An enraged inmate yesterday had to be restrained by three police officers as he made an attempt to leap from Hastings District Court dock towards Judge Geoff Rea.
Brent Geenty, 38, a sentenced prisoner, screamed at Judge Rea immediately after being denied bail about 3.45pm.
He swore at the judge before scrambling
up the glass wall separating them.
He managed to get one foot on top of the partition before being tackled by a senior constable and other officers in court who prevented him from making it out of the dock.
Judge Rea exited the court while Geenty continued to fire abuse at him. Geenty's defence counsel, Phil Jensen, was also sworn at by his client.
He continued to scream obscenities while being dragged back to the court cells.
It was his third appearance yesterday in a fragmented bail application that began mid-morning.
Judge Rea had denied bail, citing a history of violent offending, a "smorgasbord" of other offences and a tendency to ignore court orders.
The unsuccessful application would mean Geenty, whose current jail sentence was due to expire today, would spend Christmas behind bars.
The inmate had applied for bail ahead of his defended hearing on January 25 next year, where he would face one count of threatening to kill. The charge arose after a phone call from prison in September 2 this year, where it is alleged he threatened the life of a CYFS worker.
Hastings Police today confirmed no further charges would be laid in relation to yesterday's incident.
