Drama erupts in courtroom

Adam Nicholson was so enraged at being denied bail that he attempted to dispense his own brand of violent justice in the courtroom.

But rather than an emphatic victory over the legal system, his fury-fuelled assault led to a two-and-a-half-year jail term.

Adam John Noel Nicholson, 25, appeared for sentence in the Hamilton District Court on Monday, having earlier pleaded guilty to two charges of injuring with intent to injure and one of injuring with reckless disregard.

Those charges stemmed from an incident at the conclusion of a previous court appearance on Friday, May 26, on a charge of breaching prison release conditions.

The presiding community magistrate had just remanded him in custody to next appear in the Tauranga District Court the following Monday. Nicholson, however, took exception to this.

‘‘That’s f... en bulls...,’’ he remarked as he made for the door leading away to the courthouse cells.

Standing at that door was a female authorised officer – a police employee authorised to perform in a policing role – and Nicholson pushed her hard in the stomach, causing her to stumble backwards.

Another authorised officer, in an attempt to stymie the defendant’s offensive, grabbed hold of him in an attempt to manoeuvre him out of the dock area. But Nicholson wasn’t done.

He advanced on the female authorised officer and threw a punch at her, connecting hard with her left temple and eye socket.

She tried to call for help on her radio, but was unable to locate it in the melee as Nicholson continued to rain punches upon her.

A police officer who happened to be in the courtroom leapt into the fray and the three officers managed to take Nicholson to the ground.

As he continued to thrash about, the woman he punched used her body weight on his legs while the other authorised officer grabbed him around the torso.

Another authorised officer who had been alerted to the ruckus arrived and attempted to help subdue Nicholson by grabbing his left arm in order to pull it out from underneath him. As he did this, Nicholson bit him on his hand hard enough to break the skin.

A fourth authorised officer arrived, armed with pepper spray. Because the fracas was happening in an enclosed space, he sprayed the spray on to his hand and then wiped his hand over Nicholson’s face in an attempt to get him to settle down. It worked, and Nicholson was managed into a cell.

The battle was a brief and frenzied one and Nicholson inflicted some damage. The female authorised officer was bleeding badly from the punch to her head. She was dazed and had lost vision in her left eye. The cuts to her head required stitches and her eye remained swollen shut for 36 hours.

The second authorised officer dislocated a knuckle and tore a tendon in his left hand during his attempts to restrain Nicholson. His hand needed to be braced for 12 weeks.

The officer who was bitten suffered a swollen hand and required a tetanus injection and intravenous antibiotics.

On Monday, as his heavily pregnant partner wept profusely in the public gallery, Nicholson was sentenced in the neighbouring courtroom by Judge Simon Menzies.

Nicholson’s attack was a prolonged and significant one, the judge said, before jailing him for 30 months.

‘‘These were public officials undertaking their roles and they should not be subject to this sort of violence,’’ he said.

Earlier, defence counsel Roger Laybourn said Nicholson had accepted responsibility for his actions.

His client suffered from a bipolar condition and on the day of the incident had not taken his medication. His temper had flared because he had taken exception to an order not to associate with his partner.

‘‘When in a normal state of mind, he is a charming man,’’ Laybourn said.

Nicholson was also disqualified from driving for two years on two driving while disqualified charges.