Philip Arps appearing in Christchurch District Court on 18 January, 2024. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
A Christchurch white supremacist has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for threatening his ex-wife's partner.
Philip Arps, 49, has previously served time for sharing video footage of the Christchurch terror attacks.
Last year, he was also jailed for sending abusive messages to his probation officer.
Arps was again before Christchurch District Court on Friday, to be sentenced for contravening a protection order, threatening to do grievous bodily harm and perverting the course of justice.
According to the summary of facts, Arps contravened a protection order in April 2023 when he parked behind his ex-wife's car while she collected one of their children from school.
He then got out and made a throat-slitting motion towards her new partner, which he repeated again when walking back to his vehicle.
Then, in May, while held in Christchurch Men's Prison, Arps made a series of phone calls to associates, asking for messages to be passed onto his ex-wife's partner to withdraw the charges.
"I misinterpreted it, that's all he's got to f****** say, so you can pass that on," Arps was quoted as saying one call.
Each call became progressively more aggressive and derogatory.
At his sentencing on Friday, Arps' prior charges were acknowledged, as well as the fact his relationship with the Department of Corrections had broken down.
Crown lawyer William Taffs said Arps refers to Corrections staffers as "Corruptions", made direct references to shooting people, sent abusive, vitriolic messages and openly stated he would not comply with release conditions.
But Arps' lawyer, Anselm Williams, said the relationship break down was not a "one way street" and there was evidence of Corrections treating him onerously, often putting him in seclusion and disallowing activities his probation officer had given written permission for.
Arps was vocal throughout proceedings, frequently discussing matters with Judge David Ruth.
He was mostly amicable, until the the subject of electronic monitoring came up and he told the judge: "I'm not wearing any form of tracker, mate."
Judge Ruth handed down a sentence of 20 months, but noted given the amount of time Arps had already spent in custody, only a matter of weeks remained on the sentence.
He also set conditions for the six months post-release, which did not include electronic monitoring.
