Businessman guilty of contempt for publishing on web

Auckland businessman Vince Siemer has been found guilty of breaching a suppression order by publishing a decision about the upcoming Urewera raids trial. File photo / NZPA

An Auckland businessman has been found guilty of breaching a suppression order by publishing a decision about the forthcoming Urewera raids trial.

Vince Siemer, an American businessman living in Auckland, was found guilty by the High Court at Wellington of contempt of court for publishing a High Court ruling about the trial of those charged following police raids in 2007.

The Chief High Court Judge, Justice Helen Winkelmann, last December banned publication of her judgment about the trial of the Urewera defendants, but Mr Siemer released it online.

The order was later varied to allow publication that the trial will be heard in front of a judge only.

Justices Alan MacKenzie and Simon France found Siemer deliberately breached the suppression order.

They disagreed with Siemer's argument that the High Court had no power to make the suppression order and that it was not properly made.

Siemer was ordered to remove access to the judgment from his website.

A hearing to decide on Siemer's penalty will be decided at a later date.

- NZPA