Paedophile wins case to keep identity secret

File photo / NZ Herald

A convicted paedophile has won his case to keep his identity a secret after the Sensible Sentencing Trust obtained leaked details of his offending and posted them online.

The man was convicted in 1995 of offending against two girls in 1975 and 1977. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison.

In 2009 an employee of the police unlawfully accessed his criminal record and supplied a copy of it to his employer. The details were leaked to the Sensible Sentencing Trust (SST).

The SST published details of the man's identity and offending on their website after a court memo showed there was no record of a name suppression order.

The man took his case to the Privacy Commissioner, and at a Human Rights Tribunal hearing at the Auckland District Court in August last year the Director of Human Rights Proceedings said the man's privacy had been breached.

The SST appealed to the High Court to review the judicial process in October last year, but the review was thrown out by Justice Lowell Goddard, who said it could not succeed.

This decision was appealed by the SST and has now been dismissed by the Court of Appeal, who agreed with Justice Goddard.

The Court of Appeal found the interim name suppression the man would have received at his appearance in 1995 would be considered permanent in the absence of a name suppression order on file.

The SST said it removed the online statement about the man and his previous convictions when requested t do so in 2009, but then reposted the details.

Attempts to contact SST were unsuccessful this afternoon.