Brian Tamaki approached by police over potential suppression breach in Baby W case

Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki has revealed he’s been approached by police over naming the baby at the centre of a high-profile vaccinated blood court case.

A video posted on Tamaki’s social media page shows two police officers approaching his house and asking to speak with him.

The door is answered by one of his grandchildren, who tells the two officers Tamaki isn’t home.

“We just need to have a chat to him about a Facebook post he’s put up recently,” one of the officers said.

A post alongside the video claims the officers intended to talk to Tamaki about using Baby W’s name on a Facebook page when court suppressions orders were in place preventing the child from being identified.

Baby W was the infant at the centre of a heated stand-off in recent weeks over the use of vaccinated people’s blood. The child underwent life-saving surgery on December 9 after a High Court judge made a guardianship order to enable the operation to proceed.

The baby’s parents opposed the use of blood from people vaccinated against Covid-19.

The baby was given automatic name suppression.

However, the social media post claims the article in question was published before the suppression orders were in place. It also claims thousands of others publicly named the child at the time.

“When police were asked were the other [thousands] who used [the] babies [sic] name were in for a visit ... well you guessed ... they didn’t even know and said don’t think so,” the post read.

“They didn’t have a clue of the what or the why.”

A police spokesperson told the Herald they were only aware of one complaint made relating to suppression of the baby who received surgery.

“Any suppression breaches which are reported to police or referred to us by the court will be assessed and followed up as appropriate,” the spokesperson said.

- More to come