$50 fine for all 80 motor-cyclists on assembly charge

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33460, 15 February 1974, Page 1

$50 fine for all 80 motor-cyclists on assembly charge

All 80 members of an assembly of motor-cyclists in Kerrs Road on December 30 were convicted and fined $5O each with costs in the Christchurch Magistrates Court yesterday.

Defence counsel strongly attacked methods used by police leading up to the arrest and before the trial.

Mr D. M. Palmer said that some of his clients would have elected trial by jury if it had not been for an interview with a very senior police officer which appeared in a

national Sunday newspaper. The defence counsel are Messrs Palmer. A. K. Grant, B. H. S. Neal, D. J. More, R. L. Kerr, K. N. Hampton, and L. G. Holder The hearing was before Mi E. S. J. Crutchley, S.M. “The details printed in that paper are clearly contemptuous of court,” said Mr Palmer. “The article coloured my advice to my clients. The fact that a person could do this kind of thing after arrest and before trial should be looked at with a view to prosecution of the person involved.” Mr More, who represented eight defendants from Dunedin, said that at that moment outside the courtroom was a police constable with a videotape camera. “What right do the police have to do this?” he said. Mr Neal, who represented defendants from Napier, said that the publicity should not have arisen before the trial.

Shadowing “The shadowing and constant police attention concerns me. The police could have read the Riot Act and stopped short of invoking the Unlawful Assembly section of the Crimes Act. The defendants would then have had to disperse.” In his summary the Magistrate said that each of the defendants was jointly charged with being a member of an unlawful assembly at Christchurch on December 30. “The facts are that between December 28 and 30 a large number of young people travelled to Christchurch shadowed by police,” he said.

“They congregated at 71 Kerrs Road until, about midday on December 30, there were 30 or 40 young people there, consuming beer, revving motor-cycles and spraying each other with beer. “About 5.30 p.m. six members were seen by a police patrol to be fighting. Blows were exchanged, beer was sprayed and a helmet was thrown.”

Bottle smashed One of the group started spraying the others with a hose and a beer bottle was thrown at him. This smashed in the road way, said the Magistrate. “A police sergeant moved in to make an arrest but was prevented by six hostile members of the assembly.

“As a result of this and complaints to police from nearby residents a decision was taken to make a mass arrest, and this was done about 10 p.m.

“I am satisfied there was , an assembly. The purpose is established by the fact that persons from all over New . Zealand gathered with the 1 common interest of a social , gathering.” The conduct before 8.00 p.m. which gave rise to the residents fears was prima > facie evidence of that pur- ' pose, said the Magistrate. [ In public view This conduct was per- ■ formed in view of a public street and would probably • constitute disorderly behav- ; iour. “All those on the premises knew of this conduct; those ' who knew of it but did not ! take part were still a party 1 to it,” the Magistrate said. In making submissions for ! his clients Mr Kerr said that 1 they had suffered consider- ’ able penalty already with pre-trial publicity. Mr Grant said it was a [ very minor and unimpressive • assembly and his clients were 1 “keenly conscious of, and

profoundly disturbed by. the publicity.” Mr Holder said: “All the newspapers have tended to open up the subject to make it appear worse than it was.” Mr Hampton said: “One would have thought this matter started some long time before December with a change of Government and a change of policy. Herding along “In more recent history it would seem that police in Wellington were warned the week before — their task consisted of ‘herding along’ the motor-cyclists. “Why was there a road block set up at Waipara preventing them from travelling anywhere but to Christchurch? Why one mile down the road were breath tests arranged and a doctor on hand to take blood samples?” said Mr Hampton. "The police herded them together and kept them under constant surveillance. They started ‘looking’ for complaints,” he said.