Big bill imposed over Ryder suppression case
A man who challenged Community Probation’s records of his attendance at a community work sentence imposed for breaching the suppressions in the Jesse Ryder assault case has now been slapped with a big bill for the prosecution.
Jordan Francis Louis Mason, 30, denied the charge of breaching his community work sentence at a day-long hearing before Judge David Saunders in the Christchurch District Court on March 13.
Mason had taken video on his cellphone of the two men accused of assaulting the well-known cricketer, when they made an appearance in a court session at the Nga Hau e Wha marae on April 4, 2013. He posted the footage on YouTube even after being warned by a policeman that it would breach the men’s suppression order that had just been imposed by the court. The video did not name the men but they were clearly identifiable.
He was then charged with breaching the suppression and after he pleaded guilty he was sentenced to two months’ community detention and 140 hours of community work.
Last year, Community Probation prosecuted him for failing to do the community work hours.
At the hearing, they called seven witnesses to show that Mason had done only 49.5 hours of the 140-hour sentence, but Mason – defending himself – claimed that he had attended on other dates which had not been recorded.
He challenged the accuracy of the department’s record-keeping in court, but Judge Saunders rejected that. He said there had been careful record-keeping by the department and Mason had written his own list of dates showing his claimed attendance after receiving a summons for the breach.
Mason was remanded on bail for a probation report and sentence after being found guilty of the breach at the hearing. He was sentenced to community detention a fortnight ago but Community Probation has since sought a review of the sentence.
The final sentence has ended up as a four-month community detention sentence and a $1500 payment for the cost of the Community Probation prosecution.
Category: Focus
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