By Ethan Griffiths of 
Graham Philip appearing in Hamilton High Court on 1 December, 2022. Photo: RNZ / Andrew McRae
New Zealand's first and only convicted saboteur, who attempted to bring down the country's national power grid to cause mass disruption, will remain behind bars.
A psychological assessment found Graham Philip still poses a "reasonable risk" of undertaking further disruptive action to garner attention for his cause, and the Parole Board has ruled he should remain in prison.
Philip, a 63-year-old former IT professional from Taupō, appeared before the board nearly three weeks ago seeking release from Tongariro Prison. He has been held in custody since he was first arrested in the days after his attack in December 2021.
Details of Philip's offending are subject to a permanent suppression order, although it can be reported his attack was against Transpower infrastructure and resulted in a fire, causing $1.25 million in damage.
Philip's goal was to cause mass disruption to the New Zealand population to draw attention to the government's Covid-19 response, which he felt was harming people.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years and one month in prison in December last year on seven charges of sabotage, immediately becoming eligible for parole due to time served.
Unlike Philip's first unsuccessful parole hearing in January, NZME was denied permission to attend the hearing on 27 July. On 15 August, the board provided media with a copy of its decision.
At Philip's previous hearing, the board declined parole to allow time for a psychological assessment to be completed.
This time around, an assessment had been completed, but the decision says Philip refused to engage with the psychologist and did not consent for the report to be shown to the board.
However, his prison case manager did refer to the assessment in her evidence, saying a risk was still present.
"The department psychologist is of the opinion that Mr Philip is unlikely to engage in violent offending as he has no history of violent behaviour. However, there is a reasonable risk Mr Philip could take further disruptive action to force others to listen to his views," the case manager said.
The board said Philip had yet to undergo any offence-related treatment. His case manager said he appeared to show little understanding of whom he could have harmed.
"There is no evidence Mr Philip has ever taken into consideration that vulnerable members of the public and agencies/hospitals etc are dependent upon uninterrupted power supply. Mr Philip believes his offending was the result of a 'rational thought process'."
But in the hearing, the board said Philip acknowledged for the first time that "all New Zealanders" were victims of his offending.
He provided multiple letters of support to the board, which acknowledged his offending was wrong but spoke of the support network around him if he was to be released.
Since being arrested, Philip has maintained a vocal group of supporters - some of whom falsely claimed he was being held as a political prisoner without trial, including his wife.
But despite the acknowledgment, the board ultimately concluded Philip still posed an undue risk to the community, ordering another psychological report and encouraging him to engage with the psychologist this time.
He is to reappear before the board in December.
The latest decision does not detail Philip's behaviour in prison, although this was canvassed at his previous January hearing.
At the time, he said he was "having a great time in prison" and was a "Corrections' success story" who spent his days writing short stories, playing table tennis and drawing pictures of flowers.
"When I came to jail I was angry and had issues, and now I'm not angry, I'm happy. As far as I can, I'm having a great time. I'm the table tennis champion. We won a quiz. I consider myself a great success story for Corrections. Well done Corrections," he said.
"Write to the minister, he'll be pleased," the panel's convenor, Judge Louis Bidois, replied.
This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.
*Ethan Griffiths covers crime and justice stories nationwide for Open Justice. He joined NZME in 2020, previously working as a regional reporter in Whanganui and South Taranaki.
