Source: Radio New Zealand
The court martial is underway at Devonport Naval Base in Auckland. RNZ / Kim Baker Wilson
A navy officer charged with threatening to kill an interpreter in Afghanistan has pleaded not guilty.
A court martial is underway at the Devonport Naval Base in Auckland this week after the former interpreter, now a private in the NZ Army, made a complaint about an incident in 2013.
The complainant alleged that the accused, a Lieutenant Commander, threatened to have him blacklisted and killed after he attempted to contact the Minister of Defence about an immigration issue involving his wife.
At the time, the NZDF was pulling out of its base in Bamyan, Afghanistan, and had offered their interpreters permanent residency in New Zealand to protect them against the Taliban.
The complainant had applied for residency as a single man, but got engaged and then married shortly after his immigration interview as part of an arranged marriage.
The complainant, whose identity is suppressed, was first to give evidence.
He found out the NZDF was pulling out of Afghanistan in 2012, though the process would take several months and drag into 2013.
“We were offered [either] a large sum of money or the chance to come to New Zealand and become permanent residents, all the interpreters accepted coming to New Zealand,” he said.
“[The reason was] safety. [My worry was] being killed by the Taliban, or other worse things that could happen to me and my family.”
During his interview the interpreter told immigration officials he was single.
A year earlier, he said his mother had pushed for an arranged marriage, but this had fallen through.
But when he told his parents he was moving to New Zealand, they encouraged him to revisit the arranged marriage.
“After my interview, I told [my parents] the good news, my mum told me, ‘hey, if you’re going to leave us why don’t we go and meet her, she’s still single’,” he recounted.
After meeting her in person, they decided to get married.
“My parents and her parents started arranging the wedding, and I came back to my work at Kiwi Base,” he continued.
Kiwi Base was the NZDF’s main operating base in Bamyan.
“I came back and told them I like this lady and I’m going to get married. There was no issues at this point, ‘this is your wedding date, go get married, it should be fine’.”
But after their wedding in March of 2013, the interpreter said the tone changed.
“They denied it, no she can’t [come with me]. There were arguments of, ‘you guys told me it would be fine’. I was upset, destroyed, disappointed,” he said.
“One night when I was going to the bathroom, a soldier stopped me and said ‘hey, I know you’re trying to bring your wife to New Zealand, the Minister of Defence is visiting soon, you could write them a letter’.”
The interpreter said he spent all night writing a letter and printed two copies: One for his commanding officer, and one for the minister.
After giving the letter to his commanding officer, he said he appeared angry.
The interpreter said he was later approached by the accused, who was acting as a delegate to help the interpreters apply for residency in New Zealand.
“He asked what I was going to do, I said I was trying to speak to [the minister].”
“[He said] there was a media presence, and there was an election going on in New Zealand, ‘you’re not allowed to talk to him. If you do that you could lose your job and jeopardise your position to come to New Zealand’.”
“I said ‘what if I resign and then do it?’ That made him more angry, that’s when he threatened me.”
“He said if you try to speak to the Minister of Defence, we will talk to your government to blacklist you and have you killed, and you and your family can’t do anything about it.
“I just burst into tears. Every time I think about it, I see myself from above, standing there crying. He stood there and watched me cry.”
A power outage in Devonport interrupted Monday’s proceedings before the defence could cross-examine the interpreter.
The court martial is expected to last multiple days, and a verdict and any potential sentence would be decided by a panel of three military personnel acting similarly to a jury.
Judge Kevin Riordan warned them not to be swayed by their emotions.
“[This case] may cause you to have an emotional response, but you cannot be emotional. That is not your job. Your duty is to analyse the evidence calmly and clinically.”
Defence lawyer Matthew Hague reiterated that the panel must maintain an open mind until all the evidence had been presented.
“It’s not the court’s job to solve a mystery. If you are unsure of anything, then the benefit of that doubt must go to [the accused],” he said.
“You will initially hear from witnesses called by the prosecutor, and this is evidence only from one side, and that side’s purpose is to prove the charges. Some of the evidence is disputed, and you’ll hear from defence witnesses who will tell you something different.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand