Overview

• He pleaded guilty in January to New Zealand’s lowest assault charge for drunkenly spitting on a teenager after a rugby match.
• Judge Paul Mabey said the man’s own arguments for discharge were unconvincing but accepted that publicizing his name risked harming his wife’s diplomatic prospects.
• The court granted the man permanent name suppression under a protocol protecting partners of senior envoys from identity publication.
• Video footage of the arrest shows him verbally abusing police and initially claiming diplomatic immunity before he waived it voluntarily.
• The judge warned that a conviction could bar him from accompanying his wife on future postings and potentially split up the family.