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Just wondering…
By Steven | September 4, 2008
Did Judge Perkins consider the NZ Bill of Rights Act before issuing a blanket suppression order in the Arms Act charges relating to the police raids last year? These sorts of discretions must be exercised consistently with the BORA – so the restrictions should be demonstrably justified in terms of the tests laid down by the courts. Not sayin’ the result would be different, just that it’s, you know, the law to engage in this analysis. Still, I do have to wonder whether “some evidence might later be ruled inadmissible” and “it’ll be inconvenient to separate out and argue the suppression issues” (if that reasoning has been accurately reported) really cut the mustard as a demonstrable justification…
Oh, and Fairfax papers: might be a good idea if you stopped using the phrase “anti-terror raids” in these stories. You do know you’re up on a contempt charge for that sort of thing, starting in a couple of weeks?Adding a “so-called” doesn’t necessarily help. And, um, who did “so-call” them that? Wasn’t by any chance… Fairfax papers, was it?
Topics: Contempt of Court, NZ Bill of Rights Act, Suppression orders | 1 Comment »
One Response to “Just wondering…”
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September 5th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
There were no BORA arguments made by defence, prosecution or the media.
The reasoning has been accurately reported, but because the arguments were suppressed, the difficulty was a lot less vague than it sounds.