Soldier accused of headbutting and threatening senior after cocktail night

Soldier accused of headbutting and threatening colleague of senior rank and assaulting or threatening others after cocktail party

Soldier says there were no threats or headbutt, and any pushing was in self-defence

Late-night argument related to disputed kiss months before

A soldier is accused of headbutting and threatening to kill someone of senior rank after a disputed kiss led to a late-night confrontation after a cocktail party at Waiouru Military Camp.

"Bro, you want to explain getting with my misses?" the soldier messaged the senior months after the mid-2024 kiss.

A court martial has heard the senior soldier and the partner of the soldier on trial, who is also in the military, kissed after a function. Each says the other initiated it.

After the soldier on trial messaged the senior, the senior replied that he did not want to get involved in someone else's relationship problems.

The soldier is now facing court martial over a fracas late on 6 December, 2024, over which he is accused of confronting the senior.

The names and identifying details of the people involved are suppressed on an interim basis.

The soldier on trial is also accused of assaulting and threatening others who tried to intervene, but the defence says there were no threats or headbutting and any pushing was in self-defence.

Defence lawyer Deborah Davies said the soldier did not know the rank of the senior he confronted as everyone was in civilian clothes at the cocktail event.

"There are two sides to every story," she said in a brief opening statement.

The hearing, before Judge Gerard Winter and a military panel who will decide a verdict, began at Linton Military Camp, near Palmerston North, on Monday.

The soldier has pleaded not guilty to six charges, including using violence to a superior and threatening to kill.

On 6 December, 2024, the senior and his partner, also a soldier, were heading home after the cocktail party when the soldier on trial confronted them.

The senior gave evidence that the headbutt left him with light bruising on his eyebrow. The senior said he thought the headbutt was to bait him into having a fight, rather than to cause damage.

"He was yelling at me - obviously very aggressive, and confronted me," the senior said of the soldier.

"He was threatening to kill me - just a lot of threatening and aggressive language, words to the effect of 'I will f…… kill you, mate'."

The senior denied suggestions from Davies that he was making up the headbutt and the threats against him.

He also denied a suggestion that the soldier on trial had seen him and his partner having sex in an office soon before the dispute, and that he was angry about losing face in front of other colleagues.

Questioning the senior about the mid-2024 kiss, Davies asked if the partner of the soldier on trial deserved to be kissed without consent.

"She is not entitled to be kissed without her consent," the senior replied.

The court also heard from another soldier, who tried to break up the two men who were arguing.

He said he heard the soldier on trial yelling threats and said he was struck or pushed in the throat by him and told that he was now on the soldier on trial's list so had better watch out.

However, he said he was struggling to remember some details of what happened.

Three senior members of the military will rule on verdicts in a hearing set down for the week.