When John Manga Ripi stumbled out of the pub one July afternoon, clutching a bottle of rum, he realised with dismay he had missed his bus.
Hoping for a lift, he stood in the middle of SH1's southbound lane, forcing motorists to slow down and swerve around him.
When he saw a police car pull over, the Hikurangi 43-year-old thought he would try asking for a ride. The constable noticed Ripi was unsteady on his feet and hard to understand, but agreed to drive him to the bus station. There they found the last bus of the day had already left Kaiwaka.
Seeing that Ripi was in no state to hitchhike, the policeman offered to drop Ripi off in Wellsford.
But as they passed Topuni, Ripi decided to run his hand up the officer's leg and touched his groin. The policeman pushed his hand away and told him to "p*** off" and not touch him again.
Ripi again touched the officer, and was again pushed away and told to stop.
As Ripi became steadily more agitated and abusive, the officer pulled the car over and pepper-sprayed him.
Ripi then refused to get out of the car, so the policeman dragged him out and arrested him.
During sentencing in the Whangarei District Court yesterday, even Ripi's defence lawyer Dave Sayes described his actions about 3.50pm on July 10 this year as "bizarre".
Mr Sayes said his client had little recollection of the event but expressed remorse.
He was initially charged with indecent assault and threatening to kill, which was reduced to assault and threatening to kill.
Judge John McDonald said it was a serious offence against a police officer and Ripi was lucky he had not been struck by passing traffic beforehand.
He ordered Ripi to perform 200 hours of community work on the assault charge and nine months' supervision for threatening to kill.
Ripi was also ordered to take part in drug and alcohol counselling as directed to by a probation officer. Judge McDonald ordered the bottle of Coruba rum be destroyed.
Drunk man gropes officer
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.