Covid-19 deniers and anti-lockdown protesters gathered at the TVNZ building in Auckland to protest the alert level 4 lockdown. Video / Cameron Pitney
A judge watched more than an hour of social media livestreams in a small, crowded Auckland courtroom today as the trial began for prominent Covid-19 conspiracy theorists Billy TK and Vinny Eastwood. They are accused of having organised an illegal public gathering during New Zealand's strict alert level 4 lockdown last August.
They have pleaded not guilty to two charges each of intentionally failing to comply with the Covid-19 alert level requirements. They could face up to six months' jail if Judge Peter Winters finds them guilty this week.
A senior police officer testified today that TK, a musician and failed political candidate whose full name is William Desmond Te Kahika, called him on the first morning of the Delta variant lockdown to let law enforcement know he was planning a protest of 200-300 people outside TVNZ headquarters in central Auckland that day.
"He was advised it was against the health order and he was liable to be arrested," testified the officer, who has name suppression. "He told me it was his right to protest."
Te Kahika later posted a live stream on Facebook in which he expressed hope that thousands would turn out to the protest.
"The police will be there to help us to keep everyone safe," he said. "They're not going to be Nazis. They're not going to impede on us."
He filmed a second live video as he walked through Auckland central, again encouraging people to join him as he frequently stopped to congratulate passers-by if they weren't wearing masks.
His third video, starting five minutes before the midday protest and ending after he was led to a police van, showed the rally in real time.
Police arrested anti-lockdown protester Vincent Eastwood outside TVNZ in August 2021. Photo / Dean Purcell
"There are no roadblocks into Auckland or out of Auckland, so please come out today," Te Kahika repeatedly reminded his followers as he walked through the crowd, greeting people and issuing jabs at the "tyrannical" Government, the "complicit and corrupt media", fellow lockdown critics Voices for Freedom, Act leader David Seymour, whom he called a "creep", and then-National leader Judith Collins, whom he told to "jump in a lake".
He agreed with one speaker that the Delta variant wasn't real and expressed fear that "millennial" police officers will help the government go door-to-door for mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations.
"This is hell on a platter, whanau," he said to the crowd.
Shortly after his speech, he grabbed the microphone again to explain that police had just approached him.
"I've just been issued a formal warning that I do not understand," he told the crowd. "I do not stand under the jurisdiction of this corrupt Government.
"And I know that if I get a $4000 fine you'll pay it or me because I can't. That's easy."
Minutes later, as another person was speaking, the crowd began to jeer loudly as police moved in.
"Hey! No violence," Te Kahika told supporters as he was led away by police. "Alright, thanks everyone. I'm getting arrested but these are good guys. Stay calm, stay cool everybody.
"You know what, we knew this was coming. But I hope there's not violence going on."
Police arrest anti-lockdown protester Billy Te Kahika outside TVNZ. Photo / Dean Purcell
Sergeant Telisha Kumar, who was in charge of the police team that arrested him, testified today that she read Te Kahika his Bill of Rights, in which he was told about his right not to give a statement or to speak with a lawyer. He acknowledged understanding his rights before backtracking and saying no, she said.
"His words were that he doesn't work under our authority."
Defence lawyer Paul Borich QC suggested during cross-examination of Kumar that his client denied having said that.
Kumar said police next went to arrest Eastwood, who was seen walking through the crowd throughout Te Kahika's video. That arrest, she said, wasn't as smooth.
"He was sort of insisting the crowd to get around him and sort of make our job more dangerous," she explained, adding that he was led away without incident.
When Eastwood got to the police van he said he was unwell and asked for an ambulance, Kumar recalled, adding that he then declined to be seen by paramedics after they arrived.
During cross-examination of each police witness, Borich repeatedly referred to a Black Lives Matter protest two months earlier, when Auckland was in alert level 2. There were estimated to be 10,000 people, "probably 100 times" larger than Te Kahika's gathering and with little social distancing, the defence lawyer suggested.
None of the officers who testified today could speak to that because they didn't work that protest.
Today's judge-alone trial began with police prosecutor Sergeant Phil Mann withdrawing charges against each defendant for failure to assist a constable who wanted access to their mobile phones.
The courtroom's 14-seat gallery remained full for most of the day with supporters of the two defendants. Others had to wait outside because the room was full. The hearing marked one of the first times since courts reopened late last year, as the lockdown lifted, that a gallery was filled with unmasked spectators.
Outside the courthouse, a few protesters held placards in support of the defendants - one with a large cutout of Te Kahika's head.
Testimony in the Auckland District Court is set to resume tomorrow.
