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New Zealand Police are seeking to waive diplomatic immunity so charges can be laid against a partner of an Australian diplomat involved in a street fight outside a popular strip of bars in downtown Wellington just hours after the Bledisloe clash took place.
It was revealed yesterday that a man connected to the Australian embassy was arrested but later released according to Sky News Australia.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed it was aware of the incident but did not address if it would allow the person’s immunity to be waived.
It’s not the first time diplomats or their partners have sought immunity or fled the country after being implicated in a crime.
Sacha Macfarlane, aged 20, was killed when Chilean diplomat Luis Felipe Lopez crossed the centreline of Old Hutt Rd in Wellington and crashed head-on into the car she was a passenger in.
Lopez had been drinking before the crash but was not breath-tested at the time because of his diplomatic status.
After pleading guilty in the Wellington District Court in 2010, he was fined and sent back to Australia.
Russian Embassy first secretary Valery Martynov - May 2011
The Russian Embassy’s first secretary Valery Martynov claimed immunity after being made bankrupt for refusing to pay an almost $10,000 car repair bill on a rental car he allegedly drove into a river.
The bill came after Martynov called Hertz New Zealand claiming the Ford Focus, which he rented from their Invercargill office while on holiday, was leaking.
When Martynov did not pay the bill Hertz took him to the Disputes Tribunal which found the damage to the car was caused by him driving off road.
Details of a car speeding through a red light were taken down by Retiring Police Commissioner Peter Marshall in central Wellington.
The car involved was driven by a senior diplomat, Marshall was told by the diplomatic protection squad weeks later. He did not disclose where the diplomat was from or what their position was.
Former Malaysian High Commission worker Muhammad Rizalman - May 2014
One of the more bizarre crimes involving stalking and defecation involved former Malaysian High Commission worker Muhammad Rizalman, who was an assistant to the defence attache at the Malaysian High Commission, followed Wellington woman Tania Billingsley to her home in Brooklyn.
He walked in the unlocked front door and appeared in her bedroom, naked from the waist down.
He claimed he’d followed Billingsley after she’d given him a “signal” by smiling at him and he simply wanted to talk to her about his problems. The Crown argued there was a sexual motive.
Muhammad Rizalman in the dock of the High Court at Wellington in November 2015. Photo / David White
Rizalman claimed he stayed outside the flat initially as he was waiting for an invitation to enter, but he then had an emergency bout of diarrhoea and defecated on Billingsley’s patio.
He said he entered her home to search for a bathroom. The Crown, however, alleged that Rizalman, a believer in black magic, was trying to put a spell on Billingsley.
He fled the country a few days after being charged but was called back in October after his name was made public and Billingsley spoke out. He was sentenced to nine months’ home detention in 2016.
A warrant for Kim’s arrest was issued by a Wellington District Court judge in late February 2020 on three charges of indecent assault.
Former deputy ambassador Hongkon Kim was accused of indecent assault at the Wellington Embassy in 2017.
New Zealand officials sought waivers of diplomatic immunity from the South Korean Government to allow police to conduct evidential inquiries at the South Korean Embassy in Wellington.
NZ police later said they would not seek to extradite the Korean diplomat back to Aotearoa to face charges.
The guilty verdict and suspended sentence of two years’ jail, with three years of probation, was handed down in the Incheon District Court in August 2024 in South Korea.
The Tenancy Tribunal ruled that EU deputy head of mission Eva Tvarozkova could not be asked to repay the costs to the landlord because she had diplomatic immunity in New Zealand.
Wellington landlord Matthew Ryan called the decision a “travesty”.
Rachel Maher is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. She has worked for the Herald since 2022.
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