mr X submitted a memo to the court that detailed his concerns for his children, wife and wider family should his name be revealed.

He was worried his circumstances would become the focus of media attention as reports attempted to show why he would be the target of a ransom-driven kidnapping.

"What that highlights is some very real concerns," Mr Miller said.

He said it was not clear if Mr X would be called as a witness at any future trial. He did not witness anything, and did not know the accused, Mr Miller said.

Peter McKnight, representing Wellington Newspapers, said the public wanted to know who the person was.

He cited the case of American billionaire drug-smuggler Peter Lewis, who eventually lost a long-running name suppression battle with the Herald almost two years ago.

Responding to arguments that the man's name was already known, Justice Grant Hammond said that not everyone had access to a computer or the website in question. He said that in an affidavit to the court, a police officer had questioned how the information that was displayed on the website had made its way to England.

The officer suggested that it could have been leaked in an attempt to get the local suppression order changed.

"That would be an attempt to subvert the law. It is a worry," Justice Hammond said.

He will deliver his decision at 9am today.