A Gisborne businessman has been convicted of fraud after hacking into the computer system of the company he founded and later sold.
Blair Purcell, 48, was found guilty of accessing Gisborne Financial Services (GFS) electronic mail dishonestly, obtaining information and material with no right, obtaining another person's password, and causing the computer system to deny services to an authorised user.
Judge Robert Spear released his decision this week after a defended hearing in Gisborne District Court in April.
Purcell will be sentenced on October 22.
At the trial, Purcell said he tapped into the confidential documents because of voyeurism and curiosity, the Gisborne Herald reported.
Purcell left GFS in January 2005 and entered the computer system between mid-2005 and March 2007 when police executed a search warrant at his home.
"I do not consider that the defendant's actions were accompanied by a belief on his part that he had the consent to, or authority for, accessing that e-mail system in the way that he did," Judge Spear said in his reserved decision.
"Accordingly, I consider that it has also been proven that his actions were dishonest."
