0 Diplomatic name suppression lifted

We were sent a link this morning which identified the diplomat who invoked diplomatic immunity and fled New Zealand after an alleged sexual assault. Unlike some, including Labour Party MP Clare Curran, we did not share the link because there was a court-ordered suppression order in force.

However this afternoon, a Wellington District Court Judge has lifted the suppression order, and the diplomat's identity and nationality are now known; the Herald reports:

The diplomat at the centre of an alleged sexual assault case can now be named after media organisations challenged a judge's decision to grant permanent name suppression.
He is Mohammed Rizalman Bin Ismail and worked at the Malaysian High Commission in Wellington.
Ismail, who claimed diplomatic immunity, could not initially be identified because of a suppression order imposed by a Wellington District Court judge on May 30.
However, Malaysian media were now reporting the case, and its Foreign Affairs Ministry planned to hold a press conference about it today.
An urgent hearing to overturn the suppression ruling was held in the High Court at Wellington today, where the name suppression was overturned.
Media organisations, including the New Zealand Herald, challenged the decision to grant name suppression.
Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully earlier said the Solicitor-General had advised the Government abide by the suppression ruling while it was in place.
"I can't see any good public policy reason why you'd want to protect someone from publicity given there won't be a trial."
Ismail, in his 30s, left the country after being charged by Wellington police with burglary and assault with intent to rape.
He had followed a 21-year-old woman to her Brooklyn home on May 9 when the alleged assault occurred.
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs formally asked for Malaysia to waive diplomatic immunity, but it declined.

It is unfortunate that the Malaysian Foreign Affairs Ministry would not waive diplomatic immunity in Ishmail's case. He has been charged with serious criminal offences in New Zealand, and ought to have faced charges here. However as a signatory to the Vienna Convention, New Zealand authorities had to accept Malaysia's decision.

It is to be hoped that Ishmail will face sanctions in his home country which would be as severe as those likely to be imposed by a New Zealand court. No one, as John Banks discovered recently, is above the law. The Malaysian Government will be making a statement in the next couple of hours, and it will be interesting to hear what action they plan to take.

0 Credit to King Tuheitia

There was much speculation this morning when Stuff advised that the son of a "prominent leader" was to appear before the Courts today.

The mystery has been solved with the lapse of a suppression order; Stuff reports:

A devastated Maori king has spoken publicly about his son's behaviour as he this morning pleaded guilty to charges of burglary and the theft of surfboards.
The younger of the king's two sons, Korotangi Paki, 18, was studying at the Toihoukura School of Maori Visual Art and Design in Gisborne when he and three other men broke into a property and took the surfboards early this year.
He pleaded guilty to two charges of burglary and one of theft from a car when he appeared in the Auckland District Court this morning. He was remanded on bail for sentencing in July.
He was supported in court by the king's representative Tukoroirangi Morgan, but not his father.
Paki left the court quickly and his lawyer Paul Wicks said there would be no comment.
However, the normally media-shy and a visibly disappointed King Tuheitia spoke exclusively with Fairfax Media on Friday ahead of the court appearance in the hope his son would get back on the right track.
"I just think of all of the things we are trying to achieve and what he just did was . . . it really hurt," King Tuheitia said.
They were taken into custody by police on the night of the incident and he called his father the following day.
The Maori monarch was angered by the news and although his first reaction was to shield his son from the consequences, he recognised his son had to be responsible for his actions.
"As a father I still love him," he said. 

We commend King Tuheitia for his attitude towards this offending. It would have been easy to have his son hide behind name suppression, but that would have allowed the young man to escape scrutiny. Though publication of Korotangi Paki's name will bring shame on him and his whanau, it will also be a valuable learning experience for the young man; that every action has a consequence.

Whilst the shame felt by King Tuheitia over his son's actions will be relatively short-lived, here's hoping that the example of tough love he has shown will have a positive effect on the young man. And here's hoping too that other parents of children of all ethnicities will understand that sometimes parents have to make tough decisions, even if they cause short-term pain to the child. 

Korotangi Paki is lucky to have a father who loves him unconditionally, and enough to want the best for him, even when that is not reciprocated. We hope that the young man has learned a vcaluable lesson over the last few months.