A 21-year-old man charged with robbery made a frenzied bomb threat in court yesterday - and everything carried on as normal.
The defendant appeared before the Dunedin District Court accused of taking $245 from a taxi driver in North Dunedin early on Friday.
But his appearance - by audiovisual link from prison - was cut short following a frantic rant.
The defendant began by asking Judge Michael Crosbie: ''Who are you? Who do you work for?'' and soon progressed to more serious matters.
''There's a bomb, there's a bomb,'' he yelled.
''It happened today. Everyone leave, everyone leave.''
The man continued by shouting that he would ''sort it out''.
''I'll go burn their house down,'' he said, before the link with the prison was severed by the registrar.
As the court fell silent, Judge Crosbie noted no-one was rushing to evacuate, and the hearing continued in the defendant's absence.
Ministry of Justice acting health safety and security general manager Georgina Matheson would not disclose the prescribed protocol in such scenarios.
''The ministry takes threats against the health and safety of everyone who works in or visits our courthouses seriously.
''For obvious reasons, the ministry does not publicly discuss its security arrangements, or its guidelines for responding to differing security situations.
''However, we will be talking to all sector partners - Police, Corrections, court colleagues, and the judiciary - to review this incident,'' she said.
The judge said the defendant should be assessed by a forensic psychiatric nurse unless the prison had already initiated a process under the Mental Health Act.
''Someone needs to see him,'' Judge Crosbie said.
''There's enough, from what I've seen, that there's just cause for detention.''
The defendant will next appear in court tomorrow, represented by assigned counsel.
Three others - a 33-year-old woman, a 20-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man - charged with involvement in the alleged robbery are scheduled to appear in court on Friday.
