JPs suppress their own names amid fear for safety

Fears for their safety are believed to have pushed two Hawke's Bay Justices of the Peace into an unusual move -- suppressing their own names in court.

The two JPs suppressed the media from reporting their names during a aggravated robbery depositions hearing and other cases in Hastings District Court yesterday.

Royal Federation of NZ Justices Central Region representative Alison Thomson said she believed the decision had been made because of fears for personal safety.

"It's not pleasant for someone who's doing a community service," she said.

To her knowledge there hadn't been any problems in Hawkes Bay with JPs being harrassed but there had elsewhere in the country.

Royal Federation of NZ Justices' Associations registrar Alan Hart said he sympathised with the justices who had concerns about their safety in small towns but found the move "most unusual".

"It hasn't really come up before and it hasn't been challenged whether names can be suppressed," he said.

He said the difference between judges and justices was that often judges did not live in the towns where they worked.

"The question has come up before about the publication of names," he said. "It's always been a problem because of New Zealand's size."

He said there had been instances in Palmerston North and Invercargill where JPs' houses had been targeted with paint pellets and fire bombs and windows had been smashed.

But Faculty of Law associate professor Bill Hodge, of the University of Auckland, is stunned by the order.

"I have never heard of it before," he said.

Mr Hodge said the Criminal Justice Statute of 1985 did not provide for JPs to suppress their own names and he knew of no other provision in law for the Justice to do this.

He said the suppression went against the idea of open justice.

- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY