Liberty group chides S.M.

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34021, 9 December 1975, Page 3

Liberty group chides S.M.

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, December 8. r l'he Auckland Council for Civil Liberties says it was shocked that a retired magistrate who last week acquitted a senior police officer of charges of unlawfully divulging details of a criminal history, apparently assumed a former prison inmate “has less rights than an ordinary citizen.”

i “This is completely con- | trary to the New Zealand I constitutional system and ; human rights in general,’’ said the secretary of the council (Dr W-. Hodge). He was commenting on remarks made by Mr M. C. Astley, S.M., when ruling that Detective SeniorSergeant R. J. Stapleton had i not breached police regui lations. ; The three charges against

| the detective were initiated Iby the Commissioner of I Police and arose out of an invitation to a man earlier this year to address the Auckland Law Students’ I Society dinner. The Magistrate found that (Senior-Sergeant Stapleton had acted in “strict pursuance of his duty.” “I disagree that after a man has paid his debt to society he is entitled to his full freedom and rights,” said the Magistrate. “This is a cliche. "A discharged criminal has to work his way back into society, and is not to be necessarily regarded as having purged his misdeed,” he said in his judgment. Dr Hodge said the decision made a mockery of the man’s attempt to rehabilitate himself, his university studies, and his recentlydeveloped keen debating skills. "We cannot comment on the merits of the decision itself since the charge and defence were heard in secret. But the attitude of the Magistrate and the police is completely contrary to the New Zealand tradition of freedom or speech and equality before the law.” He said there seemed to be a prima facie breach of Police Regulation 33, since the detective allegedly used confidential information to bring pressure to bear on law students to induce them to withdraw a speaking invitation to the law students’ dinner. The Magistrate today declined to comment on his decision, or remarks made in it.