28 Aug 2008

Canadian website breaches online Hapeta ruling

7:02 am on 28 August 2008

An overseas news service has breached an order suppressing the online publication of details about two murder accused.

District Court Judge David Harvey made the unprecedented ruling earlier this week, in relation to those charged with the killing of 14-year-old John Hapeta in Auckland.

Publication of the pair's names and ages is allowed on radio, television and in print but not on the internet.

Despite that, an article from the New Zealand Herald containing their names and images turned up on a Canadian news website on Wednesday.

Internet expert David Farrar believes the mistake was genuine and also inevitable.

Mr Farrar says he does not think it qualifies as a breach as such, because the order only relates to publication in New Zealand.

The article has since been removed from the website.