Far-Right teen fined $500
A teen who is a member of a shadowy white nationalist group has pleaded guilty to failing to assist with a search warrant.
Sam Richard Scott Brittenden, 19, was arrested in March when police searched a Christchurch house after a threat was made about two weeks before the first anniversary of the March 15 terror attack.
The threat, posted on an encrypted messaging app, was accompanied by a photograph of a masked man sitting in a car outside the Deans Ave mosque.
Brittenden was subsequently charged with failing to assist with a search warrant.
He has never been charged in relation to the threat.
The teenager appeared in the Christchurch District Court yesterday and pleaded guilty to the charge through his lawyer, James Rapley, QC.
The summary of facts said police raided his Redcliffs home about 12.15pm on March 4. One of the items sought was his phone.
Police found an iPhone on the bed in his brother’s bedroom. Brittenden told police the phone was his brother’s, but it rang when police dialled the number provided as his.
Brittenden then admitted the phone was his. Police asked for the password, but Brittenden provided the incorrect password several times and told police he forgot the right one.
Rapley told the court that Brittenden’s decision to give the wrong password was the ‘‘foolish mistake’’ of a 19-year-old.
Brittenden eventually offered the correct code, and police went through his phone. He then gave a voluntary interview to police.
Rapley said after analysing the phone, police decided not to lay any further charges.
Brittenden had since written a letter to police and apologised for wasting their time.
The teen was ‘‘not in a good place’’ at the time of the incident, Rapley said. ‘‘Since then he has had some amazing support . . . and made some significant changes in his life.’’
The judge said it was difficult to understand why Brittenden gave the wrong passcode. ‘‘I can’t understand what was on your phone you didn’t want police to see. It’s a puzzle to me, really.’’
Brittenden was convicted, fined $500, and ordered to pay court costs of $130.
The teen was escorted by private security outside court into a waiting vehicle.
The Press earlier reported that Brittenden was a member of Action Zealandia – a far-Right white nationalist group.
In June last year, the Otago Daily Times reported that Brittenden – then a law student at the University of Otago – was arrested after making racial slurs while partying on the streets of Dunedin on March 15.
He was sentenced in the Dunedin District Court to 125 hours’ community work and six months’ supervision after pleading guilty to disorderly behaviour.
Paparoa, an activist group that tracks white nationalism and online hate speech, alleges it has evidence of the teenager describing his ‘‘group of fascists’’ in Christchurch.
Brittenden allegedly described Action Zealandia as growing, and suggested its anti-Semitic antagonising would help publicise it.
‘‘I can’t understand what was on your phone you didn’t want police to see.’’
District Court judge