A Dunedin man who drunkenly assaulted a supermarket worker may need "more counselling" after threatening to "stab up" a police officer, a judge says.
On November 9 last year, Mark Andrew Perkins (44) had been drinking at home when he reversed his car into a parked car in Stafford St, with a passerby witnessing the collision, the Dunedin District Court heard last week.
After informing the witness he had been drinking, the defendant went back inside.
Twenty minutes later, police arrived to breath-test Perkins, who was stumbling, had a "strong odour of alcohol" and fell over on the footpath.
After refusing to undergo a breath screening test, he was arrested and taken to the Dunedin Central Police Station.
While on bail, Perkins continued with his erratic behaviour.
At 12.35pm on January 1, the man was attempting to navigate the self-checkout at Pak'nSave when an employee offered to help him.
Growing concerned about the man’s level of intoxication, the 24-year-old female approached her colleagues for assistance.
The man was instructed to leave the store after paying for his items and "immediately became aggressive", yelling abuse at workers and other customers.
As Perkins was on his way out of the store, he struck the young supermarket worker on her upper right arm with "moderate force", the court heard.
Upon being questioned by police, Perkins was belligerent and abusive — shouting and smashing his head into the screen separating him from the officers.
During one tirade, he told the acting sergeant, stating: "I just want to stab you up."
The defendant’s offending related to his alcohol abuse, counsel Andrew Belcher calling it a "situation where this man has just fallen off the wagon".
He had since been engaging with specialist addiction services, the court heard.
"If you hadn’t had alcohol on board, you wouldn’t be here today. Maybe you need some more counselling," said Judge Jim Large.
"There needs to be a great deal of unpacking in terms of understanding what makes you drink."
Perkins faced five charges over the two incidents and was sentenced to two months’ community detention, 18 months’ intensive supervision and disqualified from driving for 12 months.
Judge Large told Perkins: "You need to understand that if you continue to drink and offend, you may end up losing your liberty."
