A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
A man accused of threatening Gisborne Work and Income staff by pointing finger guns at them, has made insulting hand gestures to a judge who refused to grant him bail.
Joseph Hone Tamihana, 30, a fisheries worker, is yet to plead to a charge of threatening to injure Work and
Income NZ staff. It arose out of an alleged incident on June 15, this year, when he was at the service’s local office making an inquiry about funds.
Police claim that Tamihana grew angry with staff who were dealing with the inquiry, pointed finger guns at them, and made reference to the 2014 fatal shooting of WINZ staff in Ashburton, saying something to the effect that it was “no wonder you guys get shot”. He allegedly then said he was going to “come back and f*** shit up”.
Tamihana applied for bail in Gisborne District Court last week, appearing via a remote link from a booth in a police custody suite. When Judge Warren Cathcart refused to grant the bail application, Tamihana leaned in close to the camera in the booth making obscene finger gestures to the court with both his hands.
He is scheduled to appear again on Monday, July 3.
