ACT MP David Garrett is today expected to face the media for the first time since admitting in Parliament on Wednesday he used a dead baby's identity to get a false passport.With his political career on the line Mr Garrett went to ground yesterday as his
ACT MP David Garrett is today expected to face the media for the first time since admitting in Parliament on Wednesday he used a dead baby's identity to get a false passport.
With his political career on the line Mr Garrett went to ground yesterday as his party leader, Rodney Hide, cut short a holiday in Hong Kong to fly back to Wellington and deal with the crisis.
They are likely to hold a joint press conference early this afternoon.
Mr Hide is standing by the MP, although he has described Mr Garrett's actions as "horrific" and said he made "a terrible mistake" 26 years ago.
Mr Garrett said on Wednesday he thought at the time it was "just a harmless prank" to get a false passport by using a scheme he read about in the best-selling novel The Day of the Jackal.
He was arrested 21 years later, in 2005, but was discharged without conviction.
Yesterday a police summary of facts in the case was released.
It said that when Mr Garrett was arrested he had said he had "delusions of grandeur" at the time and hadn't expected to be able to subvert processes and obtain the passport.
He had used a fake postal address and a bogus referee when he applied for it.
In Mr Garrett's defence, lawyer Gary Gotlieb told the judge his client was a lawyer and faced losing his certificate if convicted.
The judge noted Mr Garrett appeared to have turned his life around, the offending occurred over 20 years previously, and the passport had been destroyed without ever having been used.
Mr Garrett will today face questions on whether he told the court about the 2002 assault conviction.
TV One reported last night it had seen a court document which quoted Mr Garrett as saying he had committed no offences since becoming a lawyer in 1992.
Mr Garrett's lawyer was reported as saying that statement was not in the sworn affidavit that was presented to the court.
