Their kissing progressed to overt fondling in front of other passengers on board the Air New Zealand aircraft.
Judge Garry Barkle said at Finn’s hearing today that it was apparent from the summary of facts the conduct of the pair was causing “much embarrassment and discomfort” to the passengers and crew.
Despite requests from the cabin crew for the pair to stop, they continued and were arrested when the flight landed, Judge Barkle said.
Finn, 30, and LeLievre had left Auckland on the morning of November 13 last year, with 48 others on board at the time and two flight attendants.
They were seated near the front in row three.
Finn’s lawyer Steven Zindel said cabin crew had reported him as being “quite high”, which was indicative of his addiction problem.
Zindel said that extended to a “significant” gambling addiction leading to losses of $100,000 in online pokies.
The court heard that as the flight neared Nelson and began its descent, the pair started to kiss each other “excessively”.
One of the flight attendants asked them to stop what they were doing as other passengers were disturbed.
As the flight attendant turned away, Finn and LeLievre resumed kissing and were asked again to stop or their behaviour would be escalated to the captain.
Finn then reached inside LeLievre’s bra and began fondling her, which others on the flight could see.
The flight attendant alerted the flight deck while the second attendant approached the couple, who by then had progressed to heavier petting.
When they saw the attendant approach, they pretended to be asleep, but Finn still had his hand inside LeLievre’s clothes.
Once the flight landed in Nelson, police boarded the flight and arrested the couple.
Finn admitted the charge and in sentencing him, Judge Barkle noted he had 21 previous convictions, mostly for dishonesty and theft between 2016 and 2024.
The judge said that Finn largely had an “enjoyable upbringing” despite having lost his father at a young age, which would have had a significant impact on him.
Finn was sentenced to six months of community detention and 12 months of supervision.
The overall sentence covered the indecent act as well as sentencing on other, unrelated offending, including retail theft and theft of items from a house that a courier had just dropped off, and two charges of breaching court bail.
LeLievre has admitted the indecent act charge and will be sentenced in November.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
