Chef caught with knife, rolling pin, high-voltage stun gun fined in Nelson court on charge of possessing weapon

Sean Francis Gannon said he was off to a friend's place to cut potatoes. Photo / Westend61

A chef caught by the police in the early hours carrying a rolling pin and a knife might have had a reasonable excuse if not for the homemade high-voltage stun gun he had tossed in the bushes – or the fact he had joked about using the rolling pin as a baton.

Sean Francis Gannon was today convicted and fined in the Nelson District Court after pleading guilty to a charge of possession of an offensive weapon.

The 49-year-old asked for the matter to be dealt with swiftly as he wanted to return home to Australia.

Gannon’s lawyer Ian Miller said he would have left by now but had acted responsibly by staying to face the consequences of the charge.

“He’s done the right thing by not fleeing, and turning up,” Miller said.

At around 1.45am on December 14, Gannon was seen by police on foot patrol in Nelson activating what appeared to be a Taser.

Police followed him and stopped him a few minutes later as he was biking up a nearby street, and found him in possession of a rolling pin. He joked about using as a baton as “the Mongrel Mob was after him”, and some cannabis in a backpack.

His explanation for having the knife was that he was a chef and was going to a friend’s house to cut potatoes.

When asked about the high-voltage stun gun, he admitted having thrown it in nearby bushes.

The police then found what they described as a “homemade Taser” about 50 metres away on the grass verge beside the footpath.

Gannon said it wasn’t his, that he didn’t know how to use it and that he was “just being a dick” by having it with him.

Judge Jo Rielly said in fining him $900 that it was “such unnecessary conduct”, but likely triggered by him drinking following the recent break-up of a relationship, that had made him do something that was out of character.

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.