Man ‘tasered himself to be like Bruce Lee’

A MAN who admitted illegally owning a Taser bought it to use on himself, so he could be like martial arts star Bruce Lee.

Manu Robin’s lawyer, Alan Cressey, said his client bought the weapon from Facebook ‘‘for personal use’’, as he believed shocking himself with it was a practice employed by the late actor.

Robin had no idea it was illegal to own a Taser and thought that, because he bought it from Facebook, it must be legal.

Officers came across the Taser while carrying out a search warrant on his Napier home.

According to a summary of facts read in Napier District Court yesterday, they found the weapon in a wardrobe.

When asked why he had it, Robin, 31, said he bought it ‘‘so I could use it like Bruce Lee does in his training’’. He told officers Lee used the weapon on himself ‘‘to bring up the adrenaline to make the training harder’’.

Lee, who died in 1973, was a Hong Kong/American martial artist who starred in films in the 1970s.

Stun guns, the forerunners to the Taser, were invented in the 1960s. Tasers are restricted weapons under the Arms Act 1983. Robin pleaded guilty to one charge of unlawful possession of a restricted weapon.

Tasers fire two small dart-like electrodes, delivering an electric current resulting in strong involuntary muscle contractions.

‘The weapon was for personal use, as bizarre as that might sound.’ Alan Cressey, defence lawyer

Cressey told the court the weapon was ‘‘for personal use’’ and that the explanation Robin gave was the truth, ‘‘as bizarre as that might sound’’.

He said Robin did not know Tasers were restricted weapons.

‘‘He bought it off Facebook and that is one of the reasons why his suspicions weren’t raised,’’ Cressey said.

Judge Bridget Mackintosh sentenced Robin to 80 hours of community work and granted an order for destruction of the Taser.