Male ‘cannot be prostitute’

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33083, 25 November 1972, Page 1

Male ‘cannot be prostitute’

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, November 24. A Supreme Court judge in Auckland has ruled that under New Zealand law a man cannot be termed a prostitute.

Mr Justice Woodhouse, in a judgment given today, allowed an appeal by William Rangi against conviction.

Mr Justice Woodhouse said the.appellant was.a male who was found ■ loitering in an Auckland str.eet, pnd importuning male passers-by for purposes of homosexual prostitution. Rangi was convicted on a charge laid under the Police Offences Act. His Honour said the single question raised by the appeal was whether a male could be regarded as a common prostitute for the purposes of the Act.

There had been a division of opinion on the point in the Auckland Magistrate’s Court. Mr C. E. H. Pledger, S.M., held that the expression “common prostitute” did not include, males. However, in the present case, Mr H. Y. Gilliand, S.M., did not follow that decision. Mr Justice Woodhouse found himself unable to agree with Mr Gifiiand. Mr Pledger had arrived at the right conclusion.

“I express some regret, because it certainly can be no more necessary to clear the streets of importunate female prostitutes than to deal with males who are found soliciting or importuning for homosexual purposes,” his Honour said.

The words “common prostitute” had always been understood to apply to aspects of immoral activity by women, as the various dictionary definitions would confirm. To extend this definition to include males would, in his opinion, amount to judicial legislation, "desirable though it may be to control the particular activity under review in this case.”

Mr Justice Woodhouse said that in the United Kingdom the activities of male prostitutes were specifically controlled by express statutory provision. “Here in New Zealand, there seems to be a growinj need for some similar an< early attention to be given to the matter by Parliament,” he said.