Judge tells court-martialled, dismissed soldier Jackie Te Weehi her actions were destructive

Corporal Jackie Te Weehi at her court martial at Whenuapai Air Base on Monday. Photo / RNZ, Kim Baker Wilson

By Kim Baker Wilson of RNZ

An Army corporal who swindled thousands of dollars from her comrades in the touch rugby team she managed has been told she has lost her military career and will be held in detention.

But she has avoided detention for now after instructing her lawyer to appeal against that sentence, and the judge granting bail for health reasons because of the expected eight months it would take an appeal to be heard.

Corporal Jackie Te Weehi pocketed $3422.57 of team member and NZDF funding while organising their participation in 2023 in the Australian Defence Force’s touch championships.

She also falsely told the Chief of Army that players had travel insurance when they did not.

Te Weehi pleaded guilty at a court martial at Whenuapai Air Base on Monday to a representative charge spanning months of theft by a person in a special relationship.

She also admitted to making a false official document.

On Tuesday, Te Weehi was told dismissal from the NZDF alone would not be enough to deter, denunciate or rehabilitate.

The judge told her that her actions were destructive of the trust that must exist between all members of the armed forces.

The Territorial Force soldier has since paid back the money she stole.

The sentencing

Judge Bill Hastings told Te Weehi, 49, her abuse of trust was an aggravating factor in her offending.

“You were the team manager, you abused the trust of many comrades, most of whom were a rank subordinate to yours.

“You stole from subordinate ranks, your actions violated in particular the core military values of comradeship and integrity.”

The judge continued to say Te Weehi’s offending was premeditated and that this was demonstrated by the number of times she stole money.

Judge Hastings also told her she acted in self-interest and demonstrated a willingness to place her self-interests above the Defence Force.

In considering detention, Judge Hastings said he and the military members deciding her sentence had to consider denunciation, deterrence, rehabilitation and reintegration.

He said dismissal was not enough to achieve these alone and he and the panel were of the view detention was also required.

“We consider the NZDF has an obligation to one of its long-standing members to not cut you loose, but to send you back to the community with better values than when you offended,” he said.

“It also to a great extent provides for your rehabilitation and reintegration into the community.”

Judge Hastings said the sentence of both detention and dismissal held the corporal to account for the harm she had caused and deterred others from doing similar.

Credit was given to Te Weehi for her previously unblemished 27 years of service, her remorse, reparations and an early guilty plea.

Judge Hastings said he and the military members had seen letters of apology she wrote to both the court and the army men’s touch team players she took money from.

“We have read these letters and consider them to be genuine expressions of remorse.”

But the judge said there was no way Te Weehi could stay in the Defence Force.

“We consider it neither tolerable, not realistic for the NZDF to retain your services,” he told her.

“Your offending involved a fundamental breach of trust between members of the NZDF such that they should not be expected to work with you again.”

Judge Hastings told the corporal the extent of her breaches of NZDF values prevent her being retained and demonstrate unfitness to command in the future.

During her court martial, NZDF prosecutors also argued Te Weehi could not reasonably be put in a position of trust again.

Judge Hastings had to decide whether to grant the corporal bail or send her to detention until her appeal was heard.

He said he was granting bail to preserve Te Weehi’s appeal rights and not giving it would make those rights redundant given the time it would take.

She must not travel overseas, must surrender any travel documents and not apply for new ones, and tell Military Police if she moves.

The offending

Defence Force prosecutors Lieutenant Letitia Smith and Sub Lieutenant Angus Graham laid out the case at Whenuapai Air Base on Monday.

It was July 2023 when the New Zealand Army Men’s Touch Team was invited to play in the Australian Defence Force Touch Championship in Australia.

Te Weehi, an acting sergeant at the time, was manager of the team.

She overcharged team members and asked for money that wasn’t used, including asking for donations for the coach’s emergency bereavement flight back to New Zealand.

She took money at various points.

Te Weehi sent a budget to team members on August 1, 2023 saying they needed to pay $635 to cover the trip – $531 for flights, $80 for uniforms and $24 for other costs.

Days later, she was told that sponsorships meant flight costs had dropped to $400.

She then told team members they needed to pay $535 in total, when it should have been $504.

Between July 27 and August 23, team members put money into Te Weehi’s personal bank account.

In all, she got $8726 that was supposed to be for tournament expenses.

Between August 15-23 Te Weehi transferred $5600 to another service person who booked flights and then paid $1200 for uniforms.

In total she spent $7200 on the team’s needs.

But she held on to $940 from overcharging each player, asking for money for expenses that were not used and not repaying two players who overpaid.

Another player wanted to take his civilian daughter to the tournament and was told she would need to pay full price for the flight.

But Te Weehi knowingly put her on a seat subsidised by the army and held on to the extra $586, which she used for personal expenses.

Then, she got $3000 of sponsorships from the Army Logistics Regiment that was supposed to be given to team members equally as a reimbursement.

Te Weehi, while distributing the money, told players there were hidden costs and insurance fees when there weren’t, and held on to $939.67 and used it personally.

Money from a manager grant for extra expenses was also paid into her bank account for the likes of sports drinks and washing powder, but was not used for those.

On October 18 she asked players for more contributions, $490 for the team and miscellaneous costs.

She only put $294.70 of it toward those, and held on to the rest.

Then, when the team coach had to return to New Zealand urgently during the tournament for a family bereavement, the flight was charged to an NZDF credit card.

Te Weehi raised $189.60 from donations from four team members but gave none of the money to the coach or to the Defence Force.

On October 25, she offered to order new team T-shirts for the team with eight players together handing over $372, but the shirts were never ordered.

On the second charge of making a false official document, she made a document addressed to the Chief of Army saying she had arranged travel insurance for the team.

A later investigation by Military Police found Te Weehi had never got insurance.

“Corporal Te Weehi blatantly lied, this was not spur of the moment offending,” Smith said of the second charge at the court martial.

She also told the judge Te Weehi was not acting in any form other than self-interest.

Smith said Te Weehi had “a clear unwillingness” to comply with the ethos and values of the NZDF.

Te Weehi’s defence

When interviewed under caution in October last year, Te Weehi asked to terminate the interview and exercise her right to refrain from making further statements.

At the court martial, Te Weehi’s lawyer, David Pawson, told the military panel it was “absolutely warranted” to have her dismissed.

“No problem with that at all,” he said.

But he argued she should not face detention, and that dismissal was a higher punishment than detention.

“She immediately pleaded guilty, she is remorseful, she’s paid back the donations and she’s written a letter of remorse,” he said.

He also urged the military panel to consider the effect of Te Weehi’s name being published by the media.

“I invite you to consider about being empathetic too, I’m not saying be soft but I’m not saying let’s be harsh either,” he said.

“Because at the end of the day, Corporal Te Weehi is toward the end of her long and distinguished service.”

“We’ve all made mistakes,” he told the panel before it considered its sentence.

No victims gave victim impact statements.