Earth Times
written by dpa
Friday September 17, 2010 at 02:55:44 GMT
Wellington - A New Zealand politician who admitted stealing a DEAD baby's identity to get a false passport as a "harmless prank" quit his party Friday.
David Garrett, who made his name as the TOUGHEST law-and-order [LMAO!!! (emphasis mine)] campaigner in parliament, resigned from the right-wing ACT party after a week in which he confirmed TWO PAST CRIMINAL OFFENSES.
"I believe it is appropriate for me now to minimise the damage to the ACT Party and to the government," he said in a statement. His own political career was "almost certainly over," he added.
Garrett, 52, who was elected in 2008, said he would take two weeks' leave from parliament to consider his future. He could resign from parliament or remain as an independent until the election due late next year.
The ACT party's five members support the centre-right government led by the conservative National Party, which has 58 seats in the 122-strong parliament.
Prime Minister John Key's administration is not in danger because it is also supported by five Maori Party members and one other.
Garrett admitted in parliament Wednesday that he had used a dead 2-year-old boy's name from a cemetery gravestone to get his birth certificate and obtain a false passport in 1984.
Garrett's name was suppressed when he admitted the OFFENSE in court five years ago and was discharged WITHOUT CONVICTION. [Con's supporting con's. (emphasis mine)]
It was also revealed this week that he had been convicted of assault following a bar brawl while working as a lawyer in the Pacific island state of Tonga in 2002.
Court documents show that the dead boy's mother, who is now 94, told police at the time that Garrett's action was "akin to stealing from a grave." A brother of the child this week dubbed the legislator the "lowest of the low".
Expressing "profound regret for the distress and hurt" he had caused, Garrett said, "I wish I had not done such a stupid and dreadfully hurtful thing in 1984."
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