Corrections Must Pay Christchurch White Supremacist Philip Arps $ 3000

The Department of Corrections was ordered to pay white supremacist Philip Arps $ 3,000 in legal fees.

Arps was jailed for 21 months in 2019 for spreading disturbing images of the Al Noor Mosque massacre.

The 45-year-old was released in January last year under strict conditions that included not loitering near the two Christchurch mosques or not having contact with Muslims without special approval from his parole officer.

Arps visited a store next to the Linwood Islamic Center where nine people died in August last year and alarms sounded.

He was charged with breach of the conditions of release and appeared in Christchurch District Court, where he denied the charge.

But in October the charges were dropped after it was concluded that there was no evidence that he had violated the conditions of his release.

His attorney said the arrest had resulted in significant expense and “distress” for Arps and his family and that he wanted Corrections to pay his legal fees.

In a request for costs, his attorney said Arps’ total legal costs related to the matter are $ 7,300.

In his decision, Judge Peter Rollo said: Although the charge against Mr. Arps was subsequently dismissed in the crown application, I do not consider Mr. Arps’s arrest, charge and subsequent release after the opposite bail hearing to be exceptional, nor that the charge was incorrectly brought

“I emphasize that, in my opinion, there were good reasons to suspect a crime at the time of his arrest.”

Judge Rollo ordered Corrections to pay $ 3,000 to Arps within 21 days.