Top cop gets name suppression

The son of former Wellington police chief Pieri Munro, was probably too scared to tell the truth after allegedly being punched in the head by his father in down­town Welling­ton, a court was told today.

Mr Munro, whose name and occu­pa­tion was  sup­pressed by the District Court despite the arrest  being reported in the  Dom Post and Otago Daily Times last year, pleaded not guilty to one charge of assault on a fam­ily mem­ber..

At Welling­ton Dis­trict Court today, defence lawyer Mike Antunovic said the man had not punched his son but rather had attempted to remove a bag slung over the boy’s shoul­der while in the back seat of a parked car.

Mr Munro found his son  in Manners Mall  and dragged him back to the car, where witnesses said he punched the teenager several times in the head.