Alleged Tauranga vigilantes: Three people appear in court

Three teens appeared in the Tauranga District Court. Photo / George Novak

Three men, including two from Tauranga, have appeared in court accused of committing serious assaults and posting videos of the alleged attacks online.

The charges follow a police investigation into a Tauranga vigilante group allegedly targeting people attempting to contact minors online, police previously said in a statement.

The defendants appeared in the Tauranga District Court on Tuesday facing charges of assault with intent to injure.

They also each faced three joint charges of posting harmful digital communication, namely videos of the alleged assaults, with intent to cause emotional distress to the complainants.

The three defendants, whose identities are suppressed, are a 19-year-old from Auckland and two 18-year-olds from Tauranga.

One of the Tauranga defendants is also charged with posting a further digital communication “publicising” a claim another complainant was on the child sex offenders register, also with the alleged intent to cause serious emotional harm.

The assault charges carry a maximum sentence of three years in jail under the Crimes Act.

The digital communication charges laid under Section 22 of the Harmful Digital Communications Act have a maximum sentence of two years’ jail or a $50,000 fine.

The incidents are alleged to have happened in Mount Maunganui last month.

One of the Tauranga defendants has pleaded not guilty and has been remanded on bail to November 1 for a case review hearing.

The two other defendants are yet to enter pleas to their charges after their lawyers successfully sought more time to go through a large amount of police disclosure documents and obtain further instructions from their clients.

The two defendants were remanded on bail by Judge Bill Lawson to next appear in court on October 17.

Judge Lawson granted interim name suppression for all three defendants but said the suppression orders would be reviewed at their next court appearances.

- SunLive