New Zealand court discharges Australian diplomat's husband after drunken spitting assault
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A New Zealand court on Thursday discharged the husband of an Australian diplomat without convicting him, months after the man pleaded guilty to assault for drunkenly spitting on a teenager during a street altercation on the night of a rugby match in Wellington.
The man was granted permanent name suppression. Judge Paul Mabey, presiding at the Wellington District Court, said he didn't accept the man's arguments that the potential harms to him justified the discharge, but the magistrate agreed that his wife's diplomatic career could be curbed by an assault conviction and the publication of his name.
The man could be barred from travel abroad to her future postings, the judge said, and the family could be split up if the Australian High Commission decided he could not remain in New Zealand to preserve the bilateral relations between the countries.
The charges arose after an episode last September after the man attended a rugby match between New Zealand and Australia in the capital. He was drunk when he arrived at Wellington's main nightlife area, where he approached a group of teenagers and became aggressive when they didn't want to engage with him, the judge said.
A member of the group punched the man, who responded by spitting on a young woman. He was arrested by police officers who happened to be passing.
The case has provoked widespread news coverage in New Zealand and Australia along with cell phone footage of the man's arrest, in which he verbally abused a police officer and claimed he had diplomatic immunity. He had such immunity, conferred by protocol to the partners of senior envoys to New Zealand, which he later waived voluntarily.
He pleaded guilty to New Zealand's lowest level of assault charge in January. It is punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to 4,000 New Zealand dollars ($2,400).
'For the avoidance of any doubt at all, he is not here to be sentenced for abusing the police or rashly claiming diplomatic immunity,' Judge Mabey said.
'He was right to say he had that immunity,' the judge added. 'He was completely stupid to say it at all.'
But the magistrate said he would discharge the man because of his wife's suggestion that the Australian diplomatic service would be unable to ignore the husband's conviction and the widely-distributed cell phone video of his arrest when considering her future.
'If I were not to suppress his name, his offending would be inextricably linked to his wife and she would suffer considerably,' the judge said.
He rejected a bid by the man's lawyer to suppress the country his wife represented in New Zealand.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
42 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Sean 'Diddy' Combs' lawyer makes his ex-girlfriend read loving texts until she cries
NEW YORK (AP) — A defense lawyer for hip-hop entrepreneur Sean 'Diddy' Combs had his ex-girlfriend read aloud a slew of loving text messages she'd sent him over the past few years until she broke down in tears Wednesday on the witness stand. The second day of cross-examination by attorney Teny Geragos seemed aimed at supporting the defense position that the woman, who testified under the pseudonym 'Jane,' was a willing participant in the sometimes-weekly sex with male sex workers that Combs directed and watched for hours. Geragos and Jane read aloud dozens of text messages exchanged during a relationship that stretched from 2021 until Combs was arrested last September. At one point, Jane read a text saying she had 'never had a man take care of me like you do' and professing her unending love for the entertainment icon — before Jane stopped reading and began sniffling, then dabbed tears from her eyes with a tissue. After prosecutors objected and requested a sidebar conversation with the judge away from the jury, Jane sat slumped in the witness chair, hair hanging over one side of her face. At the defense table, Combs was quietly reading from one of the TV monitors in front of him. It was the fifth day of testimony for Jane, who has said she still loves Combs. She previously discussed gaining insight into her relationship with Combs after three months of therapy. Jane also said she never wanted to have sex with any man except Combs but did so to please him. At other points on Wednesday, Geragos elicited from Jane that she frequently became angry at Combs and wanted to end their relationship because she got upset that he was treating other girlfriends better. In one instance, Jane acknowledged, the Bad Boy Records founder even bought another girlfriend jewelry that was a matching set to jewelry he had given Jane. Prosecutors say they charged Combs with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy because he used threats, drugs and violence to force women into unwelcome sexual experiences and used his employees and associates to help him get what he wanted. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he faces 15 years to life in prison. The testimony Wednesday came during a shortened day in the courtroom that began in the afternoon. Geragos said she expected to finish her cross-examination Thursday morning. Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey, who is leading the prosecution, said the government expects to rest its case as early as next Wednesday. Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo would not outline what will occur when the defense gets its turn to call witnesses, saying that will depend on which witnesses the government still calls to the stand, but he said he was confident the trial will end by July Fourth.
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
Pentagon Mulls Scrapping Aukus Agreement With Australia and UK
The Pentagon has launched a review of the Biden-era Aukus pact to develop nuclear-powered submarines with Australia and the UK, as the Trump administration looks to shift the burden for collective defense to allies and make sure the US has enough warships of its own. The review will study whether the deal, signed by President Joe Biden's team in 2021, is 'aligned with the President's America First agenda,' the Pentagon said in a statement.
CNN
3 hours ago
- CNN
Man convicted of fraud for posing as flight attendant to fly for free
(CNN) – A man accused of falsely posing as a flight attendant to reap dozens of free flights has been convicted of wire fraud and fraudulently entering the secure area of an airport. Tiron Alexander, 35, was found guilty by a federal jury after taking 34 free flights that he obtained by pretending to be a flight attendant or a pilot, the U.S. District Attorney in Southern Florida said in a news release Tuesday. He was also convicted of entering the secure area at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport under false pretenses, authorities said. The man was employed by an unidentified airline based in Dallas beginning in 2015, court documents said, but not as a pilot or a flight attendant. The scheme to obtain free tickets, for a Florida-based airline, began in 2018 and continued until 2024, according to court documents. Alexander was indicted on these charges in Florida. He was arrested in California in February. The tickets Alexander secured are reserved for flight attendants and pilots. Free flights are among the top perks of working as a pilot or flight attendant. The benefit is based on seniority and tenure. Using the airlines' online ticketing systems, Alexander claimed to have worked intermittently for seven different carriers, according to the prosecutors' news release. He was convicted of four counts of wire fraud and one count of falsely entering the airport's secure area. Alexander was represented by attorneys in the public defender's office in Miami. CNN has reached out to them for comment. Authorities allege Alexander had booked more than 100 flights by falsely posing as a flight attendant. Alexander will be sentenced in August. He faces up to 20 years in prison for the wire fraud counts and up to 10 years for entering the airport's secure area, according to the indictment.
