Who? New Zealand politician.
Real? Yes. The tape definitely existed, but it never circulated publicly.
Haimona Gardiner is a young Maori political aide in New Zealand. In May 2010 he got into trouble for secretly videotaping a sexual encounter with a woman he picked up at a bar, after avoiding more serious trouble by showing the tape to police. An article at The Dominion Post explains:
Haimona Kenneth Gardiner, 25, was charged with intentionally making an intimate visual recording of another person on May 21, court documents show. He works as a private secretary in Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia’s ministerial office at Parliament.
Although the maximum penalty for the offence is three years in jail, he completed diversion and the charge was withdrawn in Wellington District Court last month.
It is understood police began an investigation after a member of the public found a woman wandering along The Terrace one morning in May.
The woman, aged in her 40s, claims to have little memory of the night before but officers traced her back to Gardiner’s nearby home.
It is understood he argued they had met at a central Wellington bar the night before and the sex had been consensual – and as proof he handed over the recording.
Police viewed the tape and, on the basis of that evidence, decided against laying more serious charges.
If there’s a moral to this story, I can’t figure it out. Interesting discussion of the case at Kiwi Blog.
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