Imprisonment for Daniel Cooper-Willis' series of 'foolish, crazy' crimes

Daniel Cooper-Willis was caught with weapons on three other occasions, once when he turned up to the police station to be interviewed. Photo / File

A man who brought ammunition to court showed "foolishness in the extreme", his lawyer says.

Daniel Cooper-Willis, 20, was also caught with weapons on three other occasions, once when he turned up to the police station to be interviewed.

The defendant's problems began in April last year when he was throwing rubbish out of his car in a supermarket car park, the Dunedin District Court heard yesterday.

A member of the public, walking with her two children, asked him to pick up the refuse.

Cooper-Willis immediately took offence and the woman's partner entered the fray.

"I'll find out where you live and I'll kill you," the defendant said.

The victim asked if he was serious about his threat and whether it included the children.

"Yes, I'll kill you all," he said.

Cooper-Willis reached into the waistband of his pants, withdrew a knife with a 7cm blade, and continued a torrent of abuse aimed at the family.

"I'll find you and I'll kill you," he yelled, before police were called.

Seven months later, Cooper-Willis turned up at the Dunedin Central Police Station to discuss the matter.

While being processed, he pulled a knife from the front of his trousers, which he surrendered to officers.

He claimed he had the weapon for self-defence.

Cooper-Willis' criminal bloopers reached new heights when he went to court three days later for his case to be heard.

Security officers scanning his bag found two rounds of .22 calibre ammunition, resulting in another arrest.

The defendant said they belonged to a friend but he would not incriminate that person.

Despite the sprawling fiasco, Cooper-Willis was released on bail.

On January 9, police stopped his car and found a sawn-off .22 rifle hidden in a sock, along with a bong and pipe for smoking cannabis.

"A lot of the offending is simply foolishness in the extreme like bringing ammunition to the court — it's crazy," counsel Anne Stevens QC said.

Judge Jim Large was troubled by Cooper-Willis' explanation to why he possessed weapons.

"You say you were carrying them for self-defence," he said.

"Unfortunately a lot of young men in that situation say that, but self-defence goes a little bit too far and there's a homicide — it's that serious."

Stevens had hoped her client could serve an electronically monitored sentence with his father in Christchurch but that was assessed as technically infeasible.

"It's absolutely critical while he's still young we do our very best to retrieve the situation," she said.

Judge Large sentenced Cooper-Willis to six months' in prison with six months' release conditions, designed to get the man into rehabilitation once he was released.