Mils Muliaina has appeared in a UK court charged with the sexual assault of a 19 year old woman
Unlike many All Black stars in New Zealand, Mils Muliaina wasn’t given name suppression when he was charged with sexual assault, neither was his name suppressed when he appeared in court. But then, they do things slightly differently outside of New Zealand. In the UK the name of the victim of an alleged sex assault is suppressed, not the accused.
Muliaina is charged with the sexual assault of a 19 year old woman. The alleged assault took place in Cardiff, on a ‘night out’ after the Irish club side he was playing for lost 18-17 to the Cardiff Blues. Police later arrested the former All Black at his team’s European Challenges quarter-final defeat in April. TV cameras filmed him being led away to a police van
In New Zealand there’s an old saying: there’s a spike in domestic violence when the All Blacks lose a match. Fortunately for many New Zealand families, the All Blacks don’t lose very often.
Ironically, winger Julian Savea (former winger for the Hurricanes) used to be the poster boy for a NZ government led campaign for the Te Rito Wellington Family Violence Network against family violence, part of New Zealand’s “It’s Not Ok” campaign.
That was until Savea was charged with assaulting his partner Dawn Rogers. The charge was later withdrawn by a Wellington Court after Savea “completed a police diversion.”
Diversion is offered in New Zealand as a way of preventing re-offending, it also helps people to not score a conviction against their name and leaves them free to travel abroad for work. Is that ok? and does it reflect how seriously New Zealand views family violence? perhaps.
You may recall another All Black, Zac Guildford was stood down by the Crusaders after his his third alcohol fuelled incident in 15 months.
But many top level sports personalities have been afforded name suppression in New Zealand after being convicted for assaults against minors, or for sex crimes, and discharged without conviction. This means they’re able to continue their careers outside of New Zealand because they do not have a criminal record.
The website NZ Rugby Bad Boys has collated a very long list of former All Black stars and their criminal convictions, you can find it here LINK.
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New Zealand’s criminal justice system has again attracted ridicule after the Queenstown newspaper Mountain Scene released details of a ‘cover up’ that protected the identity of a sex offender then released him without conviction, presumably because he was a “prominent” member of the community.
Here’s what Rodney Hide wrote about the matter, in an article headed
Forget Rolf, Maggie. We have our own sexual predator to name and shame
Diplomat Gets Name Suppression in NZ, Burglary and Attempted Rape Allegations Will Not Interfere with Trade. Malaysia Talks Openly “Alleged diplomat victim criticises John Key” Stuff.co.nz
E2NZ.org 
http://www.kiwisfirst.com/stasi-law-society/
Frank Deliu (an Auckland barrister) also went up against the NZ Law Society and won a court case against them.
Check out NZ’s dubious legal connections.
Deliu also represented my partner in a court case against the then-immigration minister at the time and won, but his application for residency took several years to complete. Apparently, his immigration adviser said that INZ weren’t happy with him taking the minister to court…
There’s this “hush-hush” culture here that I find infuriating. I should’ve stayed in Europe where people aren’t vapid gossiping monsters.
“hush-hush” culture”.
All of the systems are in place as any “modern” society should have. Tick that box, NZ.
Yet, what you’ll find is that NZ takes a dim view of actually using any of these measures.
If you do use them [even if you prevail], prepare yourself for some serious backlash.
NZers do not like getting “caught”.
My experience with the rugby crowd in New Zealand is most of them are rowdy
” they do things slightly differently outside of New Zealand.”
An understatement!
The idea of NZ sports people trotting around the globe is to much to hold back, regardless of what they have done. Consequently, many “sports people” that have done things that would have the average Joe doing jail time or a criminal record have their actions swept under the rug and they are shuffled out the back door [of the court house].
There have been a number of cases where “name suppression” was used to protect the accused and the victims wanted to have the accused perp walked [or no name suppression for either party]. Selectively deciding who to protect has been a disservice to the public and not serving the course of justice.
Another is the “least restrictive” sentencing decisions. That rule may have been implemented as a protective measure against petty and vindictive decisions. Wait, maybe NZ still needs that one.
Most of the rugby players (and the fans) are immoral meatheads who have low iq, and yeah this is a gross generalisation, but is true. I personally knew a rugby player in Hawkes Bay, as he was my classmate, and damn this guy was a pervert. Not to mention that with all the kiwi women swooning around him, it wasn’t completely his fault. NZ women are no less than the guys when it comes to immorality, no wonder they end up as white trash, when the age and the Beauty is gone. Because there is no substance in their personality. And such women breed the next generation of degenerates.
Totally second that. A friend of mine was once travelling from LA to Auckland on Air NZ and came across this so called Rugby player along the aisle who across the way while using washroom, the guy has the guts to say “do you want to pass face to face or back to back” to which the friend politely said “I can wait till you carry your giant ass along this aisle”. More than this rowdy game, I personally don’t like its audience – Rugby is less of a sport and more of “fight” and somehow these people start thinking they are IT (the players) while I can bet half of them cant even sprint 100 meters without losing breath midway !
The New Zealand (in)justice system protects the guilty, particularly the well connected. Mils Muliaina is entitled to a fair and PUBLIC trial where the presumption is that he is innocent until proven guilty. A public trial protects the interests of the public in that the public becomes aware of what is transpiring and it also protects the defendant because public knowledge protects him from a judiciary that does not follow the law or due process.
New Zealand loves to conceal its dirty laundry and protect the transgressions of the well connected. Anyone moving to New Zealand because of its supposed transparency and lack of corruption should do some research.