A man has been sent to jail for making what a judge called a "wide-eyed, threatening" teeth-clenching gesture at an earlier hearing.
Justice Nicholas Davidson QC said the threat was an "unsophisticated" attempt to pervert the course of justice.
The judge told the High Court in Wellington the signal, directed at a witness, was understood to mean "shut your mouth".
Justice Davidson earlier made orders suppressing the 46-year-old defendant's name, and details of the hearing from which the allegation arose.
The Crown wanted the judge to consider a starting point of four to four-and-a-half years for the man's punishment.
The defence argued the man should receive no more than six months in jail.
In September, the man's lawyer Eric Forster told the court the man was merely rubbing his face and did not intend to make any suggestive or intimidating gestures.
Justice Davidson today said the offence was "opportunistic but destructive" and the act of a desperate man.
"The offending was unsophisticated."
The Judge said the offending was less nefarious than some other high-profile witness intimidation cases, but declined to sentence the man to home detention.
The man was sentenced to 18 months in jail.