Spy resentenced over theft at base
A former New Zealand Defence Force “secret agent” who was wounded in action has been resentenced after stealing sensitive operational material with the help of his security clearance.
But the judges who have overseen his case have been sympathetic to the soldier’s “hostile war service in highly sensitive areas” and have called on the Government to assist in his recovery.
Corporal Richard Graham was convicted on appeal by Justice Anne Hinton in January for charges relating to burglary, offering to supply drugs, possession of a psychoactive product and possession of a controlled drug.
Last October, police appealed District Court Judge Belinda Pidwell’s decision to discharge him without conviction.
Graham then appealed Justice Hinton’s decision to the Court of Appeal but was turned away in May.
Yesterday, the 33-year-old veteran was resentenced to six months’ community detention and 12 months’ supervision by Judge Kevin Glubb in the Waitakere District Court.
His offending occurred in September 2016, when the enlisted man was living and working at the Whenuapai Air Force base.
Graham entered the base’s communications building and force protection unit’s building where he took laptops and operationally sensitive items worth $200,000, the court heard yesterday.
Between 2011 and 2015, Graham served in a specialist intelligence role as an active operative, but his unit and the nature of its operations during that time remain suppressed.
However, the Herald revealed he was deployed to East Timor twice as part of Operation Koru, NZDF information obtained under the Official Information Act showed. He was first deployed between September 2010-May 2011 and again between April 2012-November 2012, his service record read.
The NZDF confirmed Graham had been dishonourably discharged as a result of his offending.
The burglaries occurred on three occasions in August and September 2016 when he used his security clearance to access the buildings, court documents read.
Graham stole electronics from a storeroom which contained the operationally sensitive equipment, and also took equipment and tools from construction sites at the base.
During the investigation into the burglaries, police searched Graham’s home and a storage unit. In a safe at his home they found 10 BZP pills, a synthetic alternative to ecstasy or amphetamine, while the storage unit held 391g of a psychoactive product which mimicked LSD.
Police also found two cellphones. On them were communications relating to the supply or trading of methamphetamine.
There were about 700 calls to and from the phones over three to four months.
Judge Pidwell had accepted Graham’s use of methamphetamine was to “self-medicate for stress” suffered as a result of his deployment.
She said the case was an “exceptional combination of facts” and believed that Graham should be “given another opportunity to engage appropriately in society”.
At the appeal hearing last October, the High Court at Auckland heard that Graham had served as a “secret agent” in the NZDF and had experienced a “highly stressful posting overseas”.
Graham’s lawyer, Karl Trotter, said his client was “trained in ways to be deceptive” and on return to New Zealand his local command structure knew nothing of his overseas operations. It was “a highly unusual case”, Trotter said yesterday.
Judge Glubb also sympathised with Graham, saying that the type of duty undertaken could have “longlasting and life-changing impacts”.
“You were deployed by the New Zealand Government and having returned with real problems . . . the New Zealand Government, in this form the justice system, should do what it can to assist you to recover,” Glubb said.
“Veterans’ Affairs recognise the impact this has had on you and I recognise them too.”
He gave Graham a 20 per cent sentence discount for his military service.
“Mr Graham, I’m sure we won’t see you back here again, do your best,” Glubb said.
The court heard that Graham, who was now drug-free, had found work in the building industry.