Bay of Plenty man who threatened Māori convicted under hate speech laws

Richard Jacobs, 44, has been sentenced to 12 months' home detention after making a video calling for the genocide of Māori. Photo / Ethan Griffiths

WARNING: This story covers issues relating to hate speech and some content may be distressing for some readers.

A Bay of Plenty man who recorded a violent tirade directed towards Māori has been sentenced under New Zealand's hate speech laws - a prosecution believed to be only the second of its kind.

Richard Jacobs, 44, filmed a video from his Pāpāmoa home in May last year where he called for the killing of Māori. The video was uploaded to YouTube.

In the video Jacobs spouted a diatribe of attacks against tangata whenua, labelling the race "overweight and unhealthy".

He also took aim at the Māori Party, calling leaders of the party "Māori elite" who will "cause a civil war like never before".

He then became markedly more violent, saying the Māori population "could be wiped out within a month". He threatened to burn down marae, said he knew how to kill and aimed a gun at the camera.

He also said he wasn't afraid to die.

The video was viewed by thousands of people online.

Multiple complaints were received by police, who launched an investigation into the man dubbed Operation Jacobs.

The day after the video was posted, a search warrant was executed at his home. Equipment used to film the video was seized, as well as a "V for Vendetta" mask that Jacobs had been wearing when filming the video.

At the time of the raid, Jacobs had been monitoring the popularity of the video and how many likes it had received. He was arrested during the search.

He was later charged with inciting racial disharmony - a rarely prosecuted offence under the Human Rights Act. He was also charged with knowingly making an objectionable publication.

He pleaded guilty to both charges.

Jacobs appeared at the Tauranga District Court for sentencing on Friday dressed in a black trench coat, wearing two ties and four lapel pins. He displayed a small New Zealand flag which hung loosely from his waist, and had donned a gas mask as a face covering.

Defence lawyer Ben Smith told the court his client had gone down a number of "rabbit holes" in previous years, but is on the way to climbing out of them.

"He's been dragged out of the rabbit hole. It's apparent he's not going to go down them again, and he knows the consequences if he does."

Smith advocated for a home detention sentence for his client. Prison time would do more harm than good, Smith said, because of the nature of his offending.

Acting for the Crown, lawyer Sunny Teki-Clark didn't oppose a sentence of home detention, agreeing a sentence focused on rehabilitation was better suited.

With a starting point of a prison sentence of two years, Judge Thomas Ingram was able to consider the possibility of home detention. Prison, and the people held inside, would make life very difficult for Jacobs, the judge said.

"That [consideration] tips [the sentence] over into home detention as opposed to turning up in the yard with the boys at Waikeria. As soon as they know what he's there for, life will suddenly get a whole lot harder than it's ever been before."

Judge Ingram said Jacobs' behaviour was "twisted" and the material could one day be quoted by someone who acts on the violence he incited.

But the judge also acknowledged Jacobs' mental health issues, as well as significant isolation that saw him fall down "the rabbit hole".

He was sentenced to 12 months' home detention and 300 hours of community work.

For the last year while on bail, Jacobs has been prevented from using the internet.

Any decision on access to the internet for the duration of the home detention period is to be made by a parole officer, Judge Ingram said.

Prosecution 'extremely rare' - lawyer

According to one legal expert spoken to by Open Justice, a prosecution under this clause of the Human Rights Act is extremely rare.

Lawyer Steven Price said the case comes as the Government moves to update New Zealand's hate speech legislation - a task that is proving a difficult balancing act.

"The threshold is very high for this - that plays into the debate about whether we need a different law that catches more things," Price said.

"You could say this shows we've got a law that's working when it needs to, but you also could say the very rareness of this means that we need something better."

While it was impossible to know exactly what had gone through smaller provincial courts over the years, this case was believed to be only the second prosecution related to the incitement of racial disharmony, another academic said.

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said the party laid a complaint with Police when they were alerted to the video. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, who was targeted in the video, said a sentence of home detention was "a joke."

"How can you video yourself, physically show yourself threatening to burn marae and threatening the lives of Māori whānau, and this is what happens?"

The politician said that when the party was alerted to the video, a complaint was laid with Police. Ngarewa-Packer said she understood the investigation was assisted by the country's intelligence services.

The party previously claimed to have encountered difficulty with Police during the investigation, laying a complaint with the Independent Police Conduct Authority over what it perceived were delays in investigating the matter.

"In the end, it's only because we took it to the highest possible level that we then got action."

The outcome of today's sentencing was not what the party was hoping for, Ngarewa-Packer said.

"A judgment of 12 months' home detention is a joke. It's just a joke."

The prosecution follows the arrest of another Bay of Plenty man, Richard Sivell, late last month. He has been charged with threatening to kill Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, a threat also made online.