Identity of teens to stay secret

Three teenage girls responsible for the death of a 90-year-old woman after a violent home invasion will keep their names secret.

The girls have pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Grace Virtue and are due to be sentenced early next year. Virtue died 25 days after being assaulted in her Levin home on November 2 last year.

In a High Court decision released this week, after a hearing earlier this month , Justice Helen Cull, QC, ruled the names of the three teen killers will be permanently suppressed.

The judge suppressed much of the information behind her reasons, but allowed it to be reported, in the case of one of the teens, that ‘‘one of the grounds advanced was safety of the person and related health concerns, the details of which are suppressed’’.

For another: ‘‘It may be reported that the grounds was extreme hardship, and this was exacerbated by her upbringing and subsequent vulnerability’’.

Two of Virtue’s sons opposed name suppression, saying their mother’s name was in the public domain. Given the seriousness of the crime, suppression would ‘‘smack of double standards’’, they said.

The Crown did not oppose any of the three getting name suppression, while Stuff told the court the relevant tests for suppressionmust be satisfied.

The older girls, 15 and 14 at the time, entered Virtue’s Bath St home on the premise of using the bathroom.

The younger of the two attacked Virtue while the other watched. The youngest girl of the three, 14 at the time, came up with the plan to rob the house.