The soldier was sentenced today at the Linton Military Camp. Photo / Jeremy Wilkinson
A soldier who groped two bartenders on a drunken night out has been kicked out of the New Zealand Army.
The private, who has interim name suppression, was subject to a court martial this week at the Linton Military Camp after an incident that happened following a boozy function for his unit in 2022.
The soldier pleaded guilty at the start of the trial to four counts of indecent assault in relation to touching two female civilian staff on the bottom on four occasions throughout the evening.
However, he pleaded not guilty to two charges of intimidation against a third civilian staff member at the bar, located at the Linton Military Camp, and for calling a superior officer who spoke to him about his behaviour a “ball bag” and a “motherf***er”.
One of those charges of intimidation was dropped by the Crown on Tuesday.
The soldier also pleaded not guilty to a fifth charge of indecent assault against one of his first victims for allegedly reaching for her groin with his hand.
On Wednesday a panel of three senior military personnel took under an hour to find the private not guilty of the remaining indecent assault and intimidation charges. They did however find him guilty of insubordination for the final charge against a superior officer.
Today, in sentencing Judge Jonathan Moses and a panel of three senior military personnel, opted to dismiss the private from the service of the New Zealand Defence Force.
Judge Moses said the man’s behaviour was obnoxious and offensive in any circumstance whether it be a civilian or a military setting.
“You have disregarded the rights and privacy and rights of your victims and were content to humiliate them in front of others,” he said.
Judge Moses said it was disappointing that the private had only sought help for his alcohol dependence in the last four weeks, despite his year-long suspension.
“It is clear that your actions have resulted in a lack of trust in you,” he said.
“You have in your short time in the army displayed concerning behaviour, and this offending is of greater concern.”
The first victim said that she had worked at the Linton Military Camp for eight years but felt she had to leave after the incident for fear she would run into the man.
“It felt like I was the one who had done something wrong,” she said.
She said she was now scared easily, especially when people approached her from behind.
“I’m much more wary of drunk people now, especially men.”
The private’s second victim had worked at the camp for four years and also felt like she had to leave after the incident.
“What the accused did to me made me feel like a piece of meat,” her victim impact statement, read to the court, said.
The woman said it felt like she was being punished when she had her duties at the bar restricted but saw the soldier back in the bar playing pool with his friends not long after the incident.
New Zealand Navy Lieutenant James Olsen, prosecuting the defendant on behalf of the crown, entered into the court record the private’s service history which included a civil charge of common assault against another female private in 2021, a breach of visitation rules in army barracks and several summary charges of failing to comply with orders from his superior officers.
One of those charges involved failing to source a poppy for ANZAC Day.
Lieutenant Olsen said it was not tenable for the private to remain in the army.
“The previous offending from 2021 demonstrates what the crown says is a pattern of conduct related to females,” he said.
“Yes this was a drunken night out, but it was persistent conduct throughout the night.”
Lieutenant Olsen said a psychologist’s report noted that the private had a severe alcohol use disorder which had got worse since 2022, despite him being suspended for nearly a year.
“This is far from someone who has used their time productively to address their issues related to their offending,” he said.
The commanding officer’s representative for the private’s unit, said he belonged to a unit that could be deployed overseas at any time.
“In those circumstances any lack of trust is corrosive,” he told the court this morning.
“The private does not enjoy the trust of his chain of command.”
The representative said the private’s service history showed he was consistently unable to comply with the ethos and values of the NZDF, which had a duty to ensure the safety of those around him.
He went on to say that if he were to remain in the army it would place an unsupportable burden of continued oversight and supervision.
Earlier in the week the private’s lawyer, Matthew Hague, appealed to the three-person panel of senior military members to appeal to the New Zealand Defence Force’s pride in being a force for good.
“This is a case which is difficult to sit through and not feel certain ways towards the complaints, and the accused,” he said.
“It is understandable that you may feel conflict between wanting to help those involved and taking a clinical assessment of the evidence. However, your job is not to be emotional, and that you must approach your job clinically.”
At sentencing, Hague said that his client’s offending was at the lower end of the spectrum.
“None of it makes it okay, but there’s an absence of factors that bring it up from that low end,” he said.
Hague urged the panel to consider that a small and “sad” factor was that his client was extremely intoxicated at a unit function yet no superior officers intervened to remove him.
Hague also stressed that the common assault offence his client committed in 2021 had no sexual element and couldn’t be compared to the indecent assault charges he’d pleaded guilty to later.
In terms of alcohol use, Hague said his client had sought help from a counsellor.
“He has sought treatment and has taken concrete steps to address his alcohol problem,” he said.
Hague said that his client was respectfully asking to remain in the service.
“I’m asking for a chance for a junior soldier to show that he will never abuse that trust again.”
The private’s name remains suppressed while he decides if he wants to appeal the court’s finding.
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.
