Enraged by finding his partner in a sexual act with a dog, a Westport man grabbed a sawn-off shotgun and tried to drag the animal outside to shoot it. When the woman intervened, Hayden Brent McKenzie pointed the shotgun at her chest, ordered her outside and said he was going to shoot her too, Greymouth District Court was told yesterday.
In the end he shot neither but as a result of the incident and a subsequent confrontation at another address, McKenzie, 24, was jailed for 12 months after admitting charges of threatening to kill, unlawfully possessing a weapon, and intentional damage.
Judge Stephen Erber said McKenzie and the woman were members of a skinhead group, The Fourth Reich, living in “an ignorant and dangerous twilight world of hate, white supremacy, and latent violence”.He said the victim impact report painted a picture of a frightened, intimidated woman but letters she had written to McKenzie portrayed a different person.”These show a woman who desires to obtain a pistol, wants to stab someone, and is not averse to having sex with a dog. They give credence to his wish to shoot the dog,” the judge said.
Crown prosecutor Gerard Lynch said the charges arose from an incident early on January 19 and culminated in the man trying to drag one of two dogs outside at 7am. When the woman intervened McKenzie said he would shoot her too so she fled and drove to a friend’s house.McKenzie arrived soon after, and when he was told police had been called he smashed the rear driver’s side window of her car before fleeing with the shotgun.McKenzie went to another address which the armed offenders squad surrounded for several hours until he surrendered.His surrender was partly negotiated by defence counsel Doug Taffs who, on McKenzie’s direction, led police to the unloaded weapon at another address.
Mr Taffs said McKenzie received 19 letters from the woman while he attended a five-week drug and alcohol dependency programme at Hanmer Springs.”She tells of people wanting to kill her and her desire to inflict violence on others,” he said.He said the letters also related to sexual acts with a dog but McKenzie did not believe these claims until he had been discharged from Hanmer, had set up house with the woman, and then, on January 19, seen it for himself.McKenzie had intended to defend the charges in front of a district court jury but admitted guilt on the eve of the trial
