Source: Radio New Zealand
Commanding Officer Bronwyn Heslop. RNZ / Lucy Xia
A senior navy officer facing court martial over allegations of encouraging a junior to kiss her on the cheeks at a bar during an overseas operation in 2023 has been found not guilty of doing an act to prejudice service discipline
She can now be named as the former Ship Commander of HMNZS Canterbury – Bronwyn Heslop.
Heslop, who spent 36 years in the Navy, is currently in the role of Military Maritime Operation Orders – Instructions and Procedures – after Commander Wayne Andrew took on the of Ship Commander fo HMNZS Canterbury in September 2025.
The charge under the Armed Forces Discipline Act, which includes any act likely to bring discredit on the service of the Armed Forces, carries a penalty of up to two years imprisonment.
A panel of three senior military officers, acting as a jury would in a civilian court, delivered their unanimous verdict of “not guilty” on Wednesday morning, after more than five hours of deliberation across Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, at the Court Martial sitting at the Devonport Naval Base in Auckland.
Former Ship Commander of HMNZS Canterbury Bronwyn Heslop. RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Judge William Hastings declined to grant Heslop name suppression earlier this week, but suppressions had to remain in place, after her lawyer signalled an appeal.
However, Heslop’s lawyer told the Court Martial that today’s verdict meant they no longer had grounds for an appeal and that no appeal would be filed.
Judge Hastings lifted the interim order, which allows media to name Heslop.
On Monday, both the former junior officer who was allegedly encouraged to kiss the senior officer, as well as Heslop, took the witness stand.
The alleged interaction happened in Fiji in March 2023, when the junior officer first joined HMNZS Canterbury, and officers were given leave for a few days after docking and were drinking at a bar in town at night.
The former junior officer, who was the sole witness for the prosecution, said the senior officer first caught the attention of him and another junior officer when she tapped on a glass pane and gestured for a kiss through the other side of the glass, and later gestured for them to come inside the bar and tapped on her cheeks to gesture for a kiss.
Devonport Naval Base. RNZ / Kim Baker Wilson
Heslop denied seeking a kiss on the cheek from the junior officer, and said her level of intoxication was two, on a scale of zero to ten, with zero being sober, when they arrived at the bar.
Another navy officer called as a defence witness said they’d spent the majority of that night with Heslop and did not see them with the junior officer.
The former junior officer, during cross-examination by the accused’s lawyer, conceded that he didn’t tell the whole truth when first approached by the military police in August 2024, as he didn’t think he’d be taken seriously and that he was worried his career would be affected if he spoke up.
Under cross-examination by the defence lawyer, he admitted that alcohol affected his memory of some events of the night, but was adamant that he had a clear memory of the alleged core interaction with Heslop.
Heslop in 1998 became the first female officer to be in charge of a Royal New Zealand Navy vessel, when she took command of HMNZS Moa.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
