Man who threatened neighbours with cricket bat tells judge ‘I don’t care’ when sentenced to community work

A man who threatened his neighbours with a cricket bat told a judge in the Nelson District Court today that he "didn't care" what happened when sentenced to community work. Photo / NZME

“I don’t care” Lee Samuel Hall told the judge as he stood sideways in the dock, resigned to his fate which was 140 hours of community work for threatening his neighbours with a wooden cricket bat.

When asked before sentencing if he’d seen a lawyer Hall gave the same response: “I don’t care”.

The 39-year-old had earlier pleaded guilty to charges of threatening and disorderly behaviour relating to an incident last August.

Judge Tony Zohrab said in the Nelson District Court today that Hall had intended to frighten and threaten to injure his neighbours.

On the morning of August 6 Hall’s neighbours arrived home and as they got out of their car they noticed Hall running towards them, hurling abuse, the police said.

Hall was carrying a wooden cricket bat, yelling and asking the whereabouts of another person so he could “smash him”.

When challenged by the neighbours, Hall said, “I’ll show you what I’m going to do”, and moved towards them with the bat raised.

He then said: “There will be no peace for you until I’m gone”.

Hall had aimed to seek a discharge without conviction but he failed to appear at a scheduled court appointment, nor did he supply any paperwork in support of his application.

“I’ve engaged with you about whether you’ve seen a lawyer and you’ve told me you don’t care,“ the judge said.

“This is not a situation where I’m considering prison but what is clear from the summary of facts is that you have an attitude problem that seems to have appeared again today,” Judge Zohrab said in sentencing Hall to community work.

Hall refused to look at the judge and remained sideways in the dock throughout sentencing before he left the court.

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.