Jason Derulo reveals he got a Tā moko after performing at Friday Jams Live. Video / ZM
An argument with a dancing fan in a seated area at Spark Arena led to criminal charges being laid against a former police officer and his wife.
The couple admitted punching a woman in the face and kicking her after she fell to the ground.
The former officer’s troubles were made worse when police searched his home.
An argument over dancing fans obstructing the view at a Boyz II Men and Jason Derulo concert at Auckland’s Spark Arena spiralled out of control, resulting in the arrests of a 49-year-old former police officer and his wife.
Now the North Shore couple are asking to keep their identities permanently suppressed after they admitted attacking a woman who was punched in the face, then kicked while on the ground.
The man was also charged initially with impersonating police via a misleading identification card. That charge was later dropped, but he pleaded guilty to illegally retaining police items more than a decade after he had left the force.
Court documents state the couple were seated in the upper area of the arena on a Thursday night in November 2023 when they became annoyed that the people in front of them stood up and danced to the music.
“The defendant and his wife confronted the complainant’s group, complaining that they were blocking their view of the concert,” court documents state. “When the complainant refused to sit down, the defendant escalated his behaviour and began to confront her aggressively, both verbally and physically.”
A former police officer appears in Auckland District Court for sentencing after pleading guilty to attacking a fellow concertgoer at Fridayz Live, a 2023 Spark Arena show featuring Jason Derulo and Boyz II Men. Photo / Craig Kapitan
The husband stretched his legs over the seat of the woman he would later attack, then stepped over the row of chairs in front of him so that he was standing beside her.
“I’m going to f***ing f*** your mum up,” he yelled at the woman.
“That will be hard,” she replied. “My mum died last year.”
He then asked where the woman’s mother was buried.
“I’ll dig it up and f*** her bones, you white piece of trash,” he responded.
Security later intervened and moved the couple to other seats.
The argument reignited when the dancing woman left towards the end of the concert. As she walked past the couple’s new spot, she knocked the man’s phone out of his hands.
“The defendant jumped down towards [the woman], who jumped down across some seats and over a railing to get away from him,” the agreed summary of facts for the man states.
“The defendant followed [the woman] into the foyer of the arena and stood in front of her, preventing her from leaving. The defendant’s wife then approached and started pushing [her] backwards.”
The dancing woman then threw the female defendant to the ground, at which point the male defendant punched the victim in the face with enough force for her to fall to the ground too.
Jason Derulo, seen here performing at Auckland's Logan Campbell Centre in 2010, was again headlining in 2023 when a couple attacked a fan who had been dancing in front of them rather than remaining in her seat. Photo / Richard Robinson
“Members of the public intervened, but the defendant’s wife approached and kicked the complainant twice while she was on the ground,” court documents state.
The victim described headaches, pain and swelling after the incident.
The wife later pleaded guilty to assault with intent to injure, which carries a maximum punishment of three years’ imprisonment.
The husband, meanwhile, admitted one count of common assault, punishable by up to one year’s imprisonment, and one count of unlawfully possessing police property, which carries a maximum sentence of three months.
While executing a search warrant at the couple’s home early the next morning, investigators found in a shed a police-issued pepper spray, three suspect interviews on VHS tape labelled “Property of the New Zealand Police” and a police infringement notice book.
“These objects are the property of the New Zealand Police and are unavailable for civilians to acquire or possess legitimately,” the agreed summary of facts states.
Charging documents show the man was also charged at first with assaulting another woman, illegally possessing a police lanyard and operational shirt and making a fake police ID card.
The couple appeared for sentencing in March before Judge June Jelas in Auckland District Court. Sentencing notes for that hearing were recently released to NZME.
Boyz II Men were among the groups performing at Auckland's Spark Arena in 2023 when a couple attacked a fellow concertgoer who stood up and danced in front of them.
During the hearing, lawyers for both defendants sought discharges without convictions, suggesting that the consequences of convictions would be out of all proportion to the gravity of the offences.
Crown prosecutor Karlene O’Halloran opposed the requests.
Defence lawyer Alex Slipper, representing the husband, acknowledged that his client’s offences were of moderate seriousness.
But the gravity should be reduced to a low level because of his client’s previous good character, he said.
Judge Jelas agreed, noting he had no prior convictions.
“There is evidence before me of his engagement in the community both as a volunteer and as a board member of a community group,” she said. “He is shortly to commence a Stopping Violence programme and is offering to pay reparation.”
It was also argued to the judge that the man could lose work if he had to disclose his conviction for an assault in a public place. The judge agreed that a conviction on his record would “most likely have a cooling, if not negative, impact on gaining future work”.
She granted the requests from both defendants for discharges without conviction. They were ordered to pay $430 in reparations to the victim, and a destruction order was made for the police items.
A separate hearing to determine their requests for permanent name suppression is scheduled for later this month. The Crown opposes the requests.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
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