Pedestrian killed: Name suppression denied for teens, but appeal in the works

The High Court at Auckland. Photo / NZME

A judge asked to consider name suppression for one of two teenagers accused of manslaughter after the death of an Auckland CBD pedestrian has lambasted "repugnant" and "deplorable" social media posts and communications about the case.

But the court is "generally is not the arbiter of social media discourse", Justice Pheroze Jagose noted in a judgment published today as he denied the request for name suppression to continue until the teens' trial begins next year.

The co-defendants, a male and female, both 18, pleaded not guilty last month over the death of Connor Boyd, also 18, who died April 27 at Auckland City Hospital.

Although the suppression request was denied, both defendants will keep their identities unpublished for now so defence counsel Julie-Anne Kincade, QC, can file an appeal on behalf of the woman.

The male co-defendant has not argued for continued name suppression but Jagose has ordered that his name also stay secret as long as the woman's name is unpublished.

Boyd was critically injured while on foot near the intersection of Customs St East and Commerce St at around 2.35am three days before his death. Police said at the time that the vehicle involved left the scene but was found later.

Jagose noted in his judgment that the defendants have a minimum right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty.

"That right, so critical to the rule of law, appears to have escaped the court of public opinion, at least so far as it is convened on social media," he said, referring to the young woman by the pseudonym "AB". "There, AB is object of and subject to sometimes anonymous or pseudonymous vituperative comment and threat, much predicated on her assumed guilt of, or at least accountability for, the charges."

The judge said he condemns "the intimidating and judgmental direct and social media communications made to and about her and those associated with her".

"Claims to such vigilante 'justice' are intolerable," he said.

"But my condemnation alone is not enough to render the consequence of those
communications 'extreme' or 'undue'. In the present social media climate, they are
instead — while deplorable, undesirable and unwarranted — the regrettably 'normal' and 'ordinary' consequences of such ignorant, repugnant and entirely unjustified communications irrespective of any proceeding."

The co-defendants are set to go to trial in October next year. Multiple members of Boyd's family appeared in the High Court at Auckland last month when the case was called for the first time.

Boyd's best friend previously told the Herald that they had been enjoying a night out at popular Auckland CBD nightclub Saturdays Britomart on the morning he was injured. Family and friends described the victim as a generous and caring person who had just qualified as a plumber and was due to start his first job.

His close mate said they entered the club together that morning but he started getting worried when they got separated and Boyd didn't respond to calls or text messages. When he left the club, he said, he found a crime scene outside.

"I just still can't believe it's real," he said. "I still can't process it. I just feel like he's going to be at my door."