Bomb hoax guilty plea

A Palmerston North woman decided to take out her frustrations at a charitable community group by telling them she had placed a bomb under their building.

Angela Mary Walker, 47, pleaded guilty in the Palmerston North District Court on Thursday to making a false police complaint.

According to the police summary of facts, Walker had a longstanding personal grievance with Methodist Social Services before she called them at 9am on June 17.

She said a bomb was under the building and was set to blow up. She then hung up, before calling back and saying just one word ’’boom’’.

The person who answered the phone recognised Walker’s voice, and was genuinely concerned for their safety due to past interactions with her, so they called police and evacuated the building.

Police and the fire service attended, with Broadway Ave between Ruahine and Victoria streets closed off due to fears the bomb would explode.

Walker was found at her workplace at 9.30am that same day and admitted it was a hoax. She said she was angry at staff for not doing enough to help her and that she had made a bad decision.

Judge Stephanie Edwards said Walker had been in trouble for trespassing at Methodist Social Services in 2014, and had come before the courts on other matters since. Walker was given supervision sentences in the past for those offences, but did not take the opportunity for rehabilitation at that time.

‘‘All I can do today is impose a sentence that punishes you and, hopefully, makes you think twice next time you get it into your head that it’s a good idea to ring a community organisation and make a bomb threat like you did.’’

Walker was sentenced to 100 hours’ community work.