Court martial kept under wraps
The New Zealand Defence Force didn’t publicly disclose former soldier Corey Kennett’s court martial, evidence suggests, allowing his indecent offending to stay secret for more than a decade.
Stuff revealed last week how the former army corporal spent six months in a military prison after being convicted in 2005 of 12 charges that included the indecent assault of a woman, and behaving in a disgraceful and indecent manner.
The NZDF could locate only an unsent draft of a media advisory for the court martial that appears to never have seen the light of day.
Kennett’s military convictions did not show on his criminal record and Kennett did not mention the charges to a subsequent civilian employer, Lexington Law.
Kennett, who was approached several times during this ongoing investigation, responded by email last week.
He claimed the punishment he suffered and last week’s headlines outweighed his offending against young women recruits.
He complained of how tough his six months in military detention were. ’’There is no Sky TV.
‘‘Everybody deserves a chance at redeeming themselves, which I have tried to do since my conviction.’’
An NZDF spokesman has confirmed that only a draft of the media advisory for Kennett’s court martial could be found, which potentially means it was never sent out.
The Kennett incident has highlighted the lack of transparency about the sharing of criminal records between the military and civil justice systems.
Minister of Defence Gerry Brownlee
"If their offending has been serious enough, they can be referred to civilian court and prosecuted under the Crimes Act." Michael Bott
said public protection agencies are working to improve information sharing, which would include details of court martial convictions being shared with the police.
But lawyer Michael Bott said it would be unfair to place military convictions onto a person’s civilian criminal record.
‘‘If their offending has been serious enough, they can be referred to civilian court and prosecuted under the Crimes Act.’’
He said one of the major differences are that a jury decides your fate in a civilian court, as opposed to a judge and three military members during a court martial.
‘‘It’s appropriate that we don’t rush into changing the law because [that] one seed of injustice could create an even greater one.’’