Two workers at the New Zealand's embassy in Washington, DC, described to the court today how and where they found a micro covert camera in a unisex toilets cubicle.
Jerry Navarro appeared in the Auckland District Court this morning by way of audio visual link from the US capital. He was giving evidence in the trial of New Zealand's former defence attaché to Washington, Alfred Keating.
Keating is charged with attempting to make an intimate visual recording in the toilets in July of 2017.
The court was shown a video of Mr Navarro picking up the small camera off the floor in the toilet cubicle and placing it on top of the nearby radiator attached to the wall.
He says he went to the bathroom after his lunch break and noticed it on the floor there. He thought someone must have forgotten it, so he simply picked it up and placed it on the radiator expecting someone would return to pick it up.
Later in the day, former NZ Embassy worker Stephen Warren told the jury how he was concerned he had found a recording device in the Embassy’s toilets.
Mr Warren described how he entered the unisex toilets just after 2pm on July 27, 2017, and after using the toilet, noticed what he thought was a hard-drive on the floor.
After looking at it, he noticed a lens and a slot with a memory card inside it. He feared it was a recording device, he testified.
He picked it up and put it in his pocket. He then left the toilets and notified a colleague with a higher security clearance.
Mr Warren then took it to an MFAT security person inside the embassy who placed a “Post-it” sticker over the lens and then secured the device in a locked drawer.
As the trial started yesterday, Crown Prosecutor Henry Steele told the jury that Keating, the former top military representative in the United States, was responsible for trying to covertly record his colleagues.
The Crown said Keating’s DNA was found on the camera's memory card and CCTV footage shows Keating going into the toilets just moments before the first recording.
In addition, the Crown said a forensic examination of Keating’s computer showed it accessing software and files relating to the videos created.
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