April 29, 2013

'Loyalty' to Jesse Ryder led to suppression breach

By David Clarkson at Nga Hau e Wha marae. Full report.?Christchurch man Jordan Mason claims a misguided sense of loyalty to Jesse Ryder led him to put video of the cricketer?s assault accused on YouTube in breach of a court suppression order.

Mason, 28, today admitted the charge of breaching the suppression order, at a Christchurch District Court appearance in the Nga Hau e Wha marae in Aranui, and Judge Jacki Moran remanded him on bail for sentencing on July 10.

She said the remand would give the prosecution and defence a chance to make written submissions before sentencing.

Defence counsel Andrew McKenzie said it was ?not the most serious breach of its kind?. The suppression orders on the two Ryder assault accused were to be considered at a hearing on May 7.

?It is accepted that if the suppression order lapses it doesn?t excuse his behaviour, but it may be a factor to be taken into account,? said Mr McKenzie.

Police prosecutor Stewart Sluis said the suppression order had been made by Judge Gary MacAskill to cover the names and images of the two Ryder assault accused at their court appearance at the marae on April 4.

That day, Mason videoed the pair on his cellphone outside the court building and uploaded the footage to YouTube, even after being spoken to by a police officer who warned him about the suppression order.

Mr McKenzie said Mason had done it out of a misguided sense of loyalty to Ryder.

?He is now very aware of the reasons for these orders and the importance of them to ensure that the process of justice proceeds in a fair manner,? he said.

The names of the two men had been published in The Press that morning, and they had been named on-line. Mason had not named them nor given any identifying details in the video he put on YouTube.

Mason says he has been a reformed boyracer since causing a near-fatal accident in 2002, when he was aged 17. He was in the news again last year when he was criticised for being filmed hanging out the window of a car at a gathering of boyracers.