Air rifle charges denied

Stephen Cleaver has denied firearm charges. Photo / Thinkstock

A self-described prophet has denied deliberately firing an air rifle when two CYF workers visited his Kaiwaka property.

Stephen Cleaver has pleaded not guilty to unlawfully presenting a firearm and discharging it without reasonable cause in December 2014.

He will be back in court on October 9 for trial.

In Whangarei District Court on Wednesday, Judge Greg Davis offered Cleaver the chance of a good behaviour bond if he admitted the charge and had the air rifles destroyed.

Cleaver refused, opting for a hearing. His lawyer, John Day, said Cleaver said the gun had gone off accidentally.

Police found two air rifles.

Cleaver is a self-described prophet and the father of Rachal Cleaver, 20, who died on June 10 from cardiac arrest during a severe asthma attack. Her oxygen-deprived baby, delivered via Caesarean section while Ms Cleaver was on life support, died soon after birth.

The coroner is investigating.

Ms Cleaver had lived in the care of the Dingwall Trust, a care and protection facility in South Auckland, from the age of 9 until she turned 17, when she returned to her parents.