Quiet in court, please
A Picton man who threatened an Ashburton-style shooting in Blenheim was so worried the judge would ‘‘see him as a bad person’’ he would not be quiet in court.
It took Judge Tony Zohrab three attempts to sentence Wayne Andrew Bright, 46, on Monday as he kept interrupting, out of fear the judge would send him to prison.
Bright was charged with threatening language and unlawful possession of explosives after calling his case worker at Wairau Hospital Addiction Services, in Blenheim, to complain about his treatment in May.
Bright said he hoped someone would go into the case worker’s office like they did in the Ashburton Work and Income shootings, referring to when Peggy Noble and Susan Cleveland were killed by disgruntled client Russell John Tully in 2014.
‘‘When I’ve had enough I’ll just grab the shells and a gun and turn up and I won’t give any warning,’’ a police summary recorded Bright as saying.
The case worker reported his threat to police, who searched Bright’s house in Picton two weeks later and found a kilogram of explosive powder and three detonators.
Bright admitted referring to the Ashburton Work and Income shooting on the phone to his case worker, but denied saying he would bring in a firearm.
He admitted the charges and appeared for sentencing at the Blenheim District Court on Monday morning.
As Judge Tony Zohrab ran through the police summary of facts, Bright repeatedly interrupted.
‘‘That’s not me, that’s not what I said,’’ he told Judge Zohrab, who asked Bright to be quiet.
But Bright continued to interrupt and was twice stood down in custody, before being recalled at the end of the criminal list late in the afternoon.
His lawyer John Holdaway apologised on Bright’s behalf, saying he had promised to be quiet.
‘‘He is suffering from anxiety and was worried he might go to prison. He’s very worried you would see him as a bad person.’’
Judge Zohrab said perhaps his anxiety about his sentence would help Bright empathise with his victim.
‘‘If you’re feeling anxious about going to jail, that might give you some insight into how the A&D clinician might have felt after your threat.’’
Alcohol and drug clinicians did ‘‘very good work’’, often treating offenders as a lot of crime was related to drugs and alcohol, he said. ‘‘Your case worker had never had a threat like that before. They’ve had to get new security in place because of people like you who are prepared to make threats like this.’’
Holdaway said Bright was making explosives to blow up rock for a friend who was goldmining, and police accepted there was no ‘‘ulterior motive’’ or link to his threatening phone call.
Bright was not medically fit to do community work, so Holdaway suggested a sentence of community detention and supervision.
Judge Zohrab convicted him and sentenced him to six months’ supervision, with conditions to do alcohol and drug treatment as directed by probation.
He was also sentenced to three months’ community detention.
‘‘If you behave like this in the future, quite a different approach will be taken,’’ Judge Zohrab warned.
He ordered the police destroy the confiscated explosives.
‘‘He’s very worried you would see him as a bad person.’’ John Holdaway, lawyer