Name suppression has been lifted on a 42-year-old woman extradited from Australia to face charges of fraud and the theft of a yacht after a years-long police investigation.
Simone Wright, also known as Simone Smith, has denied the charges and is next due to appear at a Crown case review session in the Christchurch District Court on February 27.
She has had name suppression since she was returned from Australia in November.
Judge Paul Kellar issued his reserved decision on Thursday after a hearing on the suppression issue two days earlier. He decided to refuse to continue the order after hearing submissions from defence counsel Phillip Allan, and from Crown prosecutor Karyn South.
The order formally lifted a day later, without an indication that there would be any appeal to the High Court.
Wright faces fraud charges and an allegation of theft of a $145,000 yacht at Paihia in the Bay of Islands in 2015.
The police allege the offences were committed jointly with her now estranged husband Paul James Bennett, who was returned to New Zealand to face a series of charges in 2016 and has been held in custody ever since while the case heads for trial.
Police allege the Wright and Bennett stole the yacht and sailed to Australia.
Bennett faces forgery, frauds, and theft charges, as well as an allegation of indecent assaults on a 15-year-old girl in North Shore, Auckland, in 2008, and supplying the girl with the class B drug ecstasy.
Wright and Bennett remain in custody, with pre-trial hearings scheduled over the next few months. A trial date has not yet been set.
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