Exspy’s appeal rejected

AUCKLAND: A Royal New Zealand Air Force former spy who stole operationally sensitive material from the New Zealand Defence Force has had his case turned away by the Court of Appeal.

Corporal Richard Graham was convicted by the High Court on charges of burglary, offering to supply drugs, possession of a psychoactive product and possession of a controlled drug after police appealed a District Court judge’s decision to discharge him without conviction.

Justice Anne Hinton overturned Judge Belinda Pidwell’s decision and convicted Graham.

However, Justice Hinton also expressed sympathy for the war veteran after he endured a traumatic deployment.

Graham’s offending happened in September 2016, when the enlisted man was living and working at the Whenuapai Air Force base.

Until February 2015, he had spent three years as an active Defence Force operative in a sensitive specialist intelligence role.

The burglaries occurred on three occasions in August and September 2016.

Graham used his security clearance to access two buildings, court documents read.

He stole electronics from a store room containing operationally sensi tive equipment, and equipment and tools from construction sites at the base.

The value of the items he took was more than $200,000.

During the investigation of the burglaries, police searched Graham’s home and a storage unit. Inside, police found 10 BZP pills in a safe in his home. In the storage unit, police located two containers with 391g of NBOME, a psychoactive product with the intended effect of mimicking LSD.

Police also found two cellphones, which were seized and examined. On the phones, police identified communications relating to the supply or trading of methamphetamine.

There were about 700 calls to and from the cellphones over a three to fourmonth period.

Judge Pidwell accepted Graham’s use of methamphetamine was to ‘‘selfmedicate for stress’’ suffered as a result of his deployment.

An affidavit by an officer of the NZDF, whose identity is suppressed, said Graham had carried out sensitive intelligence work in a hostile overseas environment involving significant personal risk.

He was dishonourably discharged from the air force after his offending at Whenuapai.

The court granted Graham’s application to cite further evidence. — NZME