Bar owner fined for allowing smoking

A bar owner was today fined after admitting four charges of allowing people to smoke on his premises.

Crown prosecutor Katrina Barber said it was the second such case to go before the courts since smoke-free legislation covering bars came into effect in December 2004.

People were seen to be smoking at O'Malley's Bar in Levin on four occasions in May and June 2005, she said.

Defendant Martin O'Malley, 43, had failed to take all reasonably practicable steps by not providing ashtrays, not putting up signs and failing to discourage patrons from smoking in an internal area.

Defence counsel Ken Bailey said O'Malley, who had been the licensee of the bar for 15 years, was not a cigarette smoker and did not want people to smoke.

O'Malley was fined $800 and ordered to pay costs totalling $920 .

He had not been present on any of the occasions for which he had been charged, and it was also significant that the law did not provide any penalties for people who were smoking in a bar, Mr Bailey said.

It was difficult when people severely addicted to smoking had been coming to the bar for as long as O'Malley had owned it.

There had been no further problems with people smoking at the bar and O'Malley wished to apologise to the community of non-smokers.

Judge Gregory Ross said he was pleased O'Malley had accepted the ultimate responsibility for the offences.

He suspected that for some patrons the bar was a home away from home and it was difficult for the owner and his staff to take the strongest steps against them.

The maximum penalty for each offence was $400, substantially less than the fine a corporation would face for the same charge.

The effects of smoking on other people were to be avoided and an obligation was placed on O'Malley as a licensee, otherwise it would be that the patrons were running the establishment.

He convicted and fined O'Malley $200 on each charge with costs of $130 per offence, and ordered him to pay $400 towards the Ministry of Health's prosecution costs.

- NZPA