An Auckland motorcyclist has had an indecent exposure conviction quashed after a judge ruled it could not be proved he was actually the man who had ridden past a woman while standing up on his bike and masturbating.
Nicolaas Chrisoffel Gert Petrus Nagel has won his appeal against his conviction following an incident in March last year on North Shore's Fairview Ave, when a woman was on her way to collect her daughter from school.
The woman claimed a standing motorcyclist passed her once with one hand on the handlebars and the other on his exposed penis. She said the motorcyclist then rode past the other way, this time seated, but admitted she lost sight of him when he turned. She took down the number plate on the second pass, which led to Mr Nagel's conviction in North Shore District Court last year.
The District Court judge sided with the complainant, rather than Mr Nagel, who had argued it wasn't him and there was no way he could ride standing up at 25km/h and masturbate at the same time. However, in the High Court, Justice Pamela Andrews has now quashed the conviction, saying that while Mr Nagel was the second rider it could not be established he was the first.
It was a reasonable possibility the woman was mistaken about the two men being one and the same, Justice Andrews said. She had not been able to point to any distinctive characteristics of the bikes or riders as she was focused on what he was doing on the first pass and getting the number plate the second time around, the judge said.
source: http://www.3news.co.nz
0 comments:
Post a Comment