NZ Soldier Bevan Vincent Arthur McKay Dismissed From Defence Force After Filming Showering Female Colleague

Soldier Bevan Vincent Arthur McKay has been kicked out of the New Zealand defence force after admitting that he had recorded a female colleague having shower. The 35-year-old Territorial Force lance corporal pleaded guilty to four charges of making or attempting to make intimate visual recordings at a military barracks in July.

The unnamed female victim was taking a shower at the Burnham Military Camp on July 21, 2012 at 7am when McKay, a married father of one, pretended to take a shower at the adjacent cubicle. She was naked and already drying herself when she noticed a camera coming from under the partition.

When the victim, who has name suppression, asked if she was being filmed, McKay denied it, claiming he just dropped something.

According to APNZ, she was "understandably angry" so she got dressed and confiscated the camera before returning to her barracks, it was heard at a court martial hearing before Judge Pip Hall QC on Monday.

McKay followed her and asked whether he could have his camera back and if the films had already been deleted, but the woman refused to return the camera, telling him that she would be filing a complaint to the military police.

He was interviewed under caution in October, wherein he admitted filming his female colleague. He claimed he "did not know why" he was making the videos, except that he got excited at "doing something he should not be doing."

There were four recordings found on his camera. One was 16 second long, the other was 9 seconds, while the other two were failed attempts at just one second each, as per APNZ.

His lawyer, Lt Colonel Philip Bellamy had applied for final name suppression, but the judge denied him of such.

McKay, who was said to be suffering from depression since he was found out, has written a letter of apology to his victim and even offered to pay emotional harm reparation, but the offer was rejected by the female soldier.

Judge Hall has delivered the sentence, which was deliberated by a panel of nine military members, ordering McKay to be "dismissed from Her Majesty's service" and fined $2000.