Extensive suppression orders, however, remain and prevent the Herald from publishing further details, such as the date and place of the alleged offending.
Thomas is on bail and did not appear in court today in person. He first appeared in court on November 28 and pleaded not guilty to all five charges.
Thomas' defence is being led by well-known Auckland lawyer Marie Dyhrberg QC, while Aaron Perkins QC is prosecuting the case for the police.
Thomas was convicted of the murders of Harvey and Jeanette Crewe, who were shot dead in their Pukekawa farmhouse in June 1970, and dumped in the Waikato River.
He was found guilty of the killings in 1971 and again at a retrial in 1973.
But in 1979, after he had spent nine years in prison, he was granted a pardon after an investigation was ordered by then Prime Minister Robert Muldoon.
A 1980 Royal Commission of Inquiry found that a cartridge case in the Crewe's garden - said to have come from a rifle belonging to Thomas - was planted at the scene by detectives.
Thomas was granted a royal pardon and awarded $950,000 in compensation.
In 2010, the Crewes' only child, Rochelle, asked police to reopen the homicide investigation in a bid to find her parents' killer.
She was 18 months old when they died and was found crying in her cot five days after they were last seen alive.
The request led to a police review of the murders, which was overseen by independent counsel David Jones QC.
