Simon Anderson
A dickhead with a camera: the Establishment’s dissident.
I sat in the gallery for a couple of hours yesterday morning, the highlight of which was the cross examination of a police detective by the Tamakis’ barrister, Ron Mansfield KC.
It was absolutely fascinating for many reasons which I’ll detail below. I am not a lawyer, though, so my impressions are those of a layman and may be far from the mark. I’m also extrapolating broader defence strategy from the microcosm of one cross-examination so make of my opinion what you will.
My biggest take away is that “attack is the best form of defence”. It was abundantly clear from Mr Mansfield’s line of questioning that it is not the Tamakis on trial at all, instead it is the State, culpable for overreach. Three years after the offences the Tamakis are accused of occurred, it is my opinion that the State and its corrupt instruments would have been wiser to drop these prosecutions altogether.
Because Mr Manfield is casually, effortlessly, precisely, exposing their corruption.
For me it was cathartic. I sat in the gallery yesterday morning silently screaming and it took almost two hours for Mr Manfield to mention something I wanted him to: that the Tamakis were obviously singled out and targeted. I can barely describe the relief I felt when he did. Let me explain.
The job of the detective concerned is to analyse video footage to identify crimes and people. She was tasked with analysing the footage shot in the Auckland Domain in November of 2021, where a huge demonstration against Covid lockdowns was attended by thousands of people. The footage was, she dissembled, supplied to police by the Auckland Museum.
But here’s the thing. IN ALL THE FOOTAGE SUPPLIED BY THE MUSEUM THE CAMERAS WERE FOLLOWING THE TAMAKIS AROUND. There were thousands of demonstrators yet the museum’s cameras were zooming in and out and panning, always keeping the Tamakis in frame.
Finally, after two hours of Simon silently screaming from the gallery, Mr Mansfield asked the right question and it emerged that police had placed an officer inside the museum to operate the cameras in the days beforehand. So all the while Brian Tamaki was negotiating the logistics of the demonstration with Police Commissioner Andrew Coster and Deputy Wally Haumaha in good faith, the police were undertaking a covert operation to fit him up.
Mr Mansfield explored this in some detail. The dialogue below is my memory of the exchange and is not verbatim.
Mr Manfield: Were you also tasked with identifying people in video footage from the Black Lives Matter protest which occurred in Auckland around this time?Police witness: No.Mr. Mansfield: Were any police tasked with identifying people in video footage from the Black Lives Matter protest which occurred in Auckland around this time?Police witness: Not to my knowledge.Mr Manfield: Were you also tasked with identifying people in video footage from the Groundswell protest which occurred in Auckland around this time?Police witness: No.Mr. Mansfield: Were any police tasked with identifying people in video footage from the Groundswell protest which occurred in Auckland around this time?Police witness: Not to my knowledge.Mr Mansfield: Other than the defendants was anyone else identified at any of these rallies breaching Covid lockdown restrictions?Police witness: Only at the Freedom and Rights protest in the Domain.Mr. Mansfield: Was anyone other than the defendants in this case prosecuted for breaching lockdown restrictions?Police witness: One other person, also at the Freedom and Rights protest. But other people received warning letters.Mr. Mansfield: How many other people received warnings?Police witness: Eleven.Mr. Mansfield: You’re telling me eleven people received lockdown breach notices? In the entire country?Police witness: That is my understanding, yes.So there we have it. My understanding of this testimony is the only video footage from demonstrations the police examined as part of their investigations were those involving the Freedom and Rights Coalition. And of the thousands upon thousands of people who attended those demonstrations, the only people identified and prosecuted were Brian and Hannah Tamaki, and their friends.
I expect there will be more cross-examinations like this as the trial continues but to me it is case closed: the Rule of Law, such as it was during Covid, clearly breached New Zealand human rights. Leaving that rather significant fact aside for a moment, a fundamental principle of democracy is Equality Before the Law and in this case it is abundantly clear that the Tamakis are not guilty of the crimes that have been fabricated to prosecute them or, at least, not any more guilty than anyone else. It seems to me they are instead guilty of publicly defying the will of then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her Establishment cronies are committed to using any legislation they can concoct to prosecute them for it.
This article was originally published on the author’s Substack.
