Overview

• A military court at Linton Military Camp sentenced the soldier to two years' detention after he admitted attempted espionage, marking New Zealand’s first spying conviction.
• He also pleaded guilty to accessing a military computer system for a dishonest purpose and to knowingly possessing an objectionable publication.
• Prosecutors said he offered military maps, telephone directories, access codes and assessments of base vulnerabilities to someone he believed was a foreign agent.
• Court documents show the contact was an undercover New Zealand police officer investigating right‑wing groups following the Christchurch mosque attacks.
• The court suppressed the identities of the soldier, the foreign country and the officer; the man was arrested in December 2019 and spent years on open arrest with a curfew and full pay.