Greens will oppose "claim of right" defence amendment, aimed at spy base attackers
The Green Party will be opposing an amendment to the "claim of right" defence introduced in Parliament today as part of a move to strengthen the Crimes Act.
The Green Party will be opposing an amendment to the "claim of right" defence introduced in Parliament today as part of a move to strengthen the Crimes Act.
A number of proposals implementing recommendations by the Law Commission were signed off by the Cabinet yesterday and would be introduced to Parliament today as part of the bill, Justice Minister Simon Power said.
One amendment would be to the claim of right defence, which was successfully used by the three men acquitted over damage they caused to equipment at the Waihopai spy base near Blenheim in 2008.
They infiltrated the base and deflated one of the satellite dish covers by cutting it with a sickle.
Teacher Adrian Leason, Dominican friar Peter Murnane and farmer Sam Land were found not guilty by a jury on charges of burglary and wilful damage of the Government Communications Security Bureau base. Their claim of right defence argued they were saving lives in Iraq by disrupting satellite transmissions, and were acting for the greater good.
The proposed amendment means the defence will only be available to those who believe they have a personal right to the property concerned.
Green Party MP Keith Locke said his party would be opposing the amendment as it made its way through the select committee process.
"It is quite dangerous to abandon such a long held way of defending yourself and to restrict it just to property you think you have some ownership rights over. This excludes a whole lot of legitimate cases."
Mr Locke did not believe an amendment was necessary as the bill was clear and broad enough as it was.
There were all sorts of situations where a defence of claim of right would be valid, for instance breaking in to a neighbour's house because of cries for help, or damaging a drunk driver's car to try and stop them driving, Mr Locke said.
NZPA
Tue, 12 Apr 2011
Tue, 12 Apr 2011
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Greens will oppose "claim of right" defence amendment, aimed at spy base attackers
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