A man has been charged with threatening to kill New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
The 30-year-old Auckland man was arrested late last week and was due to appear in Manukau District Court on Friday (April 16), but suffered an injury and wasn't able to attend.
According to the New Zealand Herald, the man has been granted an interim name suppression and is undergoing a mental health assessment.
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It's unclear what the nature of the messages he allegedly wrote to Ms Ardern that warranted the arrest and charge.
New Zealand Police said in a statement: "As the matter is before the courts, police are not in a position to comment further."
He's facing up to seven years behind bars for the category three offence and will next appear in court on May 7.
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In addition to threatening the NZ Prime Minister, the 30-year-old has also been charged with harassing a man online 'by sending constant social media messages having already sent messages between December 2020 and March 2021'.
Police allege the man carried out the online harassment knowing it would cause the victim to 'reasonably fear for their safety'.
The 30-year-old man is not the first person accused of making threatening messages about or to Ms Ardern.
Between 2019 to 2020, a man allegedly sent concerning emails to the NZ Prime Minister.
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Michael Christopher Cruickshank pleaded not guilty to sending more than 90 messages over a four month period that police said were intended to make Ms Ardern 'fear for her safety'.
After the Christchurch terror attack in 2019, a Northern Ireland man was ordered to complete community service after he tweeted a photo of a gun next to the Prime Minister's head and captioned it with 'you're next'.
Australian man Cormac Patrick Rothsey was also accused of making threats about killing the Prime Minister as well as launching an attack on a mosque in New South Wales.
After pleading guilty in June last year, the man was sentenced to 10 months behind bars under the charge of posting the extremist threats on social media.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: New Zealand, News