Editorial: Using fame to escape scrutiny

THE WELLINGTONIAN

OPINION: Wellingtonians will have followed especially closely the Auckland District Court case involving a well-known musician charged with performing an indecent act likely to offend.

The incident took place in Courtenay Place on March 5 this year.

The man, in his 30s, had been out with friends and said that, realising he was drunk, he had decided to walk back to his hotel. He then encountered three young women near the busiest part of Courtenay Place.

He was reported to have exposed his genitals and made suggestive remarks to the girls.

Two were embarrassed and did not say anything.

The third, aged 16, entered an alleyway unaware the entertainer was exposing himself or making requests to her friends.

The court was told he "grabbed a hold of the complainant's head and forced her head into his crotch". The girl pulled away and fled.

She said she could hear him laughing behind her.

In the statement she gave the court, the girl said she lived at home with her family. She said the incident "made me feel crap about myself and my life".

"What he did to me was disgusting and wrong," she said.

"As a result of this incident I was both upset and angry ... I would say I am now a lot more wary of people, no matter who they are."

Judge Eddie Paul discharged the man without conviction and granted him permanent name suppression.

He ordered the man to pay his victim $5000 for emotional harm. He described the offending as of a "medium to low level" and said the man was unlikely to reoffend.

There was evidence that if the man was convicted and named, it would have had a "detrimental effect" on his record sales and his ability to travel overseas for performances.

This is not the first instance of public figures being treated leniently in New Zealand because of their fame.

All Blacks have recently been granted name suppression after various misdemeanours. As in those cases, this judgment is disappointing. It indicates that there are different rules in New Zealand for the famous and non-famous.

Public figures make money because of their fame.

But with that ability to make money comes closer scrutiny.

The way Judge Paul ruled in this latest case, public figures can enjoy the advantages of their fame, but not face scrutiny.

Chances are that if the Courtenay Place incident had taken place between a relatively anonymous man in his 30s and the 16-year-old girl, the man would have faced the shame of being named.

It's doubtful he would have escaped with a slap-on-the-wrist payment and a suppression order.

Our public figures do not always survive scrutiny well – look at the recent falls from grace of high-profile MPs Bill English, Rodney Hide and Hone Harawira.

Of course, no judge scrutinised their failings and was therefore in a position to conceal their identities.

But it is comforting to know that anyone in New Zealand, even MPs, are subject to such scrutiny.

The fact that they can be caught and shamed into admitting they have acted unwisely is healthy.

The musician who acted so disgustingly in Courtenay Place has not had to face the consequence of his actions. That is surely wrong.