If ever there was a case of the need for zero name suppression in the interests of justice being seen to be done it would be this case in Wellington.
The son of a high-profile public servant could be too scared to tell the truth after allegedly being punched in the head by his father in downtown Wellington, a court was told today.
The man, whose name and occupation are suppressed, has pleaded not guilty to one charge of assault on a family member over the incident, in Manners Mall in August 2008.
At Wellington District Court today, defence lawyer Mike Antunovic said the man had not punched his son but rather had attempted to remove a bag slung over the boy’s shoulder while in the back seat of a parked car.
The boy had bought the bag after running away with $700 he stole from his mother.
Mr Antunovic said the boy had a history of dishonest and troublesome behaviour and the man was trying just trying to look out for his son.
There is every reason that we should have concern that there is name suppression in this case since the complainant is the son of Wellington District Commander Superintendent Pieri Munro who is on leave, with full pay. This was all reported in the DomPost and the Otago Daily Times more than a year ago. Why the name suppression now?
This has all the hallmarks of something being swept under the carpet by the establishment. A cosy little arrangement to protect a top cop. Justice has to be done for sure, but more importantly it has to be seen to be done and in this case we have a top cop charged with assaulting his son and they are all hiding conveniently under the radar covered by name suppression.
This post goes far beyond my previous Interesting Names series, and that is because I think there is a travesty of justice happening here. I fully expect I’ll get slapped with another charge over this one. However Wellington District Commander Superintendent Pieri Munro has already been in the papers before for this and a quick Google Search proved this.
