Magazine editor admits part in axe attack

Timothy Selwyn

A Grey Lynn man has admitted his part in a political protest in which an axe was embedded in the window of Prime Minister Helen Clark's electoral office.

Timothy Selwyn, 31, a magazine editor , pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court yesterday to being a party to a conspiracy with person or persons unknown to commit intentional damage at the Mt Albert electoral office property last November 18.

He denied two other charges of being a party to a seditious conspiracy and publishing statements with seditious intent.

A date for his sentencing and for trial on the sedition charges will be set next month.

Outside the court Selwyn appeared keen to talk to reporters, but was coy about his actual involvement.

He said that to be part of a conspiracy it was sufficient to be a link in the chain, no matter how remote from the action. He acknowledged that there was a political dimension to the incident.

The real issue now, he said, were the sedition charges.

"If the Crown wants to play hard-ball and go after someone on a sedition charge, that is an incredibly bad move on their part."

A jury was going to be put to the "hassle" of deciding on those charges.

It was an area where he said the Crown had not secured a conviction in more than 30 years.

Selwyn said that the sedition charge was akin to authoritarian countries such as Zimbabwe or North Korea.

"It isn't just a political crime. It's a thought crime."

He claimed that the prosecution was going to produce cartoons he had penned.

"That is what they are going to put in evidence against me. If that is not a thought crime, I don't know what is."