Prominent New Zealand entertainer's sentencing for domestic violence postponed

A prominent Kiwi entertainer's sentencing for a family violence crime has been postponed after documents weren't provided to the judge.

The man was due to be sentenced today in the North Shore District Court after the Herald revealed his change of plea in November last year.

Before the guilty plea he was to go to trial in February over an injuring with intent to injure charge after an incident involving his wife.

Today, however, Judge Ajit Swaran Singh said he could not sentence the man because a pre-sentence report had failed to find its way to his desk.

The entertainer's lawyer, Paul Wicks QC, said the administrative error would result in a delay which was unacceptable and was "one of those all too often failures, unfortunately".

"[My client] and his wife have been working very hard for a long time to deal with these issues," he said.

"I'd be obliged if someone could at least enquire as to why the pre-sentence report was not given to the judge."

Wicks had successfully argued for interim name suppression at his client's first appearance last June.

The victim in the case has also made an application for permanent name suppression, which - if granted - would permanently suppress the entertainer's name by association.

The application is opposed by the Herald but supported by police.

The court heard today the victim did not wish to participate in the restorative justice process.

The entertainer is now due to be sentenced at the end of next month.

The prominent entertainer is not the Kiwi media personality who saw violence charges against him dropped earlier this year.

The media personality, who has permanent name suppression, was accused of assaulting a woman with intent to injure. He was also charged with assaulting a second person on two separate occasions.

His charges were dismissed last December after no evidence was offered by the Auckland Crown prosecutor's office before Christmas, the Herald revealed in January.

Earlier this month, after the Herald sought the media personality's court file, a judge said the man's presumption of innocence was "crystallised as absolute" and declined the newspaper's efforts to examine the documents.

Suppression orders also prevent the Herald from reporting more details about the allegations against the media personality, who had pleaded not guilty and was to go to trial before a jury later this year.