Soldier gets kicked out

A senior military man who left two service pistols in his bag and then lied about it has been kicked out of the defence force.

The captain, whose name is suppressed, admitted charges of negligently failing to perform a duty and doing an act likely to prejudice service discipline.

At a court martial at Linton Military Camp on Tuesday, Judge Anne Gaskill and a panel of three military members mulled over the sentence for more than two hours.

Gaskill said it was accepted the captain had forgotten about the pistols being in his bag and at that point he should have fronted up.

‘‘It would have been so much easier for you.

‘‘Instead, you chose to lie about it, and not just once.’’

The captain had acted contrary to the New Zealand Defence Force ethos so could not remain, the judge said.

‘‘Dismissal is necessary in your case,’’ she told him.

The captain was also severely reprimanded.

A summary of facts read in court says the captain was involved in the Southern Katipo military exercise last year.

He left the operation on November 19 and was asked to return a pistol to the armory at Linton.

He acknowledged it was his responsibility to keep the pistol secure until it was returned.

At Ohakea Air Force Base he was handed a second pistol to secure and return in the same fashion.

The captain put the pistols in his day bag.

When he arrived back at Linton he forgot the pistols were in his bag, which he put in his vehicle and drove home.

On November 24, a colleague asked where the pistols were, which was when the captain remembered he’d put them in his bag.

They were returned that day and when he was asked where the pistols had been, the captain said he realised he forgot to put them back, so had driven to Linton and stored them in a room there.

When interviewed on November 26, he continued to lie and on November 27 he signed a statement stating what he had said was true.

After this, the captain was interviewed twice more. Again, he spoke about storing the guns in the room but he didn’t have an explanation about why the alarm didn’t go off.

Finally, in a follow-up interview, he admitted his previous story wasn’t true.

He admitted the pistols were stored in the boot of his car until they were returned on November 24.

Defence lawyer Major Steve Taylor said the captain was given the pistols by others.

He described the lying as a ‘‘momentary lapse of judgement which spiralled out of his control’’.