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Eden Park streaker guilty, convicted, fined - and he's sorry

Author
Anna Leask senior police reporter, NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Fri, 30 Jun 2017, 12:07PM
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Eden Park streaker guilty, convicted, fined - and he's sorry

Author
Anna Leask senior police reporter, NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Fri, 30 Jun 2017, 12:07PM

The man who invaded the pitch of last weekend's All Blacks test at Eden Park - naked apart from his socks - has been convicted.

Jordan Wade, 23, appeared in the Auckland District Court this morning on charges of invading a pitch of a major sporting event and offensive behaviour.

He pleaded guilty to both charges.

Wade jumped three barriers and dodged a security guard to sprint onto Eden Park in the final minutes of the test match between the All Blacks and British and Irish Lions.

The Lions had just scored a try and were yet to convert it when Wade made his move at 9.15pm.

Earlier he had been filmed sitting with no pants on in the grandstand with a man believed to be his father.

The court heard today that Wade removed his jeans and underwear at some stage in the second half of the match.

People sitting around him were "yelling" at him to put his clothes back on but he ignored them.

Then, he got up, and made his now-infamous nude dash - pulling off his shirt and beanie as he ran and swinging the former round his head.

Wade was fully clothed when he appeared in court today, and community magistrate Janet Holmes heard the 23-year-old was "remorseful".

Jordan Wade mid-streak at last weekend's All Blacks test match at Eden Park. (Photo \ Brett Phibbs)

His lawyer sought name suppression, saying if he was publicly identified his business would suffer.

Holmes quickly dismissed the request.

"He clearly put himself in the public arena in every sense of the word," she said.

"And he chose to do that for no apparent reason.

"It seems to me that there are no grounds for name suppression."

Police also opposed name suppression.

Holmes said the court had not been given an explanation for Wade's offending, but gave him credit for pleading guilty at his first appearance.

She said the charges could have been considered for police diversion, but Wade had been down that track previously so it was not an option.

He has no other criminal convictions.

Holmes convicted Wade on the pitch invasion charge and fined him $400 and ordered him to pay court costs of $130.

On the second count he was convicted and discharged.

His lawyer told the court he was "remorseful".

"He accepts it was sheer stupidity on his part," she said.

Jordan Wade's discarded jeans after he streaked at last weekend's All Blacks test match. (Photo \ Givealittle)

After the appearance Wade told the Herald he did not want to comment further on his offending.

This week he launched a Givealittle fundraising page to help him pay the fine, raising $600.

The maximum fine he could have been given was $5000 and Wade asked the public to help him cover it.

"I'd appreciate if anyone found it funny or anyone had a cheer if you could donate a dollar or two that would be awesome," he told NZME's Radio Hauraki.

"It was a bit of spur-of-the-moment peer pressure from a few different people, my father being one of them and yeah, went for a bit of a run.

"To be honest, not a lot was going through my head, just thought I'd have a bit of fun and they obviously didn't like it as much as I did."

On his fundraising page Wade said if there was any money left over after he paid the fine, he would donate it to the charity Boots For Grassroots, which provides rugby boots to young players in the Pacific Islands.

-NZ Herald

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