A man was pepper-sprayed after he smeared faeces and blood around Dunedin’s Central police station.
Craig Allan Spence, 47, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after earlier pleading guilty to seven violence charges.
The court heard that on December 24 the defendant was in bed with his partner who was asleep when he punched her in the face.
Later that day, police arrived at Spence’s house and told him he was under arrest.
The defendant responded by locking himself in a bedroom, barricading the door and refusing to come out.
He then poured petrol around the door and window sills and threatened to burn the place down if the police did not leave.
At Dunedin Central Police Station, Spence spread blood from a cut on his finger around the search room.
He then defecated and threw a handful of faeces at a constable before smearing the faecal matter around in the processing room and daubing it on to a computer keyboard.
Police pepper-sprayed Spence then placed him in a cell.
On January 4, the defendant caused a ruckus at the police station again.
He grabbed a sergeant’s arm, scuffled with police and threatened to kill officers’ families.
From the dock, Spence rejected aspects of the summary which he had earlier pleaded guilty to.
Counsel Liam Collins said his client was remorseful and took accountability for his actions.
"The expression of remorse was effectively words only," Judge Jim Large said.
He sentenced Spence to 16 and a-half months’ imprisonment and ordered him to pay $49 for the computer keyboard he damaged.
