 He supported the sabotage team that travelled to New Zealand and bombed and sank the Greenpeace vessel "Rainbow Warrior", drowning photographer Fernando Pereira.He was apprehended by New Zealand police, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on 22 November 1985.Following heavy political pressure from France and her allies and a United Nations-sponsored mediation between New Zealand and France in July 1986, Mafart was deported to the island of Hao in French Polynesia to serve three years.