Suppression of name refused

Press, 24 July 1987, Page 7

Suppression of name refused

An application for interim suppression of the name of the youth who hijacked a Christchurch Transport Board bus on Wednesday was rejected by Judge Fraser in the District Court yesterday. Although bail was opposed by Sergeant M. J. South, Mark Damien Hibbs, aged 17, unemployed, was granted bail of $2OOO. He was remanded, without plea, to July 30. In granting bail the Judge ordered that Hibbs reside at home with his mother.

He is charged with unlawfully detaining Dennis Ferdinand Coppen without his consent.

In seeking bail, a duty solicitor, Mr A. R. James,

said it was the wish of the defendant’s mother, who was in court, that Hibbs reside with her.

Although he did not want psychiatric treatment, Mr James said Hibbs had a serious problem with depression. Sergeant South told the Judge that for the last two weeks Hibbs had been staying with friends and not living at home. According to the police, the charge relates to an incident in which a knife was allegedly used against the bus-driver to force him to drive his bus north from Christchurch to Darfield, where police road blocks ended the journey. Hibbs was said by the police to have been disgruntled about a job application to the Transport Board.