A high-ranking New Zealand military officer has been accused of hiding a camera in a bathroom at the nation's embassy in Washington in a case that has raised unusual jurisdictional questions.
Alfred Keating, 58, was a Navy commodore and the embassy's senior defence attache when a covert recording device was found in a unisex bathroom last July.
"It had been purposely mounted inside a heating duct in the bathroom at a height and direction that captured recordings from people who arrived and used the toilet," Judge Grant Powell said in a written judgement on Friday.
The hidden camera was discovered when it fell to the floor and a thick layer of dust on its mounting indicated it had been in place for many months.
Mr Keating would have been eligible to claim diplomatic immunity from being prosecuted by US authorities, but the case was handled by New Zealand police, who travelled to Washington to investigate.
No indecent images were discovered but police claim Mr Keating had installed driver software for the camera.
They also matched his DNA to samples found on the memory card in the camera.
Mr Keating, who has returned to New Zealand, was charged with attempting to make an intimate visual recording in March and subsequently resigned from the military.
He has pleaded not guilty.
The High Court rejected a name suppression bid by Mr Keating which argued he and his family would face "extreme hardship" if his identity was revealed.
If convicted, he faces a maximum 18 months in prison.
