His boss called him one of their best - before the truth surfaced
A New Zealand security guard had his licence suspended after his employer discovered he had hidden an overseas manslaughter conviction when applying for the job.
The Private Security Personnel Licensing Authority handed down the decision on October 5, 2026, after the worker's former employer lodged a complaint under the Private Security Personnel and Private Investigators Act 2010 (the PSPPI Act).
The worker had been convicted of manslaughter in the Cook Islands in 2019 and sentenced to imprisonment. He did not mention any of that on his job application. He also ticked "no" on the overseas convictions question in his application for a certificate of approval - the licence needed to work in private security in New Zealand.
That declaration was false.
When his employer eventually learned of the conviction, they reported him to the Licensing Authority. According to the decision, the only reason disciplinary action was taken was the breach of trust from the worker lying on his application - not any concerns about his work on the job.
His employer's representative told the hearing the worker had been "one of their best and most reliable security workers."
The worker told the Authority that his training provider had filled out and submitted his certificate application for him. But he acknowledged he never told them about the conviction. He said he wanted to put his past behind him and move forward, and found it distressing to talk about the background of his offending.
The Authority accepted that the false statement on the application was not the product of fraud. Under the PSPPI Act, that distinction matters: a false statement is a discretionary ground for cancelling a certificate, but if the certificate was obtained by fraud, cancellation becomes mandatory.
The circumstances of the original offending were discussed at the hearing but redacted from the published decision. The Authority was satisfied the offending was out of character and that the worker had since addressed the issues that led to it.
So rather than cancelling the certificate outright - which the Authority had the power to do under the Act - it suspended the certificate for up to one year. The worker can apply to have the suspension lifted at any time, provided he produces a letter from a prospective security employer confirming they know about both the conviction and this decision, and are still willing to hire him.
Both the employer's representative and the worker agreed this was an acceptable outcome.
The decision also noted that the worker's prison sentence was separately a ground for disqualification under s 62(c) of the PSPPI Act.
For HR teams hiring in licensed or regulated industries, the case is a sharp example of what happens when pre-employment vetting relies on self-declaration without independent checks on overseas criminal history. The gap between what an applicant discloses and what actually exists in an overseas record can sit undetected for years - until it doesn't.
The decision is final.
