A delay to court proceedings managed to save a man charged after last year's nationwide police raids from the prison cells yesterday.
Judge Mark Perkins issued, and then withdrew, a warrant to arrest Phillip Jack Purewa, after he failed to return to court after attending a tangi, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Purewa, 24, is one of 18 people facing firearms charges after a police operation last October dubbed Operation 8.
He was granted leave from the depositions hearing under way at Auckland District Court on Monday to attend a tangi and was given until noon yesterday to appear.
When his name was called to have his charges read to him and he couldn't be found, Judge Perkins issued a warrant.
Purewa's lawyer, Charl Hirschfeld, then filed an affidavit to the court that explained his non-appearance.
Mr Hirschfeld said he had told his client what would happen if he failed to appear when his name was called again.
Judge Perkins said he had watched Purewa and said he had a short attention span. "He has the attention span of 10 or 13 seconds before he has to go out."
Purewa was then stood down until today so up-to-date information on the firearms charges he faces could be obtained.
"He's lucky to have been called this afternoon quite frankly," Judge Perkins said.
The hearing, expected to run until September 11, will determine if the case against Purewa and 17 others will go to trial or not.
Police originally charged the group under terrorism legislation, alleging they took part in military-style training camps, but the charges were thrown out by the Solicitor-General.
They were instead charged under the Arms Act for charges ranging from possession of a rifle to possession of restricted weapons such as molotov cocktails.
The depositions hearing slowly ground on yesterday, as more than 300 charges continued to be read to defendants.
Eight people had their charges read out yesterday, with some requesting their charges be read in Maori.
Of the people who appeared yesterday: Whiri Andrew Kemara faces 29 charges, Tuhoe Francis Lambert 12, Jamie Beattie Lockett 15, Marama Hannah Mayrick 13, Watene Paul McClutchie 33, Valerie Morse 12, Trudi Paraha 17, and Urs Signer faces 22.
The last four defendants will have their charges read today before evidence can begin to be presented against the accused.
