KEY POINTS:
A man holding a pig's jawbone threatened to kill police officers and smashed the windows and lights of a patrol car with a crutch, Tauranga District Court heard today.
Charles Wehi Kingi, 58, unemployed, entered guilty pleas to 13 charges, all carrying possible prison terms, when he appeared before Judge Paul Geoghegan.
He faces three counts of threatening to kill, four of assault, as well as disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence, possession of an offensive weapon, wilful damage and resisting police.
Prosecutor David Pawson said Kingi had gone to the emergency department at Tauranga Hospital at 2am on January 29 and demanded to see a specialist.
He became verbally aggressive with a staff member before going outside and getting a spade from his car.
When police arrived, Kingi was holding a crutch in one hand and what was found later to be a pig's jawbone in the other.
Yelling, swearing and threatening the officers, he swung the crutch at one, narrowly missing his head. Pepper spraying had no effect.
Kingi used the crutch to smash the patrol car and then threw it at the two police officers.
On other occasions between January 7 and February 5 the defendant:
* Threatened to kill a sales representative at an insurance office while ordering her to cancel all his policies, and later telling police the woman was "making up stories to get herself out of trouble" for not handling his account properly;
* Grabbed his landlord by the throat while verbally abusing him;
* Attacked and threatened to kill a stranger on the beach at Papamoa, swinging a 1.5 metre long length of bamboo at the victim;
* Stole $13 in coins from a busker in downtown Tauranga and casually bought himself an ice-cream, after punching the victim in the back of the head for telephoning the police.
Lawyer Craig Tuck said Kingi had been "rampaging around town" and things were happening almost on a daily basis while he was not taking his medication for a psychiatric illness.
"Now things are settling down. The medication has subdued him considerably and he wants bail."
Although sympathising with people suffering mental health issues, Mr Pawson said police opposed bail, believing Kingi to be a risk to the community.
"Some family's tragedy is waiting to happen."
The defendant's recent offending was "staggering to say the least," the prosecutor added.
"The way he's going he is going to kill somebody. It might not be a policeman; it might be someone across a counter."
Judge Geoghegan remanded Kingi in custody until March 24 for pre-sentence reports.
- NZPA
