Man 'wasting police time'

From: Northland Age, New Zealand - Apr 17, 2003

17.04.2003 - Hawkes Bay Today

A deaf man who repeatedly threatened to kill himself was told yesterday to stop wasting police time.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Fred van Duuren told the Napier District Court yesterday that Kelly John Douglas Lipp, 38, unemployed, had repeatedly put himself in dangerous situations and rang the Deaf Society, threatening to kill himself, while having no intention of actually carrying out his threats.

Lipp appeared on several charges, including reckless behaviour causing unnecessary police call-outs. Through an interpreter, Lipp pleaded guilty to the charges.

"He places himself in situations that could endanger himself but without the intention of going through with the threats," Mr van Duuren said.

Police had told Lipp numerous times he could not continue to waste police time.

On April 9, Lipp was on Bluff Hill, Napier, and police found him sitting in a tree with a rope loosely round his neck.

When police told him to get down from the tree, he obliged without any opposition.

Lawyer Nigel Hewat recommended Lipp be fined or given a final warning.

Judge Tony Adeane described the incidents as "attention-seeking" offences.

He ordered Lipp to come up for sentence if called upon within 12 months and to pay $130 in court costs.

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