Stripper, sex worker targeted in rampage

A DUNEDIN grandfather was in the midst of a manic episode when he threatened to end a stripper’s dancing career, a court has heard.

A week later 71yearold Timothy DuvalSmith smashed the door of a sex worker and demanded repayment of $100 he had earlier paid her.

He appeared in the Dunedin District Court this week where he pleaded guilty to seven charges over a wild twomonth period.

Defence counsel Noel Rayner said DuvalSmith’s actions were directly related to his partly treatmentresistant bipolar disorder which had ‘‘run rampant at times’’.

A report noted over the past five years, the defendant had had up to two manic episodes a year.

The court heard DuvalSmith became a regular patron at

Stilettos Revue Bar during mid2018.

On October 7, he was refused entry to the premises and the victim — an exotic dancer with whom he had become obsessed — came to the door in a bid to calm the situation.

Instead, DuvalSmith turned on the woman.

‘‘I will end you and you’ll never be able to dance again,’’ he said.

‘‘I will end you.’’

Within days his anger boiled over again.

After an appointment with a sex worker ‘‘did not end well’’, DuvalSmith went to where she lived with a longhandled, policestyle baton.

He smashed a large hole in the victim’s door while yelling about the return of his cash.

She called police, who found him in his car with the weapon, cannabis, a pipe and a large dagger.

Mr Rayner explained his client was a collector of weapons and had always had a fascination with metal objects.

The following month, while on bail, DuvalSmith was seen by police driving erratically near Oamaru, overtaking dangerously and narrowly avoiding collisions.

He refused to give a blood sample and defended his conduct.

‘‘The defendant stated that there was nothing wrong with his driving. He was a good driver and was trying to get from Dunedin to Oamaru as fast as possible,’’ a police summary said.

DuvalSmith was unrepentant when he was interviewed before sentencing, protesting his innocence, but that changed this week.

‘‘I’m terribly sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused,’’ he said.

DuvalSmith was sentenced to four months’ community detention, 12 months’ supervision and banned from driving for nine months.