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Permanent name suppression for Kumar killer

Author
Natasha Burling ,
Publish Date
Thu, 8 Oct 2015, 1:54PM
The family of Arun Kumar outside of court after the original verdict (Alex Mason)

Permanent name suppression for Kumar killer

Author
Natasha Burling ,
Publish Date
Thu, 8 Oct 2015, 1:54PM

The Court of Appeal understands Arun Kumar's family want his killer's name released, but says it would cause the teenager extreme hardship.

Permanent name and image suppression has been ordered for a boy who was 13 when he stabbed shopkeeper Arun Kumar to death in west Auckland last year.

LISTEN Lawyer Marie Dyhrberg speaks with Larry Williams

In a decision released today, the court acknowledges the family's total sense of loss but says it doubts publishing the boy's name would help the grieving process.

It drew parallels with Bailey Kurariki, who was convicted of manslaughter for a crime he committed when he was 12.

The court says frequent references have been made to him as the country's youngest convicted killer, but little publicity has been given to his older co-offenders who were convicted of murder.

Lawyer Marie Dyhrberg supports the decision to grant name suppression. She said a person of that age doesn't have the where withal to cope with media notoriety.

"What is it doing to remind him and have some sort of poxy report that there's the headlines every time it's salacious? It's unnecessary."

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