A top New Zealand judge has decided to ban reporting the names of two men charged with murder from online news reports.

The print and the video media will be allowed to report the case but not put the names on the Internet.

Judge David Harvey said online media could not use the names, or publish images of the accused, to prevent the public searching for the information when the case comes to trial.

Two unemployed men, aged 21 and 23, were yesterday arrested and appeared in the court today facing charges of murdering 14-year-old John Hapeta, assault with intent to rob and possessing a pistol for the commission of a crime.

Judge Harvey teaches the Law and Information Technology course at the University of Auckland. He has also written a textbook on the internet and law called internet.law.nz. X

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NZ Herald