Covid-19 deniers and anti-lockdown protesters gathered at the TVNZ building in Auckland to protest the alert level 4 lockdown. Video / Cameron Pitney
Lockdown critic and former political hopeful William Te Kahika acknowledged in the witness box today that police had given him two warnings prior to an alert level 4 protest that he risked arrest if he went through with it.
But he was surprised nevertheless when he was taken in custody while among a crowd of about 100 supporters outside TVNZ last August, on the first day of the strict nationwide lockdown for the Delta variant, he told an Auckland District Court judge today as the testimony phase of his trial wrapped up.
That's because the prominent conspiracy theorist believed the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act, which calls for protections of freedom of speech and assembly, should have superseded any lockdown orders, he testified.
"I could not be silent," he said as lawyer Paul Borich QC eventually stopped asking questions so that his client could deliver a long, impassioned soliloquy about his controversial Covid-19 views, including the frequently criticised claim that the Delta variant was no worse than the flu.
"I apologise. This is a deeply emotional matter," the part-time pastor said as his courtroom speech came to a close. "Because I believe in the Bill of Rights. If we don't have that, our country has become something else."
Te Kahika, a musician who prior to the pandemic was better known as Billy TK, has been on trial since Tuesday alongside online broadcaster Vincent "Vinny" Eastwood. Both men could face a maximum punishment of six months' jail if found guilty of breaching lockdown requirements by organising and attending the protest.
An anti-lockdown protester tries to stop the media from filming an arrest outside TVNZ in August 2021. Photo / Dean Purcell
Judge Peter Winter said today he will deliver a reserved judgment at a later date.
"You're obviously a passionate man, I'll allow you that," police prosecutor Sergeant Phil Mann said as he went about getting Te Kahika to acknowledge he had called for thousands to attend the event, in which there was little social distancing.
"Essentially, you were hell bent on doing that protest ... Nothing was going to stop you?" Mann asked.
"No," Te Kahika agreed.
Eastwood also testified on his own behalf today, describing a history of anxiety and panic attacks that he said explained his behaviour that day after Te Kahika was arrested.
Online broadcaster Vincent "Vinny" Eastwood is arrested during a protest on the first day of the nationwide Delta lockdown. Photo / Dean Purcell
Video footage played repeatedly in court showed him yelling with an increasingly desperate-sounding tone for fellow protesters to surround him and "protect" him as police approached in an effort to hand him a letter advising him the gathering was illegal.
Eastwood, who estimated he had attended 400-800 protests in the past, said he planned to "go home and ride out the lockdown" as soon as the TVNZ protest was finished. But he had been in the middle of a road trip with Te Kahika when the lockdown was announced and all his belongings were in the co-defendant's car.
"At that point [after Te Kahika's arrest] I want to get away from the protest ... but I didn't know how to leave - especially with all my effects in Billy's car," he testified. "My anxiety levels were fairly significant ... because I was terrified of the police."
He also downplayed a social media post from the day before the protest in which he equated the lockdown to a "military takeover" and encouraged followers to ride out to meet "the enemy" at the protest.
Police allow William Te Kahika to finish his social media live stream as he is arrested at a protest during lockdown last August. Photo / Dean Purcell
"In media, there is a need sometimes to use emotional language ... to really engage their hearts," he said, adding that he in "no way, shape or form" was trying to incite violence.
He said he had seven severe panic attacks while in police custody, which he described as "the most traumatic experience I have ever suffered in my entire life".
Te Kahika and Eastwood spent 28 hours in jail before they were released on bail the next afternoon. A crowd of supporters in the courtroom gallery erupted into applause today as Judge Winter agreed to loosen some of their restrictions while they await his reserved judgment.
