A DINAS Cross climate change protestor who swam in front of the world's largest seismic blasting vessel, off the New Zealand coast, has been spared a criminal record and punishment.

Climate activist Sara Howell, a former pupil of Ysgol Bro Gwaun, appeared alongside Greenpeace director Russel Norman at Napier District Court in New Zealand for sentencing last July.

The charge related to a protest in April 2017 when the pair took a smaller craft from the Greenpeace protest boat the Taitu and swam in front of the 125-metre long Amazon Warrior, forcing it to stop its seismic blasting work.

In April this year, the pair admitted obstructing the oil exploration ship.

They were charged under a 2013 Amendment to the Crown Minerals Act, dubbed the Anadarko Amendment, which was put in place to stop protests at sea around oil exploration.

The law change makes it an offence to interfere with or get closer than within 500m of an offshore ship involved in oil exploration, and the pair face a year in jail or up to $50,000 fines.

Following an hour-long court hearing this summer, Judge Arthur Tompkins reserved his decision, and the pair were told they would have to wait to hear whether they would be convicted.

They returned to court last week and on Friday, September 21, were discharged without conviction.

"We received the best possible outcome," said Sara. "We are celebrating over here."

Speaking on social media prior to sentencing, university graduate Howell thanked her family and friends back home in west Wales for their continued support.

The 26-year-old also defended her part in the protest, saying: "It wasn't an act of anger, it was an act of love, and it came from a place of hope and care."

Howell said civil disobedience had a "huge role to play in democracy".