A Californian man involved in a head-on crash that injured a Queenstown woman has successfully applied to have his name suppressed until his next court appearance.
Ms Duan suffered a spinal fracture and her car was written off after the crash, which occurred about 5am as she was driving to the hotel where she works as a chef.
At a hearing in the Queenstown District Court today, the defendant’s counsel, Michael Walker, said reporting by two media organisations had caused hardship to the man and his family, who had been subjected to "abuse, bullying and racism" online.
Reader comments on the articles represented one of the worst viral online attacks he had seen in his career, Mr Walker said.
"The impacts of this reporting are extending well beyond the defendant, it’s bordering on harassment."
Some of the reporting had been inaccurate and unbalanced.
"It has very much been painted as a hit-and-run, but he didn’t run at all, he tried to offer assistance to the victim."
The defendant cooperated with police at the scene, including undergoing a breath test.
He and his wife flew to Auckland later that day, where they were stranded for two days because of disruption to flights caused by Cyclone Gabrielle.
The police did not attempt to stop them from leaving the country, he said.
The defendant was not required to appear at today’s hearing.
Judge Russell Walker said his initial reaction to the application was "this horse has bolted", because the defendant’s name and occupation had been widely reported.
Mr Walker had argued the application was necessary to protect the defendant’s right to a fair trial, and to protect he and his immediate family from the ongoing "cyber-bullying".
It was the defendant’s first appearance, which meant a relatively low threshold needed to be met to satisfy the court that publishing his name would cause undue hardship, Judge Walker said.
He accepted the threshold had been met, and ordered the defendant’s name and former occupation be suppressed until his next appearance on April 24, and that photos of the man and immediate family members be removed from online articles.
The Otago Daily Times has not reported the defendant’s name or occupation at any stage.
