A Nelson man who sent abusive and derogatory messages to the leader of the National Party has pleaded guilty to a charge of threatening to kill.
The 26-year-old, who cannot be named, appeared in the Nelson District Court on Monday.
Police say the man sent a series of abusive Facebook messages over a two-hour-period on May 15 to Simon Bridges, who was the leader of the National Party at the time.
The messages were abusive in nature and threatened Bridges, giving the man’s opinion of how "useless" he was.
Police say the man declined to comment formally but admitted sending the messages.
He stated that “we are all just puppets working for this useless wanker” and that he “does nothing to help the country out at all”.
He also suggested that, as he was a taxpayer paying police wages, Bridges and the police should be helping out with real crime and leave him alone.
The man pleaded guilty to a charge of threatening to kill but his lawyer indicated during his appearance that he would be applying for a discharge without conviction.
He also entered a guilty plea to driving with breath alcohol over 400mcg from an incident in December where he was found to be driving in Mapua with a breath alcohol reading of 505mcg per litre of breath.
The legal limit is 250.
Judge David Ruth convicted the man of the driving charge and ordered a pre-sentence report.
He will appear again before the courts on August 3.
