Phillip Mant has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for an incident in Nelson last August in which he held two people hostage at gunpoint. Photo / Stuff / Pool
Phillip Mant has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for an incident in Nelson last August in which he held two people hostage at gunpoint. Photo / Stuff / Pool
The woman held hostage at gunpoint during a 15-hour stand-off with police shook uncontrollably as she recounted the terrifying ordeal.
Meanwhile, her 80-year-old father, who had been “herded into the house and forced on the floor” by Phillip Clinton Mant, said he was terrified he would see his daughterkilled in front of him.
Mant, who was fixated on an earlier Family Court process, held the two people at gunpoint for hours and threatened to blow up the woman with a homemade bomb.
The 57-year-old was today sentenced in the Nelson District Court to five years and two months in prison after earlier admitting a raft of charges linked to the incident near central Nelson last August that triggered a large-scale and lengthy police response.
In the months leading up to the incident, Mant hand-wrote hundreds of pages of notes venting his anger over a recent Family Court matter.
His rage and “vulgar abuse” directed at the victim and lawyers included his justification for what he planned to do, the police summary of facts said.
The woman told the court Mant saw himself as a victim and did not see himself as in the wrong. She remained terrified for her safety upon his release from prison.
“It has hijacked my mind, what he will do on release,” she said.
Judge Garry Barkle said it was “harrowing” listening to the victims. He sympathised with the pair and hoped they could manage a way forward.
“The ongoing and maybe lifelong harm was clearly evident today,” he said.
Schools, hospital, streets in lockdown
In February this year, Mant pleaded guilty to charges relating to the incident including two of kidnapping, using an explosive to commit an offence, unlawfully possessing a firearm, committing a crime with a firearm, threatening to kill and threatening grievous bodily harm, two charges of breaching a protection order, and committing a threatening act towards a dwelling and the people in it.
His actions prompted the lockdown of nearby schools, the hospital and a campground and inconvenienced thousands of residents after many streets were closed.
Residents in the street where the incident happened chose to leave their homes until the situation was resolved.
The woman said she was in shock for the first few days afterwards and had since relived the hours regularly, remembering the gun with the silencer in her face, the gas canisters and Mant’s violent outbursts.
She also lived with the memory of seeing her father in a complete panic, thinking he would have a heart attack.
“Living with the consequences is exhausting and debilitating,” she said.
She frequently felt overwhelmed and said the impact will be “life-long”.
Police at the scene of a hostage situation in Nelson last year in which Phillip Mant held two people hostage at gunpoint. Photo / Tim Cuff
Crown prosecutor Sophie O’Donaghue said Mant had created a “volatile” hostage situation involving a “powerless, terrified female” because he was angry with the outcome of a Family Court matter.
She said the armed home invasion amounted to vigilante action to defy the court and take the law into his own hands.
At about 9.30am on August 12 last year, Mant was at home. In the days before, he had consumed alcohol and methamphetamine.
He had obtained a .22 rifle and ammunition and had made what police said was a “crude” improvised explosive device.
He also had eight envelopes containing handwritten notes that were his “demands” to the police.
Mant then drove to the street where the victims were, parked about 200m away and walked to the house carrying the loaded rifle fitted with a silencer, ammunition and the explosives.
He walked to the back of the house, where he found the elderly man sitting outside and forced him inside.
He then found the woman in the kitchen, pointed the gun at the pair and forced them into the lounge. Mant made them sit on separate chairs and placed the explosive next to the woman.
The rifle, ammunition and explosives Phillip Mant threatened to use in the Nelson standoff in August 2024. Photos / NZ Police
He closed all the windows and curtains while yelling abuse and continuing to point the rifle at them.
The pair believed that if they tried to leave or did not do as they were told, Mant would shoot them.
He later told police he had gone to the address with the rifle and gas canisters to “create an incident” in which his grievances would be addressed, but that he would “never hurt an unarmed woman”.
Police heard threat to blow up house
At one stage, Mant made the woman phone the police, who could hear him in the background yelling abuse and telling her what to say on a call that lasted about 98 minutes.
The victim told police she was being held by Mant, that he was holding a firearm and he wanted the police to get the envelopes he had left in the car, which contained his “demands”.
The police call-taker also heard Mant’s threats to blow up the house before he took the phone and said directly to the call-taker: “I have LPG canisters, I’ve put them on [the woman]. If you guys come in, you’ll see this place will be gone.”
After the 111 call ended, the police hostage negotiation team made contact with Mant. He then released the 80-year-old man who had been held for about two hours.
Early the next morning, Mant surrendered to police.
He left the rifle inside and walked out on to the street, where he was arrested, having held the woman at gunpoint for 15 and a half hours.
The threat was resolved with the help of a large police contingent including negotiators and officers from Canterbury and Wellington.
At the sentencing, defence lawyer Michael Vesty mentioned the significant number of people in court, many of whom were supporters of Mant and who would continue to support him.
Vesty noted the effects on Mant’s two teenage children from what had happened and the impact on them from his being sent to prison.
Judge Barkle said the events had robbed the woman of a great deal of her enjoyment of life.
He said Mant had, on reflection, realised he had made a “series of poor decisions” and through a “clear and sober lens” realised he should have reached out to one of the many avenues of support available.
From a sentencing starting point of six years and 10 months, the judge awarded Mant credit for his guilty pleas and the impact of imprisonment on his teenage children to arrive at the end sentence of five years and two months in prison.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
