Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Whanganui gang patch conviction upheld

Updated at 8:01 am on 19 March 2010

The Wanganui District Court has found that it has no jurisdiction to test the validity of the city's ban on gang insignia.

The Hells Angels gang had challenged the outcome of a case which was heard before a Wanganui District Court judge in December.

The gang questioned the validity of the law after a member, Bryan Vincent Moore, was convicted of wearing a patched t-shirt in the central city during a protest last September.

Justice Peter Butler has now released his ruling, which says that he found he couldn't examine the validity of the bylaw and therefore had to follow it.

He's convicted Mr Moore and ordered that the gang insignia be destroyed.

The district council in Whanganui has welcomed the outcome.

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