Michael Joseph Dunlea, 36, was described by a former friend and workmate as "a real good guy", but a darker side emerged when he used alcohol and drugs.
"We used to call him ‘Rowdy’ because he’d get quite stuck in, quite loud. But he was good — then he started doing the drugs," James* said.
"He was just in fight mode all the time. Just everyone was against him. He was paranoid as."
Mr Dunlea had appeared in court on Friday accused of breaching a protection order.
He was released on bail, but within days he had accessed firearms and one of his colleagues told the Otago Daily Times he had sent out videos claiming he was going to shoot police and his ex-partner.
Officers eventually tracked him down to a property in Hunt Rd, Katea. The siege lasted until 10.15am on Wednesday when they entered the house and found Mr Dunlea dead.
James said he had seen the man’s erratic side before.
On November 13, 2019, at 3am, Mr Dunlea burst into his bedroom — the beginning of a six-hour ordeal.
"I was there asleep and all I remember is him coming into my house, ranting and raving, looking for [his partner]," he said.
"He was out the gate."
When it became clear she was not there, Mr Dunlea left for his home, followed by James.
"I knew I could handle him, so I made him chase me. To keep him away from everybody else," James told the Otago Daily Times.
After a scuffle, the victim overpowered his workmate.
"I pinned him to the ground and told him he needs to calm down and s...," James said.
"But you know meth heads — they just keep getting up. They just don’t stop."
Mr Dunlea knocked on the doors of neighbouring properties, yelled racial slurs, punched James and then came at him with a smashed beer bottle.
"Have you ever seen anyone stabbed before?" he asked as he held the jagged shard to the man’s face.
Mr Dunlea took James’ vehicle, went back to his home, tried to steal a motocross bike and threatened James’ teenage son.
The defendant eventually returned home and when police turned up, he approached wielding a metal bar.
Back-up arrived and a stand-off ensued during which Mr Dunlea set fire to children’s toys and his partner’s property.
By 9am, after trying to set fire to James’ vehicle, he was arrested and told police: "people should just not upset me. They know what happens when I get rowdy."
He jailed for two years five months.
James said the experience triggered his PTSD from his tumultuous childhood, prompted him to leave his stable employment and sent him into a spiral of drug use.
"I was losing my s...," he said.
"I could get meth easier, easier than pot."
After also ending up before the court, he had engaged in four years of therapy and had turned his life around.
But he had never believed Mr Dunlea was capable of the same.
"I knew he was never going to change," James said.
"I’m actually quite glad he only hurt himself and no-one else. That’s the honest truth, because he had the potential to hurt people."
The ODT has sought comment from Mr Dunlea’s family.
*Name changed to protect source’s anonymity
