Sentenced over wild drive

A DUNEDIN man ‘‘lost the plot’’ after he found someone had damaged his car, a court has heard.

Cooper DrewPercey Taylor appeared in the Dunedin District Court this week after pleading guilty to careless driving and two counts of threatening to kill.

On the morning of January 20, the 22yearold defendant — who has a heavily tattooed head, featuring at least two swastikas — left his Port Chalmers home and noticed his car’s right wing mirror had been broken.

‘‘You totally lost the plot,’’ Judge Kevin Phillips said,

Taylor got into the car with his partner and began driving around the area in an enraged bid to find the culprit.

It was not a casual cruise of the suburb and Taylor’s speed attracted numerous calls to police.

When he reached Albertson Ave, two residents came out and shouted at the defendant to slow down because there were children playing nearby.

‘‘Those people who were doing no more than trying to get you to drive appropriately and slow down, all of a sudden they were being threatened. You said you were going to stab them,’’ the judge said.

The woman Taylor threatened knew him and said she was ‘‘alarmed’’ by his driving.

She wanted the man to get help.

Judge Phillips said it was a tossup whether to lock the defendant up or get him the help he needed, especially considering in 2016 he was jailed over threats to kill and weapons charges.

‘‘You have a very violent footprint,’’ he said.

Counsel Debbie Ericsson stressed her client’s issues with anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Since being on bail at his parents’ house, Taylor had attended counselling and Ms Ericsson asked the court to assist in his rehabilitation.

Taylor was sentenced to four months’ community detention, 12 months’ intensive supervision and six months’ disqualification from driving.

Judge Phillips imposed judicial monitoring so he could keep tabs on the man while he served the sentence.