New details of the increasingly bizarre allegations against AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd have emerged, after a judge ordered prosecutors to disclose information about their case. According to to court documents, the drummer allegedly threatened to kill a man and his 10-year-old daughter.
As Stuff.co.nz reports, the documents claim Rudd called the man, described as a contractor, on 26th September and made the threats against his and his daughter’s lives. It’s alleged that Rudd had phoned a “business associate” earlier that day to discuss what he wanted done to the victims.
When the beleaguered drummer was arrested, he was initially charged with attempting to procure a murder. However, that charge was soon dropped due to a reported lack of evidence. Meanwhile, Rudd has denied making the phone calls detailed in the court documents altogether.
Rudd is currently facing charges of threatening to kill, possession of methamphetamine, and possession of cannabis, after police conducted a search of the AC/DC drummer’s address on 6th November. Officers reportedly discovered 0.71 grams of methamphetamine and 130g of cannabis.
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While he has admitted to the cannabis charge, Stuff.co.nz report that Rudd has entered not guilty pleas to the much-publicised charge of threatening to kill and to the possession of methamphetamine.
Rudd’s bail conditions were recently tightened to include a ban on him taking illegal drugs, after the drummer breached his bail during an altercation at a coffee shop. In court, Crown prosecutor Greg Hollister-Jones said the breach was particularly serious as it involved interfering with a witness.
According to Stuff.co.nz, Rudd ran into a witness by chance outside the Columbus coffee shop in the Gate Pa shopping centre. One witness reported seeing Rudd in a dispute with a “huge guy” who pushed Rudd in the chest.
“[Rudd] fell backwards over our sign and landed in the cafe. There was food and stuff everywhere,” the witness told Stuff.co.nz. It was at that point that, the witness alleges, Rudd “went nuts”. Rudd was reportedly “all up in the guy’s face”.
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Rudd’s bail has since been reinstated, with the prosecutor arguing that his behavior was erratic and sobriety “would help to manage his complacence with all the bail conditions.” The Rock Hall of Fame inductee is next due in court on 10th February for a case review hearing.
Rudd is the only Australian-born member of AC/DC, relocating to New Zealand in 1983 after he was kicked out of the band. Rudd rejoined the group in 1994 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the other members of the band in 2003.
In an interview early last month, the man alleged to be the “hit man” that Rudd attempted to hire claimed the drummer’s troubles stem from disputes with “working girls”. “Their partners get pissed off, he tells them ‘Nah I’m not paying you’, and then the partners come and say they want their money,” he claimed.
