Second man linked to Two by Twos fights to keep name secret
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A second Northland man facing sex offence charges, who is linked to a secretive sect known as the Two by Twos, is fighting to keep his name secret.
The 81-year-old is appealing the Whangarei District Court’s decision to lift name suppression earlier this month.
He faces 12 charges of indecent assault, two of performing an indecent act, and one each of sodomy and bestiality.
The four complainants were boys aged between 12 and 16 when the alleged crimes occurred in the 1970s and 80s.
The accused is due to stand trial next year.
He has appealed to the High Court and Court of Appeal in a bid to stop his name from being published, meaning name suppression will continue until that is heard.
The man appeared in Whangārei District Court on 27 August before Judge John McDonald who heard submissions regarding name suppression.
Judge McDonald then adjourned the hearing, in order to consider an application to have the bestiality charge heard separately.
The following week when the hearing resumed, Judge McDonald declined to have the beastiality charge heard separately and lifted name suppression.
At the August hearing, the man’s lawyer Wayne McKeen told the court naming him would bring extreme hardship to him and his family.
He said the man’s family run a business that would likely suffer financial losses if the charges against him became publicly known.
“He does enjoy the presumption of innocence, the media attention is such that it’s going to be difficult for him to be seen to enjoy that presumption in the eyes of the public once publication has been made.”
Crown prosecutor Ben Bosomworth opposed continued interim name suppression and said hardship and stigma were natural consequences of such charges, for both the accused and those associated with them.
“This is standard for anyone facing criminal charges of this nature and relates more specifically to court proceedings…it is nothing more than what is ordinary for someone in that particular situation.”
He said the evidence submitted by the defence did not meet the bar of extreme hardship.
McKeen also told the court the man was a longstanding and senior member of the church by virtue of his age and that it was not a cult.
The Christian sect has about 2500 members and 60 ministers in New Zealand, is not registered as a charity and has no official name nor church buildings.
A hallmark of the group is that its itinerant ministers travel in pairs and stay in members’ homes.
The charges follow the conviction of Kerikeri man Bill Easton who pleaded guilty to sexual offending against boys that spanned three decades when he was part of the sect.
Content retrieved from: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/573337/second-man-linked-to-two-by-twos-fights-to-keep-name-secret.
