Carterton balloon crash photo row continues

  • Breaking
  • 06/10/2014

A row over publication of photographs of the fiery Carterton balloon crash reached the High Court at Wellington this afternoon, as photographer Geoff Walker appealed Coroner Peter Ryan's decision to release them.

All photographs of the fatal crash were suppressed at the outset of the July inquest into the 11 deaths, but that was challenged by some media and Coroner Ryan decided to release four particular images.

Mr Walker then indicated he would seek judicial review, telling 3News: "I don't see any purpose of them being released at all. You know, they're pictures of people dying - that's the reality."

He claimed to have the victims' families interests at heart, but they distanced themselves from him and are not part of the appeal proceedings.

Addressing the High Court today, Mr Walker's lawyer Mary Scholtens QC said once images were published online they became "lost to [Walker] forever".

"They become public property, anything can happen to them," she said.

Ms Scholtens said Coroner Ryan could have imposed conditions around the release, but did not.

It should not have been merely a question of whether to release the photographs, but whether to allow access to Mr Walker's file and then to take copies, she said.

"There should be no presumption of accessibility."

"The Coroner didn't consider copyright as a privilege or the possibility of conditions to mitigate Mr Walker's interests, so if it was referred back to the Coroner he could consider those matters."

But Jack Hodder QC, acting for TVNZ, argued the entire purpose of the coronial regime was "to extract information from past fatalities to improve public safety for the future".

Issues of copyright must not get in the way of judicial proceedings or clear and transparent reporting by the media, he said.

The hearing is continuing.

3 News

source: newshub archive