Judge allows images of Carmen accused

Brad Callaghan appears in the Auckland District Court via a video link from Auckland Central Remand Prison. Photo / Paul Estcourt

A defence lawyer's attempt to prevent Brad Callaghan's image being photographed in court has been thrown out by a judge.

Brad Callaghan appeared by video-link at the Auckland District Court on Tuesday charged with the murder of Carmen Thomas.

His lawyer, Stuart Grieve, QC, said his client was inside Auckland Central Remand Prison when he appeared via the link-up and therefore could not be photographed.

He cited the Corrections Regulations which require the media to get permission from the Corrections chief executive and the prisoner before taking photos.

Lawyers for the Herald argued that the Corrections Regulations did not apply to court hearings otherwise the regulations could stop the court from administering its own processes.

Yesterday afternoon, Judge Fred McElrea ruled in favour of the Herald.

"This will apparently be the first time a photograph has been taken of a defendant as he appears by [video-link] and the public, not then present in court, will have a legitimate interest to see how the new system operates in practice," Judge McElrea said.

Mr Grieve had said it was "prurient" to take photos of someone who was in prison.

But Judge McElrea disagreed.

"There can be no suggestion that people wanting to see someone by AVL appearance in court have any uneasy or morbid craving," he said.

Callaghan is charged with murdering Carmen Thomas, 32.

Mr Grieve said he had received "tranches of substantial" disclosure including 132 witness statements, 19,000 pages of evidence, 20 photo booklets and numerous CDs and DVDs relating to the case.

They included recordings of bugged phone conversations.

Callaghan did not enter a plea at the Tuesday hearing.

He is due back in court in April.