A man who hurdled the dock and tried to escape court has been jailed for more than three years.
After a methamphetamine-fuelled crime spree, Damien Gary White (36) was declined bail on April 18 last year.
The defendant appeared before a justice of the peace and once he discovered he was facing a lengthy stay behind bars, he was off.
"As he was about to be returned to his cell the defendant leapt over the dock and sprinted out of the courtroom," a police summary said.
But it appeared White was unfamiliar with the court's labyrinthine layout, the Dunedin District Court heard last week.
He ran through corridors looking for an exit and was eventually apprehended at the Dunbar St entrance where court security, police and Correction staff converged on him.
White explained he "just wanted to go home".
His bid for freedom continued, more furtively, while locked up at the Otago Corrections Facility.
On May 2, White made three phone calls to his partner in quick succession.
A couple of weeks earlier he had assaulted the woman and smashed a window at her home.
During their subsequent conversation, White told her to go to the Dunedin District Court to swear an affidavit that no such incident had occurred, so he could be released from prison.
"The defendant was specific in his detail about what to say in her affidavit as an alternative version of events," police said.
The next day, the victim followed his instructions and made the sworn statement.
However, White's phone calls from the prison had been recorded and the offending was clear.
Defence counsel Brian Kilkelly said his client could not remember many of the events at the start of 2018 due to his methamphetamine consumption.
As well as an earlier assault of his then partner, White went to Mitre 10 Mega in Dunedin where he pocketed two packs of padlocks and tried to leave the store without paying.
When challenged about the $20 of stolen property, he handed over one pack then tried to leave.
But security had locked the external doors.
Undeterred, White tried to jemmy them open with a hammer.
When that proved unsuccessful, he threatened a staff member with the tool before smashing a pane of glass and crawling to freedom.
Judge Michael Crosbie said White's manipulation of his partner "strikes at the very heart of what goes on in our courts".
He was convicted of assaulting a female, theft, intimidation, wilful damage, assault, possessing a methamphetamine utensil, escaping custody and perverting the course of justice.
White was jailed for three years and two months.
