David Ruck was held on remand for months after a judge determined he was likely to continue sending death threats if released, Marc Daalder reports
A 45-year-old Christchurch man was sentenced to 14 months in prison last year after making several threats to kill Jacinda Ardern.
David Anthony Ruck, who made headlines in 2013 when he started a Facebook page called the "Pākehā Party", was convicted by a jury in July of three charges of threatening to kill, court documents show.
The charges related to a May 2020 video posted to YouTube and two emails sent in October 2021.
In the video, he shared conspiracy theories about the New Zealand Government's relationship with the Trump administration, which Judge Paul Kellar said was his "right". The video crossed the line into criminal behaviour when "in reasonably emphatic terms, you make comments towards Jacinda Ardern, the New Zealand Prime Minister, stating that you have every right to walk up to Wellington and shoot her in the face".
The police charge sheet relating to the video shows Ruck "then also comments that if he shot Jacinda Ardern he would get arrested by the New Zealand Police but that he would be protected by the United States government.... He then makes further comments about shooting Jacinda Ardern point blank with a sniper rifle."
Ruck was charged with threatening to kill, kicking off a lengthy legal saga. At one stage in 2021, his lawyer filed an application for the charge to be dismissed. On the day of the hearing, Ruck fired his lawyer and withdrew the application because "he wants his day in court".
In October 2021, Ruck was denied entry to the court for a hearing because he refused to wear a face mask.
"I understand that he has strong views on that issue but that is beside the point," Judge Michael Crosbie wrote. "This is a court of law which must act in accordance with the law, which at this point include laws and regulations around public safety as we operate in a pandemic."
The judge issued a warrant for Ruck's arrest.
Three days later, Ruck emailed 61 recipients, including several government agencies as well as other unspecified "businesses and individuals". The subject line of the first of two emails to this list read "I WILL KILL". In the body, Ruck said if he was made to be vaccinated against Covid-19, "LISTEN HERE JUDGE, I WILL FIND YOU AND I WILL KILL YOU AND ANYONE ELSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!"
The second email reiterated the threat: "I WILL MAKE A LIST OF EVERYONE RESPONSIBLE FOR FORCING THIS VACCINE UPON ME ALL THE WAY UP TO TYE [sic] MINISTERS AND PRIME MINISTERS AND I WILL ENSURE A BULLET IS PLACED IN YOUR HEADS! PASS IT ON!"
The next day, Judge Quentin Hix denied Ruck bail due to the risk that he would reoffend. While Ruck's new lawyer argued he could be bailed on condition that he hand over his phone and computer, the judge was concerned that wouldn't be enough.
"You will go out and send some emails, even if you do hand in your phone and your computer," he said.
Ruck, in a conversation with Newsroom on Thursday, said he was held on remand for a total of 17 months and was released after his sentence was handed down in July on time served. Judge Kellar, who sentenced Ruck, acknowledged the man's "time on remand has been disproportionately severe and I regret to hear that that has been the case".
Ruck admitted he had made the video and sent the emails while emotional and "while it could be viewed as me being a terrible person, I am absolutely not a terrible person". However, he insisted to Newsroom that he didn't regret the wording and stood by it.
"I was drawing a line in the sand and no, I don't regret that. I don't view it as threatening to kill," he said.
