Prison time for spits

A 36-year-old Mangonui man who spat at Judge John McDonald in Kaitaia District Court twice on Wednesday, and again on Thursday, was jailed for two months for contempt of court.

Tai Tepana Popata was understood to have lodged an appeal against the sentences almost immediately after they were imposed.

Popata made his first appearance on Wednesday morning, for what was to have been a defended hearing on charges of assaulting a female, threatening to kill/grievous bodily harm and breaching a protection order.

The complainant, for whom arrangements had been made for travel from Whakatane, did not appear.

A warrant was subsequently issued for her arrest, after Judge McDonald declined an invitation from counsel Wayne Cribb to dismiss the charges and remanded Popata in custody until a date in December.

At that point, Judge McDonald said on Thursday, the defendant became incensed, directing a barrage of obscenities at the bench, calling Judge McDonald ignorant and an idiot, and telling him that the charges should be thrown out.

He then spat in the direction of the bench and the court registrar, and was held in contempt.

He was recalled that afternoon but refused to see a lawyer and was again "highly disrespectful," Judge McDonald said, and was returned to the cells.

When he appeared on Thursday morning, he was handcuffed but again abused Judge McDonald, who had tried to offer him the opportunity to consult a lawyer and abused him when he declined to discuss the defendant's wish to appoint a MacKenzie friend.

He was again returned to the cells, Judge McDonald recounting his appearances the day before for the record, saying the defendant had clearly played to the public gallery.

The contempt of court provisions, he added, were designed to protect the integrity of the judicial system, not the sensitivities of individual judges.

Popata was sentenced to six weeks' imprisonment for his first contempt and two weeks, to be served cumulatively, for the second.