Kaiapoi man shot by police faces nine charges

Kaiapoi man shot by police faces nine charges

A man shot multiple times by police in a Kaiapoi incident has now been charged with nine offenses in Christchurch District Court.

The man is still in hospital and did not appear in court when he was heard before Judge Stephen O’Driscoll today.

Lawyer Paddy Brand said he went to the hospital and saw the man who was heavily sedated but was able to give him legal instructions on the case.

He said the 56-year-old Kaiapoi man had agreed to be detained and that Judge O’Driscoll had him in custody via video link on July 25.

Brand asked for the man’s name to be suppressed until a lawyer was appointed and given full instructions.

Judge O’Driscoll granted the suppression “to preserve the situation”.

The man is on trial on three charges related to an alleged incident two days before the shooting. He is charged with having an offensive weapon – a knife – in a public place in Kaiapoi, threatening the death of a man and assaulting the same man with a crowbar as a weapon.

The other six charges relate to June 25, the day of the shooting: being found without excuse in a fenced yard, having a knife in a public place, confronting a member of the public with intent to intimidate them, damaging of a police car, assaulting a police officer who uses a crowbar as a weapon and resists the police.

He has not pleaded for any of the charges.

The standoff with police lasted about 20 minutes after officers arrived at the scene in Williams St, Kaiapoi around 7:20 PM.

Police said the man attacked a police car with a metal bar, and a photo showed a police vehicle with a cracked windshield.

Police used a taser, pepper spray and negotiated before the man moved to a property in Peraki St, where more negotiations took place before police fired several shots, hitting him in the abdomen, chest and limbs.

He received medical attention at the scene and was then rushed to Christchurch Hospital.

-By David Clarkson
Open Justice multimedia journalist