Axe attack: Man drove into a police car then attacked the officer with a tomahawk

A man has admitting ramming a police car and chasing an officer on foot down the highway with a tomahawk while yelling "Allahu Akbar''.

After giving up the pursuit, 24-year-old Ruairi Kern Taylor returned to the empty police car, took to it with the weapon, causing more than $30,000 of damage, and was later found wearing a police hat and jacket while yelling excerpts from the Koran.

The man appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday where he pleaded guilty to two
counts of assault with a weapon and one of intentional damage, reports Otago Daily Times.

He was remanded in custody and Judge Kevin Phillips said Taylor was facing an inevitable
prison term at sentencing in December.

The court heard the defendant quit his job in Tapanui on the afternoon of September 4 when the unusual behaviour began.

First, Taylor went to a hardware store in Gore and purchased a tomahawk, then he went to his home nearby to retrieve a sheathed dive knife which he strapped to his leg.

He set off north in his Subaru Forester and when he saw a police patrol car, he U-turned to follow it.

The officer turned into the local station and Taylor drove off.

Several hours later, Constable Steven Treloar had pulled over a motorist for a routine check on State Highway1 at Allanton.

When Taylor saw the blue and red lights in the distance, he turned up the ``religious music'' playing on his stereo and slammed his vehicle into the back of the stationary police car.

Const Treloar's head snapped back and rebounded into windscreen as he was shunted into the vehicle he had pulled over.

Within seconds, Taylor had smashed his window with the axe.

The officer called for back-up before climbing over the central console and escaping from the passenger door.

As Const Treloar ran off, Taylor pursued "with the tomahawk raised above his head for
approximately 40 metres before giving up''.

"Throughout the attack the defendant was yelling 'Allahu Akbar','' a police summary said.

Const Treloar was whisked away from the scene by a member of the public while Taylor
returned to the abandoned police car.

He smashed both headlights, two side windows and various holes and dents which amounted to a bill for $31,7420.

The defendant, the court heard, then rummaged around in the car, donned police garments and began yelling religious passages.

He was arrested without incident, police said.

While Taylor told officers he was not a practising Muslim, the imam at Mataura Masjid
Islamic Centre Zamberi Mat Yunus said the defendant had attended prayer two or three times.

He believed Taylor had recently moved from the North Island and said he was disappointed to hear about the violent incident.

After being arrested, the defendant told police he had wanted them to shoot him.

"He stated he wasn't trying to injure the victim and that if he wanted to he could have,'' the summary said.

Taylor had no previous convictions.