Threats trial to continue on Tuesday

All evidence and closing addresses have been completed in the trial of Mark Stafford Feary, accused of sending threats to politicians and government officials, but the jury will not be asked to consider its verdicts on 14 charges until Tuesday.

Christchurch District Court Judge Raoul Neave will sum up at 9.30am on that day before the jury begins its deliberations on 12 charges of threatening to cause grievous bodily harm to various officials, and two charges of threatening to kill Prime Minister John Key.

Feary, a 53-year-old Oxford farmer and father of two, has now admitted sending the faxes and letters including one to Mr Key at his office at Parliament, reading, “It’s killing time.”

Feary ended his own evidence at cross-examination at about 11am after a whole day in the witness box, and that was followed by a 7min closing address by crown prosecutor Tim Mackenzie.

Feary’s own closing was completed by lunch time but Judge Neave chose not to do his summing up and put the jury out just before the start of a long weekend. He explained to the jury: “There are some complexities notwithstanding the case is relatively simple.”

Mr Mackenzie said the only issue left in the case was whether Feary intended the threats to be taken seriously. He had gone ahead and threatened grievous bodily harm, and threatened to kill, even after a visit from the local policeman at Oxford, warning him after earlier messages.

The threats came at the end of nine months communications, when the crown said Feary was concerned that people were not taking him seriously. With his “It’s killing time” fax, he finally got the response he was looking for.

Feary, who has been in a long-running dispute with the Commissioner of Crown Lands, repeatedly told the court in his evidence today that the response to his messages proved that “words do not mean what they mean”.

He argued that if the threats had been taken seriously, he would have been arrested immediately rather than some time later.

He said he had not accepted what the constable had told him, when he warned him against making the threats.