Brian Tamaki appears in court via an audio-visual feed from the Henderson Police Station during his October 20 Auckland District Court hearing. Photo / NZME
Brian Tamaki appears in court via an audio-visual feed from the Henderson Police Station during his October 20 Auckland District Court hearing. Photo / NZME
Controversial Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki, who has been under 24-hour curfew since January for alleged Covid-19 lockdown violations, can now go on holiday, a High Court Judge has decided.
Justice Mathew Downs issued his decision today, after a hearing on Friday in which Tamaki appealed an Auckland District Court judge's refusal this month to vary the bail requirements.
The Bail Act prevents the media from reporting most of what was said in the hearings.
But in his ruling today, Justice Downs agreed with defence counsel Ron Mansfield, QC, that circumstances in New Zealand have "changed fundamentally" since the District Court hearing earlier this month, with outdoor gatherings now allowed. So the chance of Tamaki violating bail by attending an illegal gathering while on holiday is no longer an issue, he wrote.
"That Mr Tamaki may holiday is not because a defendant may ordinarily do so while on bail," Downs said. "Rather, because the landscape informing Mr Tamaki's bail conditions has changed since they were imposed."
Tamaki, 64, has been in legal trouble multiple times since October when he was first accused of attending and helping to organise an anti-lockdown protest at Auckland Domain in violation of Covid-19 restrictions at the time.
He has been before judges for new charges, including repeated allegations that he wasn't following bail requirements, after Auckland Domain rallies on October 2, October 16 and November 20. He also spent nine days in jail in January after authorities said he breached bail conditions by speaking at an anti-vaccine rally in Christchurch attended by more than 100 people, more than was allowed at the time.
Brian Tamaki appears in court via an audio-visual feed from the Henderson Police Station during his October 20 Auckland District Court hearing. Photo / NZME
Upon Tamaki's release from jail, Justice Paul Davison, in the High Court at Auckland, added a strict 24-hour curfew to his existing bail conditions.
• Not to organise, attend, support or speak at any protest gathering in breach of current Covid-19 level requirements.
• Not to access or use the internet for the purpose of organising or encouraging non-compliance with the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act 2020, or any orders made pursuant to the act.
• Not to attend, enter or remain at the Auckland Domain on any day that a protest against the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 or Orders under it is advertised or a gathering in breach of the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 or Orders under it is taking place.
• Not to arrange or attend any meetings or gatherings of people to take place at his home for the purpose of organising or encouraging non-compliance with the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act 2020, or any orders made pursuant to that act.
Tamaki's daughter posted on social media this month that her parents go on a hunting trip around their wedding anniversary every year. They wanted to go on holiday again this year but couldn't, she said.
During a church service on Sunday held outside his Auckland home and livestreamed on social media, Tamaki railed against the bail restrictions.
"Yes, I went to prison," he told the crowd. "No, I didn't kill anybody, shoot anybody, rob a bank or did any horrible things to anybody. I simply had one of these in my hand - a mic.
"From there, it's been 69 days I've been a political prisoner in my own country of New Zealand."
He said that since his release from custody, his home has become a prison.
"I was to find out I'd be better off to have a bracelet around my ankle because they have more liberties," he said of electronic-monitoring bail. "At least you can go out of your house."
He described his bail conditions as "over-reaching" and an attempt to silence him.
"They violated my rights, my human rights," he said.
Tamaki, however, spent most of the Sunday sermon discussing politics and the "cruel, cold-blooded government". He encouraged parishioners to text the Freedom & Rights Coalition, which organised the lockdown protests, so that they can pool votes together for "political power".
Tamaki is next set to appear in court on Friday alongside wife Hannah Tamaki, who is accused of taking the stage alongside her husband at the November 20 protest. Two other prominent Destiny Church members are also scheduled to appear at the same time on lockdown violation charges.
Both Tamakis took to social media this afternoon to celebrate after the judge's decision was released.
"One small step for BT ... one giant leap for freedom," Brian Tamaki wrote on Facebook. "Next step get rid of this 24 hour curfew ... yuss ... 80 days locked down up till when I can get out of my house."
Hannah Tamaki, meanwhile, posted a link to coverage of the bail decision by the Herald along with the description, "Yah ... we out.."
A short time later, she posted a video from the passenger seat on a motorbike.
"Off to meet our lawyer," she wrote. "Got lots to talk about today."
