Scouting New Zealand has abandoned its bid to have references to the Scouts permanently suppressed after a former Hokitika scout leader was jailed last Friday on numerous sex charges.
Wayne Alexander Noble was sent to jail for five years for sexual grooming, sexual connection with a young person under-16, sexual exploitation, and making an objectionable publication. Both victims were Venturer Scouts in his care.
Noble was also the Buller-West Coast Scouts zone leader. The Hokitika scout group has since gone into recess.
Scouting NZ chief executive Joshua Tabor initially refused to comment on the sentencing as he was working with the Crown solicitor to have the organisation's name suppressed. He later said Scouts would not be taking the matter further.
Judge Charles Blackie lifted all suppressions at Noble's sentencing hearing on Friday in the Greymouth District Court.
Noble's association with Scouting NZ had been suppressed, but that lapsed last year and no further application was made in court on Friday.
- Greymouth Star
