Source: Radio New Zealand
who stole off her fellow soldiers and the Defence Force (NZDF) during a touch rugby tournament is waiting to find out her fate.
Corporal Jackie Te Weehi at her Court Martial at Whenuapai Air Base on Monday, 8 December 2025. RNZ / Kim Baker Wilson
A light-fingered army corporal who stole off her fellow soldiers and the Defence Force (NZDF) during a touch rugby tournament is waiting to find out her fate.
Corporal Jackie Te Weehi pocketed $3422.57 of team member and NZDF funding and prosecutors are calling for her detention and dismissal.
The Territorial Force soldier has since paid back the money she swindled.
Te Weehi pleaded guilty at a Court Martial at Whenuapai Air Base on Monday to theft by person in a special relationship, and making a false official document.
The maximum penalties are seven years’ and two years’ imprisonment respectively.
NZDF prosecutors said Te Weehi had breached the trust and integrity that were fundamental to the armed forces.
It said she could not reasonably be put in a position of trust again.
“The fact that Corporal Te Weehi was in a position of trust and authority is a severely aggravating factor, she was the team manager,” prosecutors said.
They said the fact there was a representative charge spanning months showed the offending was pre-meditated.
After the hearing of evidence and her guilty pleas and convictions being entered on Monday, Te Weehi will face being sentenced on Tuesday afternoon.
The offending
Defence Force prosecutors Lt Letitia Smith and Sub Lt Angus Graham laid out the case before Judge Bill Hastings.
It was July 2023 when the New Zealand Army Men’s Touch Team was invited to play in the Australian Defence Force Touch Championship in Australia.
Te Weehi, an Acting Sergeant at the time, was manager of the team.
She overcharged team members and asked for money that wasn’t used, including asking for donations for the coach’s emergency bereavement flight back to New Zealand.
She took money at various points.
Te Weehi pleaded guilty at a Court Martial at Whenuapai Air Base on Monday. RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Te Weehi sent a budget to team members on 1 August 2023 saying they needed to pay $635 to cover the trip – $531 for flights, $80 for uniforms and $24 for other costs.
Days later she was told that sponsorships meant flight costs had dropped to $400.
She then told team members they needed to pay $535 in total, when it should have been $504.
Between 27 July and 23 August, team members put money into Te Weehi’s personal bank account.
In all, she got $8726 that was supposed for be for tournament expenses.
Between 15 and 23 August Te Weehi transferred $5600 to another service person who booked flights and then paid $1200 for uniforms.
In total she spent $7200 on the team’s needs.
But she held onto $940 from overcharging each player, asking for money for expenses that weren’t used and not repaying two players who overpaid.
Another player wanted to take his civilian daughter to the tournament and was told she would need to pay full price for the flight.
But Te Weehi knowingly put her on a seat subsidised by the Army and held onto the extra $586, which she used for personal expenses.
Then, she got $3000 of sponsorships from the Army Logistics Regiment that was supposed to be given to team members equally as a reimbursement.
Te Weehi, while distributing the money, told players there were hidden costs and insurance fees when there weren’t, and held onto $939.67 and used it personally.
Money from a Manager Grant for extra expenses was also paid into her bank account for the likes of sports drinks and washing powder, but was not used for those.
On 18 October, she asked players for more contributions, $490 for the team and miscellaneous costs.
She only put $294.70 of it toward those, and held onto the rest.
Then, when the team coach had to return to New Zealand urgently during the tournament for a family bereavement, the flight was charged to an NZDF credit card.
Te Weehi raised $189.60 from donations from four team members but gave none of the money to the coach or the Defence Force.
On 25 October she offered to order new team t-shirts for the team with eight players together handing over $372, but the shirts were never ordered.
On the second charge of making a false official document, she made a document addressed to the Chief of Army saying she had arranged travel insurance for the team.
A later investigation by Military Police found Te Weehi had never got insurance.
“Corporal Te Weehi blatantly lied, this was not spur of the moment offending,” Lt Smith said of the second charge at the Court Martial.
She also told the judge Cpl Te Weehi was not acting in any form other than self interest.
Lt Smith said Te Weehi had “a clear unwillingness” to comply with the ethos and values of the NZDF.
Te Weehi’s defence
When interviewed under caution in October last year, Corporal Te Weehi asked to terminate the interview and exercise her right to refrain from making further statements.
At the Court Martial, Te Weehi’s lawyer, David Pawson, told the military panel it was “absolutely warranted” to have her dismissed.
“No problem with that at all,” he said.
But he argued she should not face detention, and that dismissal was a higher punishment than detention.
“She immediately pleaded guilty, she is remorseful, she’s paid back the donations and she’s written a letter of remorse,” he said.
He also urged the military panel to consider the effect of Cpl Te Weehi’s name being published by the media.
“I invite you to consider about being empathetic too, I’m not saying be soft but I’m not saying let’s be harsh either,” he said.
“Because at the end of the day Corporal Te Weehi is toward the end of her long and distinguished service.”
“We’ve all made mistakes,” he told the panel before it considered its sentence.
No victims were willing to provide victim impact statements.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
