A man's haunted life after serving as a Dutch intelligence officer

Police found a prohibited firearm, an AR15 military-style rifle, in the 40-year-old's campervan parked outside Rotorua Police Station, pictured, in 2020. Photo / Stephen Parker

A man says he was left psychologically scarred after serving as a Dutch intelligence officer in his former homeland.

The mental strain ultimately led to his outburst at Rotorua Police Station on March 10, 2020, where the 40-year-old was held in custody and then prison for three months.

A brief insight into the offender's history was revealed at his sentencing in the High Court at Hamilton this afternoon when he was sentenced on a range of charges following the incident nearly two years ago.

The man's counsel, James Gurnick, argued for permanent name suppression for his client as he had an "unshakeable belief that his life would be in danger if his name is made public and he will become very fearful" given his work with the Dutch intelligence service.

While Justice Graham Lang said he sympathised with his situation, he accepted a fresh psychological report which stated his health had improved since the time when he was arrested and said his suppression order will lapse at midnight on March 31.

The court heard that after the man turned up to the Rotorua police station wanting to speak to an officer who was either not there or not able to speak to him, he became angry and "disorderly" and was held in the cells until he appeared in court.

Police then searched his campervan parked outside the station, where they found a banned military-style AR15 rifle, along with 30 rounds of prohibited magazines and four rounds of prohibited .22 ammunition.

Two days later, officers went to his property and searched the caravan he was living in and found another AR15 rifle along with three more magazines and .223 and .22 calibre ammunition.

It was later discovered the rifles belonged to an associate of the defendant.

The weapons were banned by the Government in 2019 after the Christchurch terror attacks.

A Section 27 cultural report found the offender had been diagnosed with autism when he was young and told the report writer that he had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result "while in the employment of an intelligence organisation controlled by the Dutch Government"," Justice Lang said.

That had never been verified as the Dutch consulate would not make any information available to the court, however he accepted that if true it had a "significant" effect on him.

A recent psychiatrist's report found that on balance he didn't suffer from a psychotic illness, "rather the beliefs that you express reflect your social awkwardness, peer associations and fixations on beliefs due to your autistic trait".

"The psychiatrist says you are not functionally impaired and you are able to hold down a job and manage a business you are also able to cope in society albeit with limited social contact."

Justice Lang said as for the man believing he was in danger, he wasn't sure if he was referring to the intelligence service or himself.

"If the former I see no rationale basis that you are in danger from any third party. The only danger you are in is from yourself."

As the man had spent three months in jail followed by his subsequent 20 months on electronically monitored bail, Justice Lang said the accused had served the punitive aspect of his sentence.

The court needed to now instead focus on readying him for release back into the community.

He found the offending was "largely driven" by his association with another person who was no longer in his life.

He had a large amount of support in his community and despite mental health afflictions, had successfully managed a business.

On all charges, which also included trespass of Rotorua Police Station, he was sentenced to nine months' supervision.