A Dunedin man lured his sister home by claiming he had smeared dog faeces on her bed, so he could confront her with a sledgehammer, a court has heard.
Jacob Graeme Roy Paul Smaill (28) had become irate with the victim the previous day — May 4 — because she was using their mother’s car while she was away.
He pulled her out of the vehicle and she landed on the ground face-first, the Dunedin District Court heard this week.
Smaill then picked up some pot plants and threw them at his sister as she left.
None of them connected.
The "strange and peculiar" behaviour continued the next day when the defendant called the victim to tell her he had scattered dog droppings on her bed.
She came home to find him wielding a sledgehammer.
It is unclear whether faeces had actually been thrown on the bed.
Smaill abused the woman and swung the weapon at her twice "in a threatening manner".
Defence counsel Andrew Dawson said there was no intent to strike the victim.
She ran inside and as soon as her brother heard her calling police, he left the scene.
Smaill was released on bail but on October 5, he was in trouble again.
Police were "conducting inquiries" at his Portobello home but found it vacant.
They went to the back door where a rifle barrel could be seen sticking out from the end of Smaill’s bed, along with a large knife on a bedside table.
The defendant did not hold a firearms licence.Soon after, Smaill arrived home, wound up.
He tried to get into the house by barging past officers and was arrested when he would not calm down.
But he would not allow handcuffs to be applied, struggled with officers and wrestled them on the ground.
On the journey to the station, Smaill abused police and laughed at them when they requested he stop.
He then spat at the rear of the seat in front of him and wiped blood from his knee against the seat.
Smaill was locked up for 10 days as a result of the outburst and Mr Dawson said it had a profound effect.
The background to the defendant’s bizarre behaviour was a death on the peninsula that had upset him and his family, Judge Kevin Phillips noted.
The victim said her brother had never acted out in such a way before and since then their relationship was strong again.
Smaill pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm, possession of a weapon, intentional damage, resisting arrest and breaching community work.
The judge sentenced him to four months’ community detention, 150 hours’ community work and nine months’ supervision.
The defendant was ordered to pay $35 to clean the police car of his bodily fluids.
