Interest sees accused named

The public interest in the case of two Western Springs College students whom Philip Michael Foss allegedly tried to kidnap off the street was too great for his name to remain suppressed, a judge said yesterday.

The 25-year-old appeared in the Auckland District Court before Judge Ray Keane, who allowed him to have name suppression for 3 1/2 hours to call his parents and tell them he had been arrested.

He is charged with kidnapping a 14-year-old girl and the attempted kidnap of a 17-year-old girl.

On Friday last week, Foss is alleged to have tried to abduct the 17-year-old as she was walking to school.

She has said she was approached by a man who said he would shoot her if she did not get into his car.

She screamed and ran off.

Foss is then said to have forced a 14-year-old girl into his car.

She managed to escape when his car slowed at an intersection.

Yesterday his lawyer, Sanjay Patel, made an application for Foss' name to be suppressed on "humanitarian" grounds.

Foss' mother lives in Auckland, his father in Napier and he had five siblings who needed to be told of his arrest.

Judge Keane granted Foss name suppression for the time it took him to phone his family.

The 25-year-old stood quietly in the dock, eyes blankly staring ahead.

Foss was remanded in custody to reappear on July 7.

He was arrested on Thursday night.

Police said a blanket with a lion on it, which had fallen out of his car, was instrumental in capturing him.