The man who posed as a dog trainer for the Southland Charity Hospital can now be named after lying to the court to get suppression.
Tony Rowell Fryer, 41, appeared in the Invercargill District Court in July after pleading guilty to forging a document and making a false statement.
He was granted final name suppression after he told the court if his name was published, his ex-partner would prevent him from seeing their child.
Southland Charity Hospital founder Melissa Vining was outraged by this outcome and the board made a formal request for the name suppression to be appealed.
After the lie was exposed, the Crown made an application to have the name suppression order cancelled.
The defendant did not oppose the application and did not appear in court this week as he has Covid-19.
It was the third call of the matter, and Fryer was not present for any of them for various reasons.
"He’s probably a bit lucky that the Crown haven’t chosen to charge him with perverting the course of justice," Judge Duncan Harvey said.
Last year, Fryer posed as a dog trainer for the Southland Charity Hospital in the hopes of getting a discount on a puppy.
He forged a letter from the organisation which stated he trained dogs to help people recover from head injuries.
Mrs Vining founded the hospital following her husband Blair’s fatal battle with bowel cancer, and was glad the man could finally be named.
She said she was grateful to the police for the work they had put into the case.
"People can know who he is so that the community [is] protected from further behaviour like that," she said.
"The fact that he tried to hide behind his child is despicable. It just shows the mark of the person.
"To use Blair’s name and the charity’s name to serve himself is just so disgusting," Mrs Vining said.
The convictions came after the defendant saw a Trade Me advertisement for Rhodesian ridgeback puppies on May 3 last year.
The seller originally asked for $2000 per dog, but later reduced the price to $1600.
The next day Fryer contacted them, saying he was a specialised dog trainer from South Africa and worked with dogs to help patients recover from head-injuries.
He explained he was looking for a new dog to train to assist with patient recovery.
He asked if the seller would give a puppy to the charity as they had no further funding.
After the seller said it was not feasible for him to give away one of his dogs, the defendant asked for a 50% discount.
The dog owner initially agreed to the lower price, and asked who he was working for.
Fryer named the Southland Charity Hospital and forged a letter from the hospital stating he was volunteering for the charity as a specialist dog trainer and thanked the seller for discounting the puppy.
The seller contacted the Southland Charity Hospital, which confirmed the man was lying and as a result they did not go through with the sale.
On May 8, Mrs Vining told the media about the incident.
The next day the defendant notified police his cellphone had been stolen or lost and his SIM card had been cloned.
On May 10, he told police emails and messages on his phone were being sent by someone else.
When a summons was served on him, he said "so I reported it and now I’m being charged".
The judge ordered him to pay $500 to the Southland Charity Hospital and deferred his sentence for 12 months.
