A man who was tasered and pepper sprayed by police while resisting arrest, who threatened to kill an officer, remains behind bars. Photo / Paul Taylor
WARNING: This story details violent language and may be upsetting.
A man being arrested threatened to slit the throat of a police constable and bite off the nose of another.
Jay Christopher Gregory’s offending last weekend came soon after the 34-year-old had been sentenced to intensive supervision on earlier assault matters, the Nelson District Court heard today.
And despite his evident praying over the video link to a judge, Gregory remains behind bars for now.
Gregory, whose history of offending spanned five pages and was “littered with assaults”, admitted further charges for violence, including two charges of threatening to kill, plus resisting and assaulting police.
He also admitted a charge of drink driving, and driving without a licence.
Gregory was taken into custody last week when he was arrested and charged after police were called to a family harm incident at a Nelson address.
He’d been forbidden to drive in April 2005, until he got a proper driver’s licence, but on Saturday police arrived at the address and saw a vehicle leave that matched the description of one driven by Gregory.
Police followed and pulled him over, and as Gregory got out of the car he started arguing with the officers.
He refused to undergo a breath test and was told he’d have to accompany police to the station. When he refused again police warned he’d be arrested.
As he was being handcuffed, due to continued lack of co-operation with the police, he refused to put his hands behind his back and then tried to bite the constable trying to cuff him.
Police then used pepper spray, but it had no effect and Gregory continued to resist arrest, the police summary said.
He was tasered by the police who managed to take him to the ground, and after a further struggle eventually handcuffed Gregory.
It was then that he told one of the constables he would find him, and kill him.
“Wait ‘til I find you on the street. I’m going to get you. I’m going to slit your throat,” Gregory told the officer.
Further police arrived to assist which was when Gregory turned to another constable and said: “I am going to bite your nose off”.
He then resisted several police officers as they tried to get him into a patrol vehicle, before he was taken to the Nelson Police Station and breath tested.
The test found he’d been driving well over the limit, with 824 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.
The police summary noted Gregory was intoxicated to a degree he was unable to provide any comment to police at the time.
On video link to the court Gregory maintained his prayer stance throughout the reading of the summary but dropped the pose and appeared defiant when it became clear he would not be getting out of jail immediately.
Judge Richard Russell noted the seriousness of the charges Gregory had admitted, the most serious of which was his threat to kill the constable by slitting his throat, and that the offending had occurred soon after he’d been sentenced to intensive supervision.
Judge Russell also noted 38 previous convictions, 12 prior prison sentences, and 10 offences committed while on bail.
“It leads me to conclude you are no stranger to offences of violence,” he said.
Judge Russell noted the offending had been spontaneous but denied bail, saying he had little confidence in Gregory’s ability to comply with the terms of bail.
However, he left the door open for an electronically monitored bail application if an appropriate address could be found.
“The threats to the constables were serious,” Judge Russell said, before convicting Gregory and remanding him in custody for sentencing in June.
He was also referred to Restorative Justice to assess whether the officers affected by the threats would be willing to take part.
The 19-year-old was found in a remote area in the hills of Upper Hutt.