Woman felt ‘blackmailed’ by officer
A CIVILIAN subordinate involved in an alleged ‘‘forbidden’’ affair with a military boss said she ended up feeling like a prostitute in a blackmail relationship.
Commodore Kevin Keat was stood down from his position as head of personnel at Defence Force headquarters in January, after allegations about the longrunning affair.
It is alleged he bullied and threatened the woman when she tried to end it, failed to disclose their relationship during security vetting, instructed the woman to lie on her security clearance, and threatened the careers of the woman and her daughter, who also works in the armed forces.
In July, he was charged under the Armed Forces Discipline Act. Yesterday, he pleaded not guilty to the eight charges against him at a court martial at Trentham Military Camp.
The woman, whose name is suppressed, said she tried on multiple occasions to admit their affair to military bosses, but Keat told her she could not.
‘‘I said: ‘ Why don’t we actually go to [the chief of defence] and tell him?’ He said: ‘We can’t do that because I have lied on my security clearance . . . You need to lie.’
‘‘He said: ‘If it comes to the crunch, it will be you that goes and not me’. ’’
She said she tried to resign to Keat on December 21, 2010, because relationship ‘‘boundary issues’’ had developed that were jeopardising her work – but he tore up her resignation, and the relationship continued.
A year later, it had degenerated considerably, she said, and she soon began to feel ‘‘blackmailed’’.
During a family holiday in Nelson and Blenheim in December 2011, she spoke to Keat on her work mobile, on speaker, in the company of her daughter and a female friend.
She again tried to end the relationship, which prompted Keat to threaten her daughter’s job.
‘‘Then it became blackmail. It wasn’t my job on the line any more, it was my daughter’s . . . All I can compare it to then was I was a prostitute. But I wasn’t getting paid, I was saving my daughter’s job.’’
She alleged she took her concerns about the relationship to Chief of Defence LieutenantGeneral Rhys Jones, who failed to act. It was not until she later took her complaints to Vice-Chief of Defence Major-General Tim Keating that an investigation began.
But Keat’s argument is that the woman was a jealous lover attempting to wreak revenge on her former partner.
Defence lawyer Michael Bott accused her of manufacturing her resignation letter when she took the case to the military police this year. He said it had not been written or produced to Keat in 2010.
The woman broke down under cross-examination, as the defence accused her of a ‘‘dictatorial approach’’ at work.
Crying, she said: ‘‘I’ve had enough of this. I refuse to subject myself to this further.’’
Asked by the judge if she would like to take an adjournment, she replied: ‘‘No, I wish to wash my hands of being treated like this.’’
Chief Judge Chris Hodson said that was not an option, and excused the court for 10 minutes so she could compose herself.