Crown Prosecutors in NZ Hide Damning Vaccine Data from Court

Written by John O'Sullivan CEO Principia Scientific International on July 24, 2026. Posted in Current News

Legal controversy in New Zealand mounts as prosecutors defy a judge and continue to hide from the Court key COVID19 vaccine database evidence in the ongoing criminal trial of whistleblower Barry Young.

Young describes himself as a whistleblower; the Crown alleges he unlawfully accessed and disclosed confidential health data. “Like a Crucifix to a Vampire”  writes Liz Gunn on x.com as Crown prosecutors defy a court in key New Zealand Vaccine Data court battle.

This legal drama is currently being played out in the Wellington District Court  in New Zealand in the criminal prosecution of Barry Young, a former IT contractor for Health New Zealand (Te Whatu Ora), who became internationally known after releasing a large anonymised COVID-19 vaccination database in late 2023.

“The judge ordered the data to be produced, yet while the Crown gave the spreadsheet to their own expert witness (Professor Robert Scragg of Auckland University – the same expert who claimed the vaccine was so safe he didn’t even need to look at it), they refused to provide it to the court. When challenged on proper procedure, they initially agreed, then backtracked weeks later claiming it was “too hard,” and are now actively refusing to show the evidence to the judge.”

The original story

In December 2023:

• Barry Young was arrested after allegedly downloading and releasing Health New Zealand vaccination records.
• The released dataset was claimed by Young and his supporters to contain evidence of increased mortality following COVID-19 vaccination.
• Health New Zealand and many epidemiologists disputed those interpretations, arguing that the analyses ignored important factors such as age, timing, background mortality, and statistical methodology, and that the release involved misuse of confidential data.

Young was charged with:

• Accessing a computer system for dishonest purposes under New Zealand law.

He pleaded not guilty and elected a jury trial.

Gunn explains:

“The judge said, to the court, to his credit, said, “I want to see the data.” They [The Crown] gave the spreadsheet to their professor, their expert witness, they gave the data to him. The one who said, “It’s such a safe vaccine… that I don’t need to look at it.” Yep… Professor [Robert] Scragg, Auckland University. And the judge said, as a matter of procedure, if you show the evidence to the expert, the court expects to see it as well.”

That’s standard legal process 101 in any western democracy (if such a thing still exists). But the Crown  backtracked a couple of weeks later and declined t0 reveal to the open court the data.

Gun laments:

“They just denied it. And so it goes round and round, but they are absolutely refusing to look at it. They are refusing to show it to the judge. And the reason why they’re refusing to look at it is clearly because they’re terrified of it.”

Young and his supporters argue that the database shows:

1. Clusters of deaths following COVID-19 vaccination
   • He has said some vaccination batches or vaccination sites appeared to have unusually high numbers of deaths occurring after vaccination.
   • He argues these patterns are inconsistent with what would be expected by chance.
2. A temporal association between vaccination and mortality
   • Young claims there is a noticeable increase in deaths occurring after vaccination, particularly within certain time windows.
   • He argues this timing suggests the vaccines may have contributed to those deaths.
3. Evidence warranting independent investigation
   • Young has generally stopped short of saying the database alone proves causation.
   • Instead, he has argued that it identifies statistical signals that should prompt a full, independent scientific investigation.
4. That the New Zealand authorities have failed to investigate adequately
   • He contends officials have dismissed concerns without performing sufficiently transparent analyses of the underlying data.
5. That access to the complete database is essential
   • Young has repeatedly stated that independent experts should be allowed to analyse the full dataset, rather than relying on government summaries or selected analyses.

For more than two years, former Health New Zealand IT contractor Barry Young has maintained that he acted not for personal gain, but because he believed the public had a right to know what he considered to be important information contained within New Zealand’s COVID-19 vaccination database.

Whether history ultimately judges him to be a hero, a whistleblower, or simply a man who made the wrong decision for the right reasons, one principle should unite everyone who values justice: courts should decide cases after examining the evidence, not without it.

That principle appears to be at the heart of the increasingly controversial legal proceedings surrounding Young’s prosecution.

Supporters argue that whistleblowers throughout history have often broken rules to reveal information they believed governments or institutions preferred to keep hidden. Whether Young’s actions satisfy New Zealand’s legal tests for whistleblower protection is ultimately for the courts to decide.

But for justice to be done, every relevant piece of evidence should be available to the judge and, ultimately, to the jury. The case continues.

References

Court proceedings and official sources

• Radio New Zealand (RNZ). Te Whatu Ora data breach accused appears in Wellington District Court (4 December 2023). Initial report covering Barry Young’s arrest and first court appearance.
  RNZ – Initial court report
• Radio New Zealand (RNZ). Te Whatu Ora vaccine data leak: Man pleads not guilty (18 December 2023). Covers Young’s not guilty plea and outlines the charge.
  RNZ – Not guilty plea
• Radio New Zealand (RNZ). Te Whatu Ora vaccine data leak: Barry Young reappears (23 February 2024). Reports subsequent procedural hearing.
  RNZ – Procedural hearing
• Courts of New Zealand. Supreme Court case information and guidance regarding publication of court transcripts and judgments.
  Courts of New Zealand – Case information

Barry Young’s perspective

• Environmental Health Watch NZ. NZ Whistleblower Barry Young on Crown Claim That Vaccine Excess Deaths “Irrelevant” (14 May 2026). Interview discussing Young’s interpretation of the data and pre-trial proceedings.
  Environmental Health Watch NZ – Barry Young interview
• Barry Young (@BarryYoungNZ). Official X (Twitter) account containing updates on the case, court appearances and public statements.
  Barry Young on X

Background and context

• Radio New Zealand (RNZ). Drip, drip, drip: NZ’s biggest political leaks (28 May 2025). Places the Te Whatu Ora data leak within the wider context of significant New Zealand public-sector leaks.
  RNZ – Political leaks overview
• Radio New Zealand (RNZ). Man charged over leaked Te Whatu Ora vaccine data hasn’t breached bail with InfoWars interview – police (7 December 2023). Reports Young’s post-arrest interview and Health New Zealand’s response.
  RNZ – Bail conditions report

About the author: John O’Sullivan is CEO and co-founder (with Dr Tim Ball among 45 scientists) of Principia Scientific International (PSI).  He is a seasoned science writer, retired teacher and legal analyst who assisted skeptic climatologist Dr Ball in defeating UN climate expert, Michael ‘hockey stick’ Mann in the multi-million-dollar ‘science trial of the century‘. From 2010 O’Sullivan led the original ‘Slayers’ group of scientists who compiled the book ‘Slaying the Sky Dragon: Death of the Greenhouse Gas Theory’ debunking alarmist lies about carbon dioxide plus their follow-up climate book. His most recent publication, ‘Slaying the Virus and Vaccine Dragon’ broadens PSI’s critiques of mainstream medical group think and junk science.