A "lonely man" who pretended to be a radical terrorist in emails to Members of Parliament where he threatened to put their heads on poles and pump them "full of bullets" has today been jailed for 11 months.
Steven Shane Lawrence, 50, sat in his Christchurch flat and seethed against the New Zealand government.
The loner was angry at a "Zionist" government he perceived to be in bed with America.
So, over a seven-day period in January, Lawrence sent a string of extremely graphic and abusive emails to several MPs.
One victim received a threat that he would be pumped full of bullets and that Lawrence would rejoice in his bloody death.
Another victim was threatened that she would "burn eternally in hell" and that her entrails would be spread across the streets.
Others were threatened with having their decapitated heads put on poles, while another was told her throat would be slit.
On his arrest, Lawrence told police he had strong political ideologies.
He said he had wanted to warn, not threaten, the victims about being involved in a government that was associated with America.
Lawrence, of Christchurch, earlier pleaded guilty to four charges of threatening to kill and grievous bodily harm.
Today, Christchurch District Court heard that the victims had feared for the safety of their families after the explicit threats.
Defence counsel Lee Lee Heah said Lawrence was apologetic, and that he "simply did not realise" the impact it would have on the victims.
He was "very very drunk at the time", she said, and had no intent or means to carry out the threats.
But Judge Gary MacAskill said being drunk was not an excuse.
He considered the threats to have a high level of seriousness and jailed Lawrence for 11 months.
Police prosecutor Stephen Burdes asked for the victims' names, ethnicity, and occupations to be suppressed.
Judge MacAskill made an order to suppress the victims' names and ethnicity, but refused to suppress their occupations as it would "unnecessarily restrict" the media's reporting of case, which he believed was of public interest.