Threats against PM Jacinda Ardern triple in three years

Death threats against Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern have spiked alarmingly. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Threats against Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern have nearly tripled over the last three years.

Newshub, citing information released under the Official Information Act, reports that threats to Ardern which have involved the police have spiked from 18 in 2019 – and 32 in the following year – up to 50 last year.

It's understood that anti-Covid-19 vaccination sentiment was a contributing factor, along with opposition to the Government's firearms crackdown after the March 15, 2019 terror attacks in Christchurch.

Anti-mandate protester Richard Trevor Sivell, 39, was arrested at his Te Puke home in March and charged with threatening to kill the Prime Minister.

He appeared at Tauranga District Court on April 4 but has since disappeared. A warrant for his arrest is outstanding.

And last month, a man incensed at the Government's restrictions on people who had not received the Covid-19 vaccination threatened to assassinate Ardern.

The 30-year-old Taranaki man, who has name suppression, was arrested after he posted the threat against the Prime Minister to Reddit, a social news website and forum comprising user-generated content.

He appeared at New Plymouth District Court and was sentenced to 18 months' intensive supervision.

Asked by a judge if he would now be prepared to apologise to the Prime Minister, the man replied: "No, because I ... what I said was over the line but it wasn't a direct threat. I did overstep, I did go a bit too far with the words I used."

He added: "It was a momentary lapse of judgment because I was just quite angry with her."

In March, a man who sent an email to Ardern threatening to "personally wipe you off this f***ing planet" was sentenced to one year in prison, eight months after a jury found him guilty.

"You have a complete lack of insight. You have a high sense of entitlement," the judge said in sentencing Michael Cruickshank, 56.

"You simply don't recognise acceptable boundaries."

During Cruickshank's trial in July, Crown prosecutor Dennis Dow said the defendant sent around 88 lengthy emails to government officials and agencies in a four-month period between October 2019 and January 2020.

He regularly referred to Ardern and the Government as criminals, slave traders and state-sanctioned terrorists, but it was two emails in particular that went a step too far, threatening violence, Dow said.

The emails were sent 30 minutes apart on January 20, 2020.

"If you continue to support state terrorism ... and declare act of war on my life ... I will personally wipe you off this f***ing planet," read the first email, which was sent to Ardern, ACC staff, the media and others.

"I will blow your ... head off if your gas lighting on my life continues," he added 30 minutes later in an email sent to both Ardern and fellow Labour MP Andrew Little.

"You have kids who want to see you grow old, as do I," the email continued. "I suggest you place that into proper perspective."