Name suppression lapses for TV boss who smashed colleague's desk with hammer

Thursday, 21 January 2016

Stella Hu, pictured, the head of Chinese Radio, smashed a worker's desk with a mallet.

A television boss who smashed her colleague's desk with a hammer because she was telephoned while on holiday can now be named.

Chinese Television's (NZCTV) Stella Hu lost name suppression in the Manukau District Court when she appeared for sentencing in November, after she admitted possessing an offensive weapon with intent to cause fear.

The desk was smashed to pieces leaving Wang frightened.

Her lawyer Raewyn McCausland said she would appeal the decision to lift suppression, however she had not filed the appeal in the time required for it to go ahead.

Hu was the director of NZCTV, which runs the station TV33, with her husband Stephen Wong, the CEO of the company.

The court was told Hu was a journalist in China, before moving to New Zealand and becoming the director of several Chinese media companies including Chinese Herald Group, and Chinese radio station 90.6FM.

Hu's victim, Dandi Wang, began working in a marketing role with NZCTV in April 2013 but the relationship soured in early 2014 when Hu went on holiday to London.

The court was told she instructed staff at the company not to contact her, but she had been reached on several occasions by other staff members, allegedly under instruction by Wang.

When Hu returned to work in January she brought a hammer from home and after asking Wang, 'What are you still doing here?' she smashed Wang's glass desk with the mallet.

Emergency services were called to the East Tamaki offices but Wang was unharmed.

However as a result of the hammer attack Wang had to take extended sick leave for trauma, and later left the company.

Wang told the court her husband couldn't work because of cancer treatments and she had been unable to secure another job ever since, calling the hammer attack a 'disaster' for her family.

However the charge was further aggravated by the fact that Hu had taken to social media to effectively 'taunt' her victim, Judge Malosi said.

Hu was found to have posted comments about Wang on social media app WeChat, and on the one year anniversary of the hammer attack had commemorated it by posting a message saying she didn't regret her actions.

She had also taken a camera to court during one of her appearances and taken photographs of the inside of the courtroom despite being strictly prohibited by the Ministry of Justice.

It was this aggravating feature of Hu's offending that convinced Judge Malosi to refuse name suppression, after pointing out that Hu had effectively named herself by repeatedly referring to the events on social media.

However Judge Malosi approved an application by Hu to receive a discharge without conviction, after arguing that her business travel would be affected by her conviction and that it would be a stain on her previously good reputation in the business community.

She ordered Hu to pay $5000 in reparations to Wang.

In response to inquiries, Hu's lawyer, McCausland, said she had been instructed not to speak to media.