A Queenstown man refused to undergo a roadside breath test, then demanded police pay him $6000 in "gold bullion" for taking up his time.
The judge-alone trial began with the defendant refusing to move from near the back of the court, telling Judge Chris Sygrove "I’m not a ship so I don’t belong in a dock".
When Judge Sygrove addressed Henry by name, the defendant asked him if he was referring to an "artificial person".
Reading from a statement, he said he was not subject to "enslavement", and it was a crime for a court to claim authority over "a living man or woman in their natural state".
The police summary of facts said Henry was pulled over at a routine stop on Lake Esplanade just before midnight on July 21.
He refused to produce his driver’s licence, give his name and date of birth, or undergo a breath test, and spoke to officers through a small gap in his window.
The standoff continued for about 20 minutes, but eventually the defendant, who had a woman and puppy with him, got out and said he would go to the police station "under extreme duress".
A short time later, he tried to get back in his car, and resisted as he was arrested and handcuffed.
His unco-operative behaviour continued at the police station, and he was charged with failing to supply identifying particulars, refusing to accompany police, resisting a constable and refusing to give blood.
Constable Vicky Gonzaga told the court the defendant’s "quite erratic" behaviour made her suspect he had been drinking.
Henry told her he was "a living man who presides within himself", and that police owed him $6000 — to be paid in gold bullion — for the time they had detained him.
Judge Sygrove told Henry he deemed the defendant’s "sovereignty argument", which he had also filed with the court in written submissions, as a denial of the charges.
Referring to a recent Court of Appeal decision that found Acts of Parliament were binding on all New Zealand citizens, he said such arguments had been tested in court and "consistently rejected".
The courts had to uphold those Acts, including in this case the Land Transport Act.
Henry was convicted and fined $1200, court costs $520 and disqualified from driving for six months.
Also sentenced was —
- Steven John Goodin (27), labourer, of Queenstown, assault (two charges), April 23, Queenstown, sentence deferred 12 months, reparation $1480.
