150-hour work term for pushing harbourmaster

By JO-MARIE BROWN

An Auckland fisherman who pushed aside Rotorua's harbourmaster during an argument just before the lakes inspector collapsed and died has been sentenced to 150 hours of community service for assault.

Colin Brian Greenslade was confronted by two lakes inspectors at Lake Okataina last December when they found him fishing without navigation lights.

The 47-year-old refused several requests to provide his name and address, telling the men they were "cowboys", and then pushed harbourmaster David Pilkington in the chest with his shoulder as he walked away.

Mr Pilkington, who suffered from heart disease, fell over and then collapsed a few minutes later while trying to follow Greenslade down the boat ramp towards his dinghy.

He died of a heart attack.

Yesterday, Greenslade was sentenced in the High Court at Rotorua on one charge of assault. An initial charge of manslaughter had previously been withdrawn.

The Crown prosecutor, John McDonald, said Greenslade had been drinking beer that evening and had displayed an aggressive attitude towards the lakes inspectors.

"This was an assault on a public official going about his lawful duties in a professional and courteous way.

"It was the whole attitude of Mr Greenslade that evening that injected increased tension into that situation when there was no need for that."

Mr McDonald said the stress and anxiety would have placed extra pressure on Mr Pilkington's heart, although pathology reports indicated the 64-year-old could have had a heart attack at any time so the manslaughter charge was not pursued.

Through his defence lawyer, Paul Davison, QC, Greenslade apologised to Mr Pilkington's partner and family for the incident.

However, Mr Davison said there was a history of conflict between Greenslade and Rotorua lakes inspectors which led the fisherman to believe he was being harassed and this had culminated in the assault.

Mr Pilkington and his colleague had persisted in asking Greenslade for his name and address even though they already had it from previous encounters and the fisherman had "regrettably" responded in a negative way, Mr Davison said.

"Mr Pilkington at least was overeaching the legitimate use of his power and must have been doing that in a manner that he knew would be aggravating to Mr Greenslade.

"They didn't need to ... pursue him in the [manner] that they did," Mr Davison said.

Justice Paul Heath was also told Greenslade failed to help Mr Pilkington's colleague provide medical assistance when asked - something which the fisherman now regretted, Mr Davison said.

Sentencing Greenslade, Justice Heath said the fisherman could not have known about the harbourmaster's state of health but he had treated Mr Pilkington with "utter disdain".

Lakes inspectors were law enforcement officers, he said.

Justice Heath imposed the 150-hour sentence of community work to deter others.