Alfred Keating trial: CCTV shows man planting hidden Washington toilet embassy camera

Former top military leader Alfred Keating is on trial in the Auckland District Court. Photo / Michael Craig

Security camera footage shows what prosecutors believe is New Zealand's former top military attache to the United States planting a toilet camera at the Kiwi embassy in Washington.

Alfred (Fred) Keating, who was the Assistant Chief of Navy, is accused of concealing the device in a unisex bathroom to film his colleagues at the diplomatic building during July 2017.

The 59-year-old was the senior defence attache to the US at the time and one of the New Zealand military's highest-ranking officers.

The former commodore has been on trial in the Auckland District Court for the past week, charged with attempting to make an intimate visual recording of another person.

Today, the court heard from Detective Sergeant Paul Stenzel, the police officer responsible for the investigation into the former commanding officer of the Devonport Naval Base.

The jury was shown CCTV footage of a man walking about the embassy using Keating's swipe card when the camera was allegedly planted on July 27.

The film records a man in a white short-sleeved shirt at 9.03am moving towards the bathroom.

The Crown alleges this man is Keating, based on evidence that the top naval officer's security card was used to access the area at the time.

Just five minutes later, the same CCTV camera records a man walking away from the bathroom.

Stenzel said Keating's swipe card was then used 40 seconds later to access the Defence Force's (NZDF) office.

But during Stenzel's investigation he found no evidence Keating had bought the BrickHouse Security camera.

Inquiries with two New York City-based companies, BrickHouse Security and B&H Photo-Video, which sold the camera had failed to reveal any record of Keating buying the device, Stenzel said.

The detective added there was also no suggestion Keating had bought the small motion-activated camera on trading websites Amazon and Ebay.

However, Stenzel said the NZDF's embassy office had purchased a camera "identical" to the black box found in the bathroom in 2014.

It was bought by Mike Waller, who was Keating's driver.

Alfred Keating is accused of attempting to make an intimate visual recording of another person at the New Zealand embassy in Washington DC. Photo / Supplied

The court last week heard from senior police digital forensic analyst Kerry Baker, who said 736 files were deleted from the camera's memory card.

A further 21 video files were still on the micro SD card, all from July 27, the same day the camera was discovered.

Most of the still images recovered were associated with the video files, the court heard.

The first video was of a person wearing blue latex gloves positioning the camera inside the bathroom's radiator.

The second video purportedly showed a man using the toilet, whom the Crown alleges was Keating.

No indecent images were recovered when police seized and examined electronics belonging to Keating.

Baker also said software from BrickHouse Security was installed on Keating's computer on July 24, 2017, but later uninstalled at 6.47pm on the day the device was found.

The internet history on Keating's computer also showed Google searches for "Brickhouse camscura modes" and "Brickhouse camscura switch positions".

After the Washington incident, the computer software CCleaner was also searched and seemingly installed on Keating's computer on September 17, 2017, the court heard.

CCleaner is described online as a program which can delete temporary or unwanted files on a computer.

Keating pleaded not guilty last March and two days later resigned from his post in the NZDF, ending a more than 40-year career.

The military leader also served as New Zealand's naval attache and senior technical officer for the navy to the US from July 2003 until December 2006.

The trial, which began last Monday, is expected to conclude this week.