It looked a bit like divine intervention, but the problems that beset a case involving “God” at the Christchurch District Court were probably very much human.
The man has repeatedly claimed he is God all through the court process that has stretched on for months.
And now 37-year-old Simon David McKenzie, of Cashmere, has had four of the charges he was facing tossed out.
By coincidence, it was a judge named Jonathan Moses who granted bail to “God” in December.
He was picked up again and held in custody from February, and has now pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting a police officer.
He also faced four charges: unlawfully taking a $30,000 car at Ashburton, stealing beer and bourbon in Christchurch, and two charges of stealing petrol.
He was due for trial on those charges before Judge Stephen O’Driscoll today.
Through some error with the system, the paperwork had not been done and he had not been brought in from prison, defence counsel Trudi Aickin told the court. She asked for it to be delayed till later in the day.
Then the police prosecutor Bronwen Blackmore said that another glitch had caused all the police witnesses not to be called to give evidence.
Because of that, she was willing to offer no evidence, and Judge O’Driscoll dismissed all four charges.
McKenzie was remanded in custody for another appearance on April 17, on rather less charges than he was before.
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