NZ Defence Force appeals ‘inadequate’ sentence of soldier guilty attempted espionage

The soldier, whose name is still suppressed, was sentenced to two years at Burnham Military Camp's SCE. Photo / Composite

The country’s first convicted attempted spy could face a longer sentence after the New Zealand Defence Force appealed his “manifestly inadequate” sentence.

The NZ Army private, who has interim name suppression, was sentenced to two years’ military detention at a Court Martial held in August for attempting to pass information to what he thought was a foreign agent.

The man, who had links to two right-wing groups, admitted handing over bundles of NZ Defence Force (NZDF) documents to what was actually an undercover officer.

Included in the information he handed over were maps and aerial photographs of various NZDF bases around the country, as well as passcodes, login details to its IT system, telephone directories and handwritten assessments of the vulnerabilities of the Linton Military Camp where he was stationed.

The soldier also offered to get a covert device into NZ Army headquarters.

Following several days’ worth of deliberation at the Linton Military Camp, the Chief Judge of the Court Martial of New Zealand, Kevin Riordan, and a panel of three senior NZDF personnel arrived at a sentence of two years to be served at the Burnham Military Camp’s detention facility.

Known as the Services Corrective Establishment, the maximum anyone can spend there is two years, and if the private’s sentence exceeded that, he would have been sent to a civilian prison.

The maximum punishment for attempted espionage under New Zealand law is seven years.

At sentencing, Judge Riordan said that the panel spent the bulk of its deliberations on deciding whether to send the soldier to Burnham or to a civilian prison.

Now, the Director of Military Prosecutions (DMP) has filed a notice of appeal of that sentence to the Court Martial Appeal Court on the basis that the sentence was “manifestly inadequate”.

If the DMP is successful in its appeal, and the soldier receives a higher sentence, he will have to be sent to a civilian prison.

Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū, covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.