Tauranga Destiny Church Pastor avoids conviction after anti-vaccine protest

Destiny Church Pastor Leon Samuels was sentenced in the Tauranga District Court on June 9. Photo / NZME

Tauranga Destiny Church's Pastor has avoided conviction despite organising an anti-vaccine protest when the city was still under Covid-19 gathering restrictions.

Leon Wharewehe Samuels, 46, originally faced two charges of failing to comply with an order issued under Covid-19 Public Health Response Act, relating to what police alleged was his role in organising protests against Covid-19 restrictions.

Those two protests were held at Tauranga parks while the region was in alert level 2 restrictions last year.

The first protest happened in Coronation Park on October 16 - the same day as the nationwide Super Saturday vaccination campaign.

Police alleged Samuels was responsible for the event, which saw 400 mainly unmasked attendees congregate at the park.

The first charge was withdrawn by police last month after Samuels pleaded guilty to a similar charge of organising a protest gathering at Memorial Park on October 30.

Samuels was sentenced in the Tauranga District Court today by Judge Louis Bidois and sought a discharge without conviction.

His lawyer Rachael Adams filed written submissions arguing that a conviction for her client would be out of all proportion to the gravity of his offence, the court heard.

Police prosecution took a neutral position on the application.

Judge Bidois agreed to discharge Samuels without conviction and described the pastor's offending as "misguided loyalty" and a mistake in judgement.

In terms of the offence, the protest gathering had put lots of people at risk of getting Covid-19 and lots of people have died from the virus, the Judge said.

Judge Bidois said he also took into account that Samuels' was a first-time offender before the court and had accepted responsibility for "his mistake", plus he had clearly made a significant contribution to the community both in his role and in the wider community.

Judge Bidois said a donation to a charity was clearly warranted, and he ordered Samuels to pay $750 to the Homes of Hope Charitable Trust within seven days.

Samuels suggested the Homes of Hope charity.

He and his lawyer both declined to comment outside the courtroom.