Poo thrown at police officer

An angry Hamilton man opted to hurl more than just insults at the police officers who arrested him. He hurled some poo.

Roimata Tame Simon, 40, was sentenced to four months in prison by Judge Kim Saunders when he appeared via audio-visual link in the Hamilton District Court on Thursday on charges of common assault and assaulting a police officer.

It was about 12.15pm on Monday, October 22, when the police went to Simon’s house and arrested him for what the summary of facts describes as ‘‘an unrelated matter’’.

What that matter was remains unknown, however Simon was not pleased about being arrested. As part of his efforts to resist the attending officers, he swung himself around and attempted to headbutt one of them. After a struggle, Simon was manoeuvred into the back seat of a police car and was taken to the Hamilton Police Station – kicking, spitting and generally thrashing about on the journey. The police officers put Simon straight into a cell on arrival at the station. At 12.40pm a police constable came to the door of the cell to read Simon his caution under the Bill of Rights.

Simon took the opportunity to move from behind the cell door and throw a handful of faeces through the gap of the door at the officer. Some of the faeces landed on the constable’s boot and some on his trouser leg.

The following day Simon appeared in court, where he was denied bail. This made him angry. He struck one of the police-authorised court security officers in the face with a bundle of legal documents. The security officer suffered a grazed and bruised nose as a result.

In court on Thursday, Simon pleaded guilty to both charges and submitted a letter to the court apologising for his behaviour. Waiving his right to a presentence report, he was sentenced to four months imprisonment – to be served concurrently – on both of the charges.