Brendon Russel Fred McLeod appeared today in the Dunedin District Court through video link from the Otago Correctional Facility for sentencing on eight charges committed last year.
He wore thick sunglasses to mask scars he received in the blast, and continues to need surgery.
In 2012, McLeod and an associate were ‘‘huffing‘‘ propellant from 9kg gas bottles, when the gas in the room became so condensed it was ignited by a heater.
Liquified petroleum gas (LPG) burns at roughly 900degC, leaving both boys badly burned and the house torn up.
Ten years later, McLeod is in trouble after seven years of staying out of it.
His counsel, Liam Collins, told the court today that McLeod was living off a benefit, with $16 left in his bank account at the time of the offending.
It was a period where McLeod felt a ‘‘sense of hopelessness’’.
In the early hours of April 29 last year, McLeod and an associate entered escape room company Solve it and Escape Ltd in Invercargill twice. They took various electrical and themed items totalling $4005.
Police executed a search warrant the next day and found McLeod hiding under duvet covers on his bed.
After refusing to comply he pushed a police sergeant, who then arrested him.
Court documents state that McLeod became more aggressive and started to make ‘‘a series of growling noises, similar to a dog’’.
Breaking free, he punched the same sergeant with ‘‘considerable force’’.
While he was tasered and handcuffed, McLeod headbutted another sergeant and kicked a detective on the way to the Invercargill police station.
His second set of charges related to an incident on October 10 last year.
McLeod and three associates had the police called on them for breaching the peace.
They left when police presented a taser, but McLeod came back with a tomahawk axe not long after.
He approached a man on his property while his associate yelled antagonistically. Holding the axe ‘‘as if to strike down on the victim’s head area,’’ McLeod said he would chop his head off and ‘‘end this now’’.
McLeod then charged an officer when they restrained his associate in a ‘‘highly aggressive and threatening manner’’.
McLeod was tasered twice and pepper sprayed.
Drugs and alcohol were not an excuse for offending, Mr Collins said, but McLeod did use them as a coping mechanism through a time of personal health issues and emotional turmoil.
Judge Peter Rollo said McLeod showed remorse and had great insight into the causes of his offending.
He acknowledged there was an offer of employment in the roofing industry waiting for him upon release.
McLeod was charged with two counts of burglary and two of assaulting police, injuring by an unlawful act, resisting police, threatening to kill and attempted assault of police.
He was sentenced to nine months’ home detention, 175 hours’ community work and ordered to pay reparation of $5680.
