The Maori party has called for parliament to act on name suppression:
The Maori Party is calling for name suppression laws to change as soon as possible, after a former All Black was granted name suppression after pleading guilty to assaulting a child.
He appeared in Auckland District Court yesterday charged with the September assault, the New Zealand Herald reports.
Another former All Black appeared in Wellington District Court two weeks ago, charged with assaulting his partner while celebrating the All Blacks’ World Cup final victory, resisting police and possessing cannabis. He was also given name suppression.
Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia has slammed the most recent name suppression.
“In this morning’s paper we have the ludicrous situation of two individuals involved in cases of child assault – one protected and the other exposed to public scrutiny,” Ms Turia said.
She was referring to the case of Auckland mother Mellissa Anderson, who was refused name suppression while facing charges for allegedly slapping a 14-year-old girl who attacked her daughter, Summer, outside school last week.
Ms Turia says it “makes a mockery of the justice system” that a 13-year-old girl’s identity was released into the public arena, while a former All Black can keep his name secret.
“For former All Black players, there appears to be another set of standards at play,” she said.
I said at the time that Simon Power’s law changes would be ignored by Judges. I know the law doesn’t come into effect for several more months but I rpredict that the status quo will continue to exist. The law changes didn’t go far enough in removing name suppression and protecting the innocent victims.
Now an ex-All Black is smearing the names of other former team mates through his cowardice.
