The first person convicted of sabotage in New Zealand has been sentenced to three years and one month in prison.
Sixty-two-year-old Graham Philip appeared in the High Court in Hamilton today.
He sabotaged infrastructure owned by Transpower in 2021 as a protest over Covid-19 restrictions.
Details of his actions are suppressed, however repair damage is estimated at likely to exceed $1.25 million.
His lawyer Bill Nabney said his client regretted his actions.
He said Philip now realised there were better ways to express his opposition to the vaccine mandate.
Philip entered seven guilty pleas to seven charges of sabotage as well as one charge of entering agricultural land with intent to commit an imprisonable offence, when he appeared at the High Court in Rotorua last month.
He was convicted of the charges by Justice Mark Woolford and remanded in custody until sentencing.
Philip, who was charged with the offences in December 2021, has been in prison on remand since and had initially pleaded not guilty to all charges.
According to information from the Ministry of Justice, obtained by Stuff via an Official Information Act request, Philip is the first person to face sabotage charges in New Zealand legal history.
"The Ministry's Case Management System holds records from 1980 onwards," the OIA response said.
"A search of the Case Management System for records for the period of January 1, 1980 and December 31, 2021 for charges or convictions of sabotage produced no results."
Stuff reported that even before 1980, no New Zealander has ever faced charges of sabotage.
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