A former government employee who tormented his ex and was later found with footage of the mosque shootings has failed to escape a conviction. The defendant, aged in his 40s, underwent two trials at the Dunedin District Court over the last year — both of which resulted in guilty verdicts: one for breaching a protection order, another for possessing an objectionable publication. The victim of the breach said the ordeal had left her “a shell of a person”, needing time off work, struggling to eat and sleep. The man appeared before the court again on Friday where his counsel Anne Stevens, KC, argued he should be discharged without conviction. “The stain on his character from these type of offences would be particularly severe,” she said. “It’ll be for life.” The defendant had resigned from his state role after charges were laid and Mrs Stevens said he would struggle to find work in the competitive new industry in which he was employed with a criminal record. She also pointed to potential restrictions on travel, issues with insurance and drawbacks for the man’s parenting role. Judge Hermann Retzlaff said the effects were simply “part of what could be expected for charges and convictions of this nature”. He refused the discharge without conviction and sentenced the man to nine months’ supervision, along with 100 hours’ community work. Mrs Stevens also sought permanent name suppression for her client on the basis it would cause extreme hardship for him and his family. Judge Retzlaff said there were significant public interest matters at play and indicated he was planning to refuse a final order covering the man’s identity. However, he postponed his decision until later this month so further information could be filed. The court at trial heard the married man began a long-distance affair with the victim in 2021. The woman ended things in March 2023 and read a statement yesterday detailing the toll the relationship had. “I’d become a shell of a person, withdrawn from friends, family, work and other hobbies I had,” she said. The woman was twice granted a police safety order in 2023, which barred the defendant from contacting her, before a protection order was made by the court in September that year. In January 2024, the defendant went to St Clair and passed the victim in his vehicle as she sat at a cafe, shooting an “intimidating” glare her way. CCTV showed him pass the woman again as he was running along the Esplanade and he later went surfing in the same vicinity as her. “It freaked me out,” the victim said. Judge Retzlaff determined it was an ‘‘intentional’’ decision by the defendant to enter the beach near where he had earlier seen the woman. She described how the relationship and its aftermath had changed the course of her life. “When I first met [him] I was a young, vibrant, outgoing, ambitious female with career aspirations,” she said. “His actions and behaviour turned me into an anxious, depressed and withdrawn young woman.” At an earlier trial in August, the man was also found guilty of possessing an objectionable publication — footage of the Christchurch mosque shootings. The court heard the man had emailed the video from his work phone to his personal phone and the file was later found, easily accessible in his photo gallery among images of his family. Mrs Stevens stressed the defendant had obtained the footage before it had been classified as objectionable and she pointed out there was no evidence that her client had ever viewed it since 2019. References filed with the court, from the defendant’s family, his former colleagues and a member of the Muslim community, showed that he was well supported, Judge Retzlaff said. Despite opposition, a protection order was granted in favour of the victim. rob.kidd@odt.co.nz
