KEY POINTS:
A seemingly standard court appearance tunred into a bizarre episode today. And it took a while to sort out.
Mid-morning, a case was called.
A man stepped into the dock at the Christchurch court and pleaded guilty to a charge of intimidation.
The court was told how he had apparently resented being reported by a householder for doing a burn-out on a suburban street.
He went to the complainant's house, drunk and with a mate, and banged on the door.
The complainant was an off-duty policeman who removed him from the property but reported the matter when the man tried to break a cherry tree on the way out.
The man in the dock apologised to the court.
"That sort of intimidating behaviour can't be accepted," said District Court Judge Peter Rollo, fining him $400.
But he also asked him how old he was.
"Twenty-three," the man replied. He looked twice that age.
Police prosecutor Senior Sergeant Colin Roper - who knew an 18-year-old should have been standing in the dock - asked for the man to be taken into custody until the police could find out who he was.
He was ushered into the cells where the Court House psychiatric nurse Jill Oetgen identified him as a mental patient who had been avoiding his follow-up care.
His case manager was very keen to see him and was on the way to the court.
It turned out that he had sat in the courtroom's public seats waited for an opening, and then stepped into the dock when someone didn't turn up.
The intimidation matter had to be vacated.
The patient was remanded in custody, but Judge Rollo told the police they could release him as soon as medical help arrived.
- NZPA
