Man trashes house while under influence of 'P'

4.45pm

A Bay of Plenty man high on pure methamphetamine wrecked his home trying to avoid imaginary intruders, Tauranga District Court was told yesterday.

Roof tiler Stephen Mapu, 37, pleaded guilty in Tauranga District Court yesterday to possession of a class A drug, cultivating cannabis, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition and wilful damage. He was remanded in custody until sentencing on November 6.

The court was told that a paranoid Mapu, convinced that someone was watching him, searched the bushes around his house with a rifle in one hand and a tomahawk in the other.

He then ran screaming towards armed police and told them he had murdered his partner and her children and buried them in the back yard.

But Mapu was not mad and had not killed anyone. He was high on P.

Just before 7am on July 19 Mapu made an emergency call to police, screaming that six gunmen were storming his house in Papamoa, near Tauranga, and were trying to kill him.

Mapu fired three rifle shots, which police found lodged in the bedroom, kitchen and stairwell walls, to stop his imaginary attackers.

While trying to evade them he destroyed the place -- throwing the television and gas heater through a window and leaving the kitchen tap on full bore.

After Mapu was taken back to the station, police found a small bag of methamphetamine lying on the lounge floor.

Outside the court Detective Brian Sickler said it was the worst drug reaction he had seen in his time as a policeman.

"He'd been running around like that for days," Mr Sickler said.

Fortunately, Mapu's partner had been so frightened by Mapu's increasingly bizarre behaviour in previous weeks she had left the house the day before.

His landlord, who did not want to be named, said he could not believe the damage to his property. So far he had spent $30,000 fixing the place up.

"I was just devastated walking inside, the feeling was indescribable,' he said. "I was gob-smacked, I couldn't believe that one man could do so much damage."

- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES

Herald Feature: The P epidemic

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