17 Oct 2013

Commodore questioned over threat claim

8:38 pm on 17 October 2013

A top navy officer has been questioned over why he didn't tell anyone about threats he says he got from a subordinate with whom he had an affair.

Commodore Kevin Keat has pleaded not guilty to eight charges of breaching the Armed Forces Discipline Act.

Military prosecutors say Commodore Keat had an affair with a subordinate between 2008 and 2012, about which he lied when questioned, and that he told the woman to lie as well.

But his lawyer Michael Bott says Commodore Keat had a brief fling with the woman before becoming her superior at the end of 2010. Mr Bott says the woman's eventual complaint was fuelled by bitterness and malice after his client ended the relationship.

Commodore Keat told the hearing at the Trentham Military Camp in Upper Hutt on Thursday the woman began threatening him and by March 2012 he was so concerned he began keeping records of their contact, such as text messages.

"Her text was at 14.25 (pm). My reply at 14.44 was, 'No one is giving you licence, but you certainly are taking licence and liberties to drive down this self-determined track you've had planned for well over a year. Your text confirms this long planned intent. Thus, again, leave me and my family alone.'"

But a prosecutor, Kate Feltham, asked why he never told anyone.

"The way you've told it today, you were being threatened on an ongoing basis, and your family was being threatened. You feared for your family is what you've told us, and you didn't raise it."

Commodore Keat replied: "Not the physical threat, no I didn't."

When asked by Ms Feltham why didn't he think it was important to raise it, Commodore Keat said he "believed he was managing the situation".

Commodore Keat admitted he didn't even mention the threats when the Chief of the Defence Force questioned him about the relationship late last year.

Earlier, the judge questioned one of the jury members after it turned out the man has a connection to Commodore Keat.

Under questioning from Judge Chris Hodson, Commodore Ross Smith said he had been a referee on Commodore Keat's security vetting form, on which prosecutors say Commodore Keat lied.

Commodore Smith also told the judge he had been aware of rumours that Commodore Keat and the woman were in a relationship. Judge Hodson ruled that he could stay on the jury.

Three senior officers are acting as the military member panel which will come to a verdict.