Former All White Dr Ceri Evans has forged a career as an internationally renowned high-performance consultant, plying his trade with the All Blacks, English Premier League football club Arsenal, an NBA franchise in the United States and Australian professional sport teams.
But before all his globetrotting successes, he was a student of medicine at the University of Otago.
On July 16, 1984, Evans was charged with careless driving and appeared in the Ashburton District Court.
He denied the charge a fortnight later but in September that year he was convicted, fined $75, ordered to pay costs of $33 and directed to complete a defensive driving course, which he undertook in Dunedin while studying.
Forty years later, Evans appealed the conviction to the High Court on the basis that declaring it when entering the US or Australia caused "embarrassment and inconvenience".
He estimated he had had to do so when crossing the Tasman about 100 times.
The implications of the conviction meant a "miscarriage of justice" had occurred, Evans’ lawyer argued.
Justice Melanie Harland, however, was not swayed.
The merits of appeal were not strong, she said, dismissing the application.
While Evans was unable to continue the legal battle in the Court of Appeal, the fight for name suppression went on.
In a decision released last week, the court outlined the psychiatrist’s stellar credentials, saying he had led an "impeccable and very successful life" since the driving offence.
"His curriculum vitae is impressive. It reveals not only excellent academic qualifications but considerable experience providing forensic psychiatry services that have no doubt benefited not only those he has treated, assessed or taught but also the community," the judgement said.
As well as sports teams — work which Evans said he expected to increase — he had provided consultancy services to government, military, police, corporate, industrial, educational, medical and legal entities, the court heard.
Justices Collins, Dunningham and Powell were less impressed by the name-suppression application.
Evans used a rare argument that his identity should be kept under wraps because not doing so would prejudice the maintenance of law.
It fell "considerably short" of persuading the court.
"On the contrary, maintenance of the law would be undermined when a person convicted of a criminal offence waits for 40 years before trying to overturn their conviction and, at that person’s request, the court hears and considers the application under a cone of silence," the ruling said.
"Such an approach is the antithesis of open justice."
— Rob Kidd, Court reporter
