New Zealand man sentenced for threatening to kill PM Ardern

By NICK PERRY
Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A New Zealand man on Thursday was sentenced to one year in prison for threatening to kill Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Prosecutors said Michael Cruickshank, 56, sent 88 lengthy emails to government officials in 2019 and 2020, calling them criminals, slave-traders and state-sanctioned terrorists. But it was two emails that he sent in January 2020 that crossed a line by threatening violence. In one email, Cruickshank threatened to blow Ardern’s head off and in another said he would “personally wipe you off this (expletive) planet,” The New Zealand Herald reported. He copied one of the emails to lawmaker Andrew Little.