A judge has ended a bid for name suppression for one of the group of men charged with historical sexual abuse at Auckland's Dilworth School who died after being accused.
Judge Ema Aitken said an application to keep it fails by a "significant margin" and there are no grounds to keep it.
But his name will be kept hidden while the executor of the man's will consider appealing against that decision to a higher court.
The deceased man's lawyer had argued for suppression to remain until the man's funeral.
A hearing in the Auckland District Court this morning heard the sole executor of the man’s will said the man’s partner and brother would suffer undue hardship if the name was made public before the service.
They also claimed the man’s friends would also be adversely affected by publication and may choose to not go to the funeral.
The executor also wrote to the court saying the man’s mana should be considered.
Five media organisations; TVNZ, NZME, RNZ, Stuff and Newshub opposed continued suppression at the hearing.
The lawyer for all outlets, Robert Stewart, said it was regrettable the man died between being charged and when suppression could be argued.
But he said suppression must end today because there were no grounds for it to continue.
Mr Stewart also said there was no legitimate basis for an appeal to the High Court and raised whether suppression for a dead person can be appealed against in the first place.
Judge Aitken said she was "struggling frankly to find evidence of extreme hardship".
Judge Aitken said the application fell "well short" of establishing the threshold needed.
She said extreme hardship for name suppression had a high threshold and the man no longer had fair trial rights to consider.
Judge Aitken said consequences like shame and embarrassment felt by other people are the normal consequences of a name being published.
She said having carefully considered the application that there was no evidence of any adverse of severe impact on the mental health of others, and no risks or suicide or issues for young people.
The judge also said the claim that people would feel too embarrassed to attend the man’s funeral fell “well short” of the definition of extreme hardship which she had to consider.
“It is well established that suppression is to be used sparingly and where evidence meets a high threshold test,” she said.
“There is no direct evidence of any hardship – undue, extreme or otherwise – for any particular person,” Judge Aitken said.
But the man's lawyer, Annabel Cresswell, said the executor has said they wanted to look at filing an appeal.
Any indication of an appeal in such cases means a name must stay suppressed until the matter is considered by a higher court.
Several men with links to the school who were arrested earlier this year are facing charges.
Arrests in the cases started in September after Police's Auckland City Criminal Investigation Branch looked into a complaint made in 2019.
Offending is alleged to have happened over several decades from the 1970s through to the early 2000s.
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