Verbal abuse, intimidation and brawls where security officers are often outnumbered are becoming all too common in government buildings intended to uphold law and order. Shannon Pitman looks into the number of assaults occurring at our courts and what is being done about the growing problem.
The pressure of life-changing decisions faced by individuals involved in court proceedings has turned many court buildings across the country into volatile environments with nearly 450 assaults occurring in just five years.
The escalating violence appears to be linked to rising tensions at court where people are dealing with sensitive matters such as child custody matters, the incarceration of loved ones and grieving victims of crime.
Incidents of assaults on court personnel, verbal abuse aimed at judges, and intimidation of lawyers have become disturbingly common, reflecting a growing trend of security issues within the court system.
The most recent incident occurred in early December in Invercargill where two security guards were assaulted, leaving one with facial injuries. For that offence a 38-year-old was charged with common assault, injuring with intent to injure, and resisting police.
Earlier in 2024 two youth scaled a glass wall in Hamilton and lept into a dock where their relative’s killer was appearing, triggering a large brawl that spilled out into the public foyer.
The family of the victim became enraged when Richard Coburn was sentenced to five years and 10 months for the manslaughter of Paige Tutemahurangi and family members allegedly launched at court security guards.
In 2022 a Whang?rei court security officer was pushed down a stairwell by Jacob Pukeroa, also enraged at the sentencing handed down for the death of his brother, Cale Bucknell-Pukeroa. The officer suffered a fracture to his left lower leg, as well as a cracked bone in his ankle and required surgery and Pukeroa was sentenced to home detention for the assault.
It was the same courthouse where lawyer Brintyn Smith was savagely assaulted in 2023 by Isaac Aydon in the elevator, leaving him hospitalised and with such serious PTSD he was unable to return to Whang?rei court to represent his clients.
Courtroom chaos: Nearly 450 assaults in New Zealand courthouses since 2019
