AC/DC’s Phil Rudd Threatened to Kill Man and Daughter in Phone Calls
After AC/DC‘s Phil Rudd pleaded not guilty to charges of threatening to kill and drug possession on December 2nd, the judge overseeing the trial asked that prosecutors disclose the full details of the case against the beleaguered drummer. Those documents were unsealed Friday, revealing that Rudd, in a phone call, made serious threats against an unnamed man and his daughter, the Guardian reports.
The threatening to kill charge against Rudd stems from two phone calls Rudd made on September 26th, over a month before police raided the drummer’s New Zealand home on November 6th. In the first call, it’s alleged that Rudd called a business associate of his “to discuss what he wanted done to” the two people he was threatening to kill, stuff.co.nz writes.
Then, Rudd actually phoned the two people, described as a contractor and his daughter, and restated his threats. The 10-year-old daughter’s name was automatically suppressed from court documents due to her age. When Rudd was arrested, he was also initially charged with attempting to procure murder, but that charge was dropped soon after. Rudd has denied making the phone calls detailed in the court documents.
When police raided Rudd’s home, they also found 0.71 grams of methamphetamines and 130 grams of cannabis, resulting in a drug possession charge. According to stuff.co.nz, Rudd did admit to being in possession of the weed but denied the other charges against him.
The unsealing of the specifics behind the prosecutor’s case against the drummer comes one day after a bizarre incident in which Rudd had a “chance meeting” with a trial witness at a New Zealand café. According to witnesses, the musician became confrontational with the witness before his bodyguard intervened, with Rudd then fighting his own protector. Rudd was taken into custody following the incident.
While the prosecutor in the case deemed the fracas a serious breach, Rudd’s bail was reinstated with the additional condition that he refrain from taking illegal drugs, since his behavior was considered “erratic.” He is due back in court February 10th for a case review hearing.