Publican gets burned over smoking

Geoffrey Mulvihill

A Timaru publican was fined yesterday in the first legal test of the year-old no-smoking ban in bars, cafes and restaurants.

Geoffrey Mulvihill, of the Carlton Hotel, was found guilty on eight charges of failing to take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure nobody smoked in his bar.

He was ordered to pay a total of $15,000 in fines and costs.

Mulvihill is the first publican to be tried under the Smokefree Environment Act, which came into effect on December 10 last year.

He argued that it was up to individuals to choose whether to smoke in bars.

"I'm standing up for the people of New Zealand's basic freedom of rights."

Smokefree enforcement officer Wayne Marriot told the Timaru District Court that when he went to the bar to investigate a complaint, four drinkers lit cigarettes after Mulvihill invited them to "light up please".

During sentencing, Judge Murray Abbott said the "honeymoon" period usually applying to new legislation would not apply as the offending was defiance rather than ignorance or unfamiliarity with the law.

"The Ministry [of Health] has been put to considerable expense to prosecute a defendant who had no defence," Judge Abbott said.

Outside court, Mulvihill said the judge's decision was final but he still believed people should have had a choice when the legislation was introduced. He said he now had no option but to abide by the rules.

Mulvihill said he was worried about possible effects on his liquor licence but was expecting continued support from his customers.

Judge Abbott said it was difficult to imagine a more compelling case of deliberate non-compliance with the law.

He said Mulvihill and his wife had been given every opportunity to explain what they were doing but Mulvihill was more interested in creating a media opportunity than addressing the real issues.

A political group called Win, set up to oppose the smoking ban, claimed yesterday that a national survey of 620 licensed premises it conducted revealed that many suburban, provincial town and rural bars had suffered a marked drop in profits but a Health Ministry survey recently claimed the opposite.

- NZPA