A New Zealand lawmaker last week admitted he stole the identity of a dead child to obtain a passport under false pretences, using a method detailed in the thriller novel Day of the Jackal.
David Garrett, law and order spokesman for the conservative ACT party, said he obtained the passport in 1984 as an experiment and never used the document before destroying it.
Garrett, who rose to prominence advocating tough sentencing policies, told parliament that when he applied for the passport he believed it was a “harmless prank” but now acknowledged his actions were foolish.
After reading Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 book Day of the Jackal, about a plot to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle, Garrett said he applied for a birth certificate in the name of a child who died shortly after he was born.
“I used this birth certificate to obtain a passport in that child’s name,” he said.
“To this day I cannot explain the rationale behind my actions except to say I was simply curious to see whether such a thing could be done.”
Garrett said he was arrested in 2005, when New Zealand police were investigating an unrelated attempt to obtain fake passports a year earlier by two Israelis suspected of being Mossad agents.
That incident prompted New Zealand to temporarily suspend diplomatic relations with Israel and led to jail sentences for the two men, who were eventually deported to their homeland.
Garrett, a barrister before entering parliament in 2008, said he had admitted in court obtaining a passport under false pretences but was discharged without conviction.
“The regret I feel at the hurt I unwittingly caused the family of the deceased child is something I carry with me today,” he said.(AFP)
一位紐西蘭國會議員上週承認竊取一位死去孩童的身分，並因此蒙混過關取得一本護照，而他所使用的方法，在驚悚小說「豺狼之日」中就有詳實描述。
大衛•蓋瑞特是保守派的紐西蘭行動黨法律與秩序議題發言人。他表示於一九八四年拿到這護照，並且在摧毀這護照前未曾使用過。
官銜高到可能遭到嚴厲逞罰的蓋瑞特向國會表示，當他申請這個護照時，覺得只是個「無傷大雅的惡作劇」，但現在他承認這個舉動是愚蠢的。
蓋瑞特表示，在看完一九七一年弗雷德里克•福賽斯所著的小說「豺狼之日」，描述一樁當年策劃暗殺法國總統戴高樂將軍的密謀，便以一位剛出生就死亡的小孩的名義，申請出生證明。
他說，「我用這個出生證明，獲得了以這孩子為名的護照。」
「直至今日，我還是無法解釋這個舉動背後的根本原因，要不就是我純粹好奇心使然，想看這種事是否真的能夠成功。」
蓋瑞特說他於二零零五年曾遭逮捕。當時紐西蘭警方正在調查一樁跟他目前這案子無關的假護照案件。該案件為兩位疑似「以色列情報和特殊使命局」人員，於前一年企圖獲得造假的護照。
該事件使得紐西蘭暫時與以色列斷交，並囚禁這兩人，但最終還是遣送回國。
蓋瑞特於二零零八年擔任議員前是位辯護律師。他在法庭上承認蒙混過關獲得護照，但卻沒被起訴。
他說，「我雖無意，但是很後悔對死去孩童家庭造成傷害。這是我今天背在身上的一個罪名。」
（法新社�翻譯：吳岱璟）
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