Sunday, December 6, 2009

Radio Broadcaster Guilty of Naming Sex Offenders

theage.com.au : Hinch loses fight to avoid court.

Contempt charges will proceed against radio broadcaster Derryn Hinch after he failed in a Supreme Court bid to challenge the legitimacy of suppression orders he allegedly breached by naming two sex offenders. Hinch is facing five charges of contempt of court for naming the offenders at a victims of crime rally in June last year, and on his website.

Justice Robert Osborn said courts had repeatedly recognised that the rehabilitation of offenders was in the public interest, and this could be jeopardised if identities were published.

Hinch has been jailed previously for naming a sex offender in defiance of the courts. He served 12 days' jail in 1987 after revealing on radio the prior convictions of a pedophile.