A 27-year-old unemployed man entered no plea when he appeared
yesterday in the Oamaru District Court on 41 charges,
including sexual violation and indecent assault, after
investigations by police into an alleged paedophile ring.
The charges date to May last year and some involved his son,
aged 13 months at the time. The former Oamaru man was
identified and the charges resulted from a national
investigation by police.
Yesterday, Judge Joanna Maze remanded the man to appear in
Oamaru on April 17, but no earlier than March 29, for a
post-committal conference.
He was granted continued interim name suppression after a
hearing in chambers, to continue until his first appearance
before a judge at a post-committal hearing, when it could be
reviewed.
Judge Maze granted a change to his bail, altering a condition
that he not come to Oamaru, where the alleged offences took
place, to allow him to travel by the most direct route to
attend court or instruct counsel in Oamaru.
An application to film the man in court yesterday made by
TVNZ was declined by Judge Maze after a hearing in chambers.
The man faces eight charges of indecent assault, three of
unlawful sexual connection, 20 of making objectionable images
and 10 of distributing an objectionable publication, between
May 10 and July 18.
Counsel Michael de Buyzer and police opposed both lifting the
interim suppression order preventing publication of his name
at this stage.
One reason was identifying the defendant would lead to
identifying the child victim, now 22 months old, and his
mother.
During the hearing, the defendant sat quietly and showed no
emotion.
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